Zhichao Cao
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Mail code: 8809Campus: Tempe
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Zhichao Cao is an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University. He leads the Intelligent Data Infrastructure Lab (ASU-IDI), where he conducts research in the areas of database systems (e.g., key-value stores, graph databases, and timeseries databases), storage systems (e.g., file systems, cloud storage, and deduplication systems), next-generation data infrastructure (e.g., disaggregated infrastructure, computing-in-X, and wireless datacenter), AI/ML for data infrastructure (data system auto-tuning with LLMs, AI-driven system optimizations); and data infrastructure for AI/ML/LLM (KV-cache offloading, memory extension, vector databases, caching for CPU-GPU co-design, and sustainable LLMs);. His research interests also lie in the design and development of data management systems for new memory and storage technologies, such as SMR, IMR, NVM, CXL, RDMA, ZNS, and DNA. Moreover, his research also encompasses big data systems, with a focus on the development of query engines for large-scale scientific computing in HPC.
Zhichao Cao has served as a Program Committee member of several top conferences such as USENIX ATC, USENIX FAST, SIGMOD, VLDB, IEEE ICDE, ACM HotStorage, IEEE ICDCS, and ICPP. He has served as the proceedings chair of SIGMOD, Mentorship Program Co-Chair of USENIX FAST, publicity chair of ACM HotStorage, publicity chair of MSST, and virtual chair of ACM HotStorage. He is the reviewer of top journals, including ACM Transactions on Storage, IEEE Transactions on Computers, IEEE Micro, and IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing.
Prior to joining ASU, Zhichao Cao worked as a research scientist at the Facebook (Meta) RocksDB Team, where he contributed to storage and database research from 2018 to 2021. He earned his bachelor's degree in Automation from Tsinghua University in 2013 and his doctoral degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota (advised by Prof. David H.C. Du), Twin Cities, in 2020.
Funding:
NSF CAREER Award (2025): $730,000 (Single-PI)
NSF CSR Core (2024): $600,000 (Leading-PI)
OpenAI Researcher Access Program Credit Award 2024
Indonesia-US Research Collaboration Award 2023, 2024
Google Cloud Research Credit Award 2022
Ph.D. Students
- Chang Guo, 2022 -present (B.S. Tsinghua University)
- Viraj Thakkar, 2023 - Present (M.S., Arizona State University)
- Qi Lin, 2024 - Present (M.S. UC Irvine)
- Zhenyu Zhang, 2024 - Present (M.S. Peking University)
- Zhenjie Sun, 2025 - Present (B.S. Shanghai Jiao Tong University and UMich, Ann Arbor)
- Jun Kong, 2025 - Present (B.S. Lanzhou University)
- Ph.D. Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities, 2020
- M.S. Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities, 2019
- B.S. Automation, Tsinghua University, China 2013
Work Experience
- Research Scientist, Facebook Oct. 2019 - Dec. 2021
- Research Collaborator, Facebook Sep. 2018 - Sep. 2019
- Research Intern, Facebook Jun. 2018 - Aug. 2018
- Research Intern, Veritas Jun. 2016 - Aug. 2016
- Research Intern, Hewlett-Packard (HPE) Jun. 2015 - Aug. 2015
- Research Intern, Hewlett-Packard (HPE) Jun. 2014 - Aug. 2014
Data Infrastructure: key-value stores (RocksDB, LevelDB, HBase); NoSQL databases (GraphDB); data deduplication; backup and archive system; file system; hierarchical storage system; distributed storage system; compute-storage disaggregation; memory disaggregation; AI/ML for data infrastructure (auto-tuning, tracing, and analyzing); data infrastructure for AI/ML (KV-cache offloading, memory extension, vector databases, and sustainable LLMs);
Storage for Big Data: cloud storage; object storage; storage systems for big graph; storage system in IoT
New Memory and Storage Techniques: Disaggregated Memory (with CXL and RDMA); Non-Volatile Memory (NVM); Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR); Interlaced Magnetic Recording (SMR); Zoned Namespace SSDs (ZNS SSDs); DNA- and Glass-based storage
[HPDC'25 (Best Paper Nominee)]Chang Guo, Ning Yan, Lipeng Wan, Zhichao Cao. "LegoIndex: A Scalable and Modular Indexing Framework for Efficient Analysis of Extreme-Scale Particle Data". The 34th ACM International Symposium on High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing (HPDC), Research Track Full Paper, 2025.
