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Personal details

Website https://radu-nicolae.com
GitHub https://github.com/Radu-Nicolae
LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/rnicolae

Academic Background

  • 2026 - 2030
    (Starting) PhD in Computer Science, Massivizing Computer Systems
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
    • (1) Digital Twinning of large-scale ICT infrastructure under modern-day workloads (e.g., AI/LLM inference, business-critical, scientific-specific);
    • (2) Techniques of resource management and scheduling;
    • (3) Techniques of multi- and meta-model simulation and environment calibration.”
  • 2025 - 2026
    MSc Computer Science (VU--UvA joint degree)
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Universiteit van Amsterdam
    • Split between VU Amsterdam and Universiteit van Amsterdam with scientific, educational, and networking opportunities from both universities.
    • Computer Science MSc, Cum Laude, Track of Computer Systems and Infrastructure;
    • Study focus: large-scale distributed computer systems, scientific focused;
    • GPA 9.3 (top 5%);
    • Thesis (work in progress), in collaboration with IBM Research Labs Dublin and VU Amsterdam.
  • 2022 - 2025
    BSc Computer Science, with Honours Annotation
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
    • Computer Science BSc, Cum laude, Honours Distinction, Research-oriented minor, with a focus on deep programming and data science. GPA 9.1 (top 10%); Thesis (grade 100%), in collaboration with IBM Research Zurich, open-science.
  • 2018 - 2022
    Highschool -- Mathematics & Informatics Profile
    Sfântul Sava National College
    • Ranked as 1st high school in Romania. Baccalaureate Exam at Mathematics, Physics, Romanian, Digital Competences, and English. Grade of 9.48 (top 10%).

Experience in Enterprise

  • 2024 - 2025
    Technology Developer
    Network Institute
    The Network Institute is hub for interdisciplinary research at VU Amsterdam. Founded “Code for Humanity”, SoftwareEU, and built research tools.
  • 2022 - 2023
    Healthcare Data Science and Front-End Internship
    Oxaigen
    Engineered medical applications, powered by AI, used in ICU units.

Teaching Experience

  • 2023 - Ongoing
    Course coordination, architecting, teaching
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, co-teaching cohorts of 350 students, managing teams of 20–30 teaching assistants, giving lectures, tutorials, and seminars, creating course materials, preparing and assessing assignments, proposing exams, contributing to innovation in education. See more about my teaching experience here.
  • 2022 - Ongoing
    Student Ambassador
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
    Giving future Computer Science students an overall perspective of what this domain involves, giving presentations and talks. It requires excellent organization, communication, presentation, and teamwork abilities.
  • 2023 - 2024
    Teaching Assistant
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
    Gave sessions, graded assignments for Data Structures and Algorithms (BSc AI only).

Scientific Involvement

  • 2023 - Ongoing
    Scientific Researcher in Computer Systems
    @Large Research
    Scientific Research towards massiving computer systems, making (distributed) computer systems scalable, reliable, and performant, focusing on datacenter simulation, cloud computing, and ICT digital twins. Our team is world-class and a leader of the CompSys community in the Netherlands. See more about my scientific involvement here.

Awards

  • 2024-2025
    Student Talent Award 2024--2025, Faculty of Science
    Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

    In recognition for my academic achievements, both as a student and educator, and for my research contributions in ICT Simulation. Selected from >11,000 students, across 40 study programmes of the Faculty of Science, and further nominated for the unviersity wide Student Talent Award.

  • 2025
    Amsterdam AI Thesis Award 2025 nomination

    Nominated for Amsterdam AI Thesis Award 2025.

Skills

Organizational Skills: Coordinating university courses, academic teams, robotics teams, founding projects, and leading initiatives helped me acquire indispensable organizational skills:, Leadership, Logical reasoning, Attention to detail, Self-management, Keeping deadlines.
Communication Skills: Being the leader or a member of several teams developed and improved indispensable communication abilities:, Clarity, Planning, Open-mindedness, Confidence, Optimism.
Digital Skills (Applied in a practical environment (e.g., research, industry).): Programming (e.g., C, C++, Java, Kotlin, Scala, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript). Computer Systems (e.g., Assembly x86, Linux, Docker). Miscellaneous (e.g., Databases, Git, LaTeX, CI/CD). Libraries, ML, DL, APIs (e.g., Numpy, Pandas, Tensorflow, Matplotlib, Keras, Strawberry, React).