KINGSTON, R.I. – Aug. 6, 2025 – With the rapid advancement and widespread integration of artificial intelligence and cloud technologies, new challenges and performance demands are emerging that cannot be effectively addressed by traditional solutions. Systems used in the cloud are designed for legacy applications and traditional hardware. Cloud providers consistently struggle to meet the growing demand for computing resources, facing increased costs to support infrastructure and energy needs as new applications continue to advance.

University of Rhode Island assistant professor Weiwei Jia was recently awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his project “Redefining Memory Virtualization in Clouds” to research how to substantially improve the performance and cost-efficiency of next-generation cloud computing applications and systems. The NSF Faculty Early Career Development (NSF CAREER) Program awards prestigious grants to support the research programs of early-career faculty who demonstrate exceptional potential to become leaders in their field.

Jia, an engineering professor in the electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering department, has been investigating performance bottlenecks in cloud computing applications and systems for the past decade. “I feel very honored and grateful to receive the NSF CAREER Award, which recognizes the significance of my research in cloud computing and provides vital resources to advance my research further,” said Jia.

The primary goal of the project is to significantly enhance the performance of emerging cloud applications such as smart devices, wearables, and more, by reducing the cost of cloud computing and improving usability.

Current cloud AI workloads, particularly training tasks, often require days or even months to complete and depend on costly cloud hardware like graphics processing units, making them difficult to scale and sustain. The proposed research will substantially reduce both the execution time and the associated expenses of new cloud workloads, benefiting everyone connected to these services from large corporations to public institutions and personal devices. 

“The success of this CAREER project is expected to advance next-generation cloud computing by boosting performance, benefitting a broad spectrum of cloud applications such as AI, databases, and data analytics,” said Jia.

The project will also involve extensive education plans to teach emerging cloud computing technologies to both college and K-12 students to equip them with the skillsets to continue to advance this technology. Jia currently leads a team of graduate and undergraduate students conducting research in cloud computing. Jia will also be organizing a cloud computing summer camp in collaboration with local schools.

The $586,000 award will be implemented through 2030.

This press release was written by Krysta Murray, a writer with the URI College of Engineering.