The Harvard Systems Group at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) operates at the vital intersection of systems, theory, and hardware. We design and build the architectures, networks, and databases that form the backbone of modern computing.
From scaling global cloud infrastructure to optimizing the software-hardware interface, we don’t just study systems—we reinvent the layers that power the future.
Upcoming and Recent Seminars
Systems Seminar: Round Table Discussion
A new addition to our Systems Seminar: an open round table discussion where people are encouraged to share recent papers, tech news, new tools, or open questions in a relaxed, conversational setting.
Building Scalable Distributed Databases in the Age of Geo-Replication
·Yunhao Mao (University of Toronto)
Modern distributed applications depend heavily on geo-replication for fault tolerance, but high network latency forces these databases to make difficult tradeoffs between the high performance of weak consistency and the data safety of strong consistency. Yunhao will explore solutions to these challenges by detailing advancements in Conflict-free Replicated Datatypes (CRDTs), including the Janus implementation, and introducing Minerva, a scalable transaction protocol designed to maintain high throughput across wide-area networks.
Systems at the Crossroad of Agents & Infrastructure (MLSys ’26 Digest Talk)
·Yiyu Liu (Harvard University)
As Large Language Models transition into autonomous agentic systems, traditional serving frameworks are facing unprecedented performance bottlenecks. Yiyu will deliver a structured digest of cutting-edge research from MLSys 2026 covering agentic AI, LLM systems, and compilers.
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Share Your Insights: Contribute to Our Blog!
Have a new piece of research, a cool tool, or a thought on computer systems you want to share? The Harvard Systems blog is looking for contributors.