[HotStorage’25] Chang Guo, Norbert Podhorszki, Greg Eisenhauer, Zhiwen Xie, Scott Klasky, Zhichao Cao. “Unlocking the Unusable: A Proactive Caching Framework for Reusing Partial Overlapped Data.” The 17th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Storage and File Systems (HotStorage), To Appear.
[SIGMOD'25] Viraj Thakkar, Dongha Kim, Hokeun Kim, Zhichao Cao. "SHIELD: Encrypting Persistent Data of LSM-KVS from Monolithic to Disaggregated Storage". Proceedings of ACM Conference on Management of Data (SIGMOD), Research Track Full Paper, 2025.
[SOSP'24] Shushu Yi, Shaocong Sun, Li Peng, Yingbo Sun, Ming-Chang Yang, Zhichao Cao, Qiao Li, Myoungsoo Jung, Ke Zhou, Jie Zhang. "BIZA: Design of Self-Governing Block-Interface ZNS AFA for Endurance and Performance" The 30th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP 2024).
[TC'24] Yixun Wei, Zhichao Cao, David HC Du. “CPI: A Collaborative Partial Indexing Design for Large-Scale Deduplication Systems.” IEEE Transactions on Computers, November 2024
[HotStorage’24 (Best Paper Award!)] Viraj Thakkar, Madhumitha Sukumar, Jiaxin Dai, Kaushiki Singh, Zhichao Cao. “Can Modern LLMs Tune and Configure LSM-based Key-Value Stores?” 16th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Storage and File Systems (HotStorage), 2024.
[HotStorage’24] Chongzhuo Yang, Zhang Cao, Chang Guo, Ming Zhao, Zhichao Cao. “Can ZNS SSDs be Better Storage Devices for Persistent Cache?” 16th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Storage and File Systems (HotStorage), 2024.
[MSST'24] Zhang Cao, Chang Guo, Ziyuan Lv, Anand Ananthabhotla, Zhichao Cao "SAS-Cache: A Semantic-Aware Secondary Cache for LSM-based Key-Value Stores. The 38th International Conference on Massive Storage Systems and Technology (MSST), Research Track Full Paper, 2024.
[MSST'24] Gaoji Liu, Chongzhuo Yang, Qiaolin Yu, Chang Guo, Wen Xia, Zhichao Cao "Prophet: Optimizing LSM-Based Key-Value Store on ZNS SSDs with File Lifetime Prediction and Compaction Compensation". The 38th International Conference on Massive Storage Systems and Technology (MSST), Research Track Full Paper, 2024.
[SIGMOD'24] Qiaolin Yu, Chang Guo, Jay Zhuang, Viraj Thakkar, Jianguo Wang, Zhichao Cao. "CaaS-LSM: Compaction-as-a-Service for LSM-based Key-Value Stores in Storage-Disaggregated Infrastructure". Proceedings of ACM Conference on Management of Data (SIGMOD), Research Track Full Paper, 2024.
[ICCD'23] Zhichao Cao, Hao Wen, Fenggang Wu, David H.C. Du. "SMRTS: A Performance and Cost-Effectiveness Optimized SSD-SMR Tiered File System with Data Deduplication". The 41st IEEE International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD) (Acceptance rate: 28%), Research Track Full Paper, 2023.
[ICCD'23] Hao Wen, Zhichao Cao, Bingzhe Li, David Du, Ayman Abouelwafa, Doug Voigt, Shiyong Liu, Jim Diehl and Fenggang Wu "K8sES: Optimizing Kubernetes with Enhanced Storage Service-Level Objectives". The 41st IEEE International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD),(Acceptance rate: 28%), Research Track Full Paper, 2023.
[TOS’22] Zhichao Cao, Huibing Dong, Yixun Wei, Shiyong Liu, and David H.C. Du. “IS-HBase: An In-Storage Computing Optimized HBase with I/O Offloading and Self-Adaptive Caching in Compute-Storage Disaggregated Infrastructure.” ACM Transaction on Storage, Volume 18, Issue 2, May 2022.
[TOS’22] Hiwot Tadese Kassa, Jason Akers, Mrinmoy Ghosh, Zhichao Cao, Vaibhav Gogte, Ronald Dres-linski. “Power-optimized Deployment of Key-value Stores Using Storage Class Memory.” ACM Transaction on Storage, Volume 18, Issue 2, May 2022.
