Santa Barbara, California
punnalbloch@gmail.com
Punnal Ismail Khan
About
My focus is on software development, and machine learning and creating scalable systems in the fields of computer networking.
Recently, I developed a Python-based network traffic generator that improved realistic traffic generation across distributed networks and addressed critical security challenges, such as service fingerprinting. This was accomplished by training both foundational and classical machine learning models. Previously, I designed an efficient data structure capable of capturing terabit-line rate network data streams and extracting key statistical features, while being deployed on memory-constrained data plane switches. These contributions have been published in leading conferences and workshops.
Beyond research, I have gained valuable experience through various internships and projects in web development (React, Firebase, JavaScript) and game development (C#, Unity).
Finally, my education at UC Santa Barbara and LUMS provided me with strong expertise in Linux, multiple programming languages (Python, C/C++, Golang, JavaScript, etc), object-oriented programming, networking, ML, and software engineering, equipping me to tackle complex technical challenges.
Work experience
University of California, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara, CA
Research Assistant
January 2022-September 2024
NetMosaic:
● Created a system in Python for network traffic generation by orchestrating Docker containers from >74K public GitHub repositories.
● Successfully deployed Docker containers across a distributed network of 25 nodes on the UCSB campus.
● Enabled docker container deployments in a virtual network and supported precise network conditions control using Linux TC.
● Scaled the system by deploying the containers in parallel on multiple AWS instances.
● Published this work in ANRW 24.
Panakos:
● Implemented the system on a hardware network switch using P4 programming language.
● Achieved 15x performance improvement(i.e. 400 ns to process one packet) on data plane(network switch) compared to the control plane(server with 12 core 2.4Ghz, 192Gb memory) implementation(in Python).
● Attained a low max quantile error of 0.11 and reported heavy hitter flows with an F1 score of 0.99.
● Published this work in top tier database conference: VLDB 2023 (Acceptance rate 18.6%)
University of California, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara, CA
Teacher Assistant
April 2023-June 2023
Helped teach the following course:
Programmable Networks: Taught about software-defined networks and programming using p4 in programmable network switches.
University of California, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara, CA
Graduate Assistant
January 2023-March 2023
Reviewed admission applications of around 250 Ph.D. and Master's students and recommended them for admission.
University of California, Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara, CA
Teacher Assistant
September 2022-December 2022
Helped teach the course:
1) Problem Solving with computers: Taught students concepts of C++ programming language.
University of California, Santa Barbar - Santa Barbara, CA
Teacher Assistant
September 2021-June 2022
Taught the following Courses:
1) Data Structures and Algorithms: Taught data structures, proofs, design, and analysis of programs(160 students).
2) Programmable Networks: Taught about software-defined networks and programming using p4 in programmable network switches(50 students).
3) Intermediate Python: Taught about object-oriented programming.
Research Assistant
January 2020-July 2021
Detecting inconsistencies in Linux Audit System:
● Customized Syzkaller (Linux kernel fuzzer) in C and Go to meet project-specific requirements i.e enhance logging.
● Fuzzed the Linux kernel with over 5 million random system calls while generating system call logs through the Linux Audit system.
● Developed efficient programs to analyze log files(over 5 million entries) to detect loss of information in the Linux audit system.
● Found the reasons(i.e. buffer overflow) behind these inconsistencies
Measurement of PII leakages in Online Job portals - Collaborations: Meta, and LUMS.
● Collected network traffic from 15 job portal websites and apps while leading a team of 3 students.
● Found API calls in the network traffic that leaked the personal information of over 10 million users using penetration testing apps.
● Reported the vulnerabilities to these job portals which saved the data of over 10 million users from potential attacks.
Full-Stack Software Engineer
June 2020-August 2020
Madadgaar - A Convenient Blood Plasma Donation Platform:
● Co-founded and developed a Blood Plasma Donation Platform for COVID-19 using Javascript, React, and nodeJS.
● Successfully advertised the system to get around 6 thousand blood donors registered to this platform.
● Helped over 10 thousand blood recipients find blood donors.
● Link: https://madagaar-fba66.web.app/
Teacher Assistant
September 2019-January 2020
Taught the following Course:
Advanced Programming: Taught concepts like Functional, asynchronous, and parallel programming to around 50 students
Software Engineer Intern
June 2019-September 2019
Driving Experience in Virtual Reality:
● Developed a virtual reality car driving experience using a unity game engine and C#.
● Integrated it with the digital twin of the Koc University campus.
Education
University of California, Santa Barbara
Master's
June 2025
Major: Computer Science MS
Cumulative GPA: 3.63
Lahore University of Management Sciences
Bachelor's
July 2021
Major: Computer Science (BS)
Department GPA: 3.85