Overview

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‍Research Internships at Microsoft provide a dynamic environment for research careers with a network of world-class research labs led by globally-recognized scientists and engineers, who pursue innovation in a range of scientific and technical disciplines to help solve complex challenges in diverse fields, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

Join our Compute System Architecture (CSA) team within the System Planning and Architecture (SPARC) organization in Azure Hardware Systems & Infrastructure (AHSI). AHSI is the team behind Microsoft's expanding cloud business, responsible for delivering the hardware systems and infrastructure for cloud computing across Microsoft Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, Teams and Xbox Live. The SPARC organization is responsible for strategy, planning and architecture pathfinding, and manages Azure's hardware roadmap from architecture concept, through production for Microsoft's current and future offerings. The CSA team within SPARC is at the forefront of systems architecture and technology pathfinding spanning compute, memory, storage, and system interconnects. Drawing on deep insights of workloads, emerging technology trends, and focused industry engagements, CSA team's charter is to define and evaluate novel systems architecture innovations through hardware/software co-design and advance them through technical readiness for productization. The CSA team is seeking a Research Intern for novel system architecture pathfinding with new memory technology deployments such as Compute Express Link (CXL) based memory. You'll gain deep expertise in cloud usage, telemetry, emerging technologies, and architectural modeling, with opportunities for continuous learning and growth.

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‍Responsibilities‍

Research Interns put inquiry and theory into practice. Alongside fellow doctoral candidates and some of the world’s best researchers, Research Interns learn, collaborate, and network for life. Research Interns not only advance their own careers, but they also contribute to exciting research and development strides. During the 12-week internship, Research Interns are paired with mentors and expected to collaborate with other Research Interns and researchers, present findings, and contribute to the vibrant life of the community. Research internships are available in all areas of research, and are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer.

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Additional Responsibilities

• Develop and analyze fleet level telemetry metrics to understand new memory technology deployments in the cloud.
• Develop deep insights through workload characterization and correlation to identify systems optimization opportunities by using hardware performance monitoring tools.
• Recommend various optimization in hardware and software based on observed telemetry.
• Collaborate with diverse workload experts across Microsoft and partner ISVs to engineer TCO-optimized solutions for Azure general-purpose and specialized compute fleet.

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‍Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Enrolled in a full time bachelor's, masters, MBA, or PhD program in area in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field during the academic term immediately before their internship. 
• At least one additional quarter/semester of school remaining following the completion of the internship.

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Other Requirements

• Research Interns are expected to be physically located in their manager’s Microsoft worksite location for the duration of their internship.
• In addition to the qualifications below, you’ll need to submit a minimum of two reference letters for this position as well as a cover letter and any relevant work or research samples. After you submit your application, a request for letters may be sent to your list of references on your behalf. Note that reference letters cannot be requested until after you have submitted your application, and furthermore, that they might not be automatically requested for all candidates. You may wish to alert your letter writers in advance, so they will be ready to submit your letter.

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Preferred Qualifications

• First-author publication(s) at top-tier venues or demonstrably comparable research impact.
• Experience with emerging memory technologies such as CXL based memory.
• Clear communication, self-motivated, curiosity, and a bias for hands-on experimentation.
• Interpersonal skills, cross-group, and cross-culture collaboration.
• Familiarity with computer systems' architecture, cache and memory hierarchy.

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