Dr. Zhuoqun Cheng
Part-Time Lecturer
Khoury College of Computer Sciences
Northeastern University, Silicon Valley
Zhuoqun Cheng, also known as Tom, is a Part-time Lecturer at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences. Bringing a deep understanding of computer fundamentals and systems to his teaching, Dr. Cheng enriches the academic experience for students.
Professionally, Tom is a Software Engineer at Google, where he works on the Spanner database, a globally distributed database renowned for its consistency and availability. This role allows him to apply and expand his expertise in large-scale, real-world systems.
Dr. Cheng earned his doctorate in Computer Networks from Boston University, where his doctoral research focused specifically on real-time operating systems and kernels. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Zhejiang University in China. His comprehensive background in both theoretical foundations and practical applications makes him a valuable asset to the Khoury College faculty.
Research Interests
Recommendation Sciences
Information Retrieval
Natural Language Processing
Large Language Modeling
Courses Offered
Programming Design Paradigm
Introduces modern program design paradigms. Starts with functional program design, introducing the notion of a design recipe. The latter consists of two parts: a task organization (ranging from the description of data to the creation of a test suite) and a data-oriented approach to the organization of programs (ranging from atomic data to self-referential data definitions and functions as data). The course then progresses to object-oriented design, explaining how it generalizes and contrasts with functional design. In addition to studying program design, students also have an opportunity to practice pair-programming and public code review techniques, as found in industry today.
Fundamentals of Cloud Computing
Covers fundamentals of cloud computing, including virtualization and containers, distributed file systems and object stores, infrastructure as a service platforms, open source cloud platforms, key big data platforms, and topics in data center scale systems. Combines classroom material delivered via lectures, readings from literature, student presentations, and a semester-long software project.