[TOS’22] Xiongzi Ge Zhichao Cao, and David H.C. Du. “HintStor: A Framework to Study I/O Hints in Heterogeneous Storage.” ACM Transaction on Storage, Volume 18, Issue 2, May 2022.
[ATC’21] Hiwot Tadese Kassa, Jason Akers, Mrinmoy Ghosh, Zhichao Cao, Vaibhav Gogte, Ronald Dreslin- ski. “Improving Performance of Flash Based Key-Value Stores Using Storage Class Memory as a Volatile Memory Extension.” 2021 USENIX Annual Technical Conference, 2021 (Acceptance rate: 64/341=23% as Full Paper).
[FAST’20] Zhichao Cao, Siying Dong, Sagar Vemuri, and David H.C. Du.. “Characterizing, Modeling, and Benchmarking RocksDB Key-Value Workloads at Facebooke.” 18th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2020 (Acceptance rate: 23/138=17% as Full Paper).
[FAST’19] Zhichao Cao, Shiyong Liu, Fenggang Wu, Guohua Wang, Bingzhe Li, and David H.C. Du. “Sliding Look-Back Window Assisted Data Chunk Rewriting for Improving Deduplication Restore Performance.” 17th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2019 (Acceptance rate: 26/145=18% as Full Paper).
[TOS’19] Zhichao Cao, Hao Wen, Xiongzi Ge, and David H.C. Du. “TDDFS: A Tier-aware Data Deduplication based File System.” ACM Transaction on Storage, 2019.
[FAST’18] Zhichao Cao, Hao Wen, Fenggang Wu, and David H.C. Du. “ALACC: Accelerating Restore Performance of Data Deduplication Systems Using Adaptive Look Ahead Window Assisted Chunk Caching.” 16th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2018 (Acceptance rate: 23/139=17% as Full Paper).
Poster and Working-in-Progress
[FAST’25] Chang Guo, Zhenyu Zhang, Zhichao Cao. "EverCache: A Multi-Tier KVCache Engine for High-Performance and High-Efficiency LLMs Inferencing" 23rd USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2025.
[FAST’25] Jiajun Li, Chang Guo, Zhichao Cao. "AnyTier: An LSM-Managed Dynamic Data Tiering Framework with High Generality and Efficiency" 23rd USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2025.
[FAST’25] Yibo Zhao, Viraj Thakkar, Zhichao Cao, Zaoxing Liu. "NetLSM: Enabling an In-Network Approach for Scheduling LSM-KVS Operations" 23rd USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2025.
[FAST’24] Madhumitha Sukumar, Jiaxin Dai, Kaushiki Singh, Vikriti Lokegaonkar, Viraj Thakkar, Zhichao Cao. “LLM-assisted Automatic-Configuration and Tuning Framework for LSM-based Key-Value Stores.” 22nd USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2024.
[FAST’23] Kritshekhar Jha, Ian Mcdonough, Alexander Sutila, Zhichao Cao, and Ming Zhao.. “DM-ZCache:Zoned Namespace (ZNS) SSD based Caching.” 21st USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2023.
[FAST’23] Jinghuan Yu, Yixun Wei, Zhichao Cao, David H.C. Du, and Chun Jason Xue.. “Level-based Shard Migration in Distributed LSM KV Store.” 21st USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2023.
[FAST’17] Zhichao Cao, Fenggang Wu, Hao Wen, and David H.C. Du. “Optismr: Restore-Performance Optimization for Deduplication Systems Using SMR Drives.” 16th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2017.
FAST’17] Hao Wen, Zhichao Cao, Yang Zhang, and David H.C. Du. “Guaranteed QoS with Integrated Control for Networked Storage.” 16th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, 2017.
[SoCC’14] Xiongzi Ge, Zhichao Cao, and David H.C. Du. “OneStore: Integrating Local and Cloud Storage with Access Hints.” ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing, 2014.
Courses
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 795 | Continuing Registration |
| CSE 790 | Reading and Conference |
2025 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 584 | Internship |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 799 | Dissertation |
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 593 | Applied Project |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 799 | Dissertation |
| CSE 580 | Practicum |
| CSE 511 | Data Processing at Scale |
2024 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 584 | Internship |
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 584 | Internship |
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 599 | Thesis |
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 580 | Practicum |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 580 | Practicum |
| CSE 792 | Research |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
2023 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 584 | Internship |
| CSE 584 | Internship |
| CSE 599 | Thesis |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 599 | Thesis |
| CSE 580 | Practicum |
| CSE 511 | Data Processing at Scale |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 580 | Practicum |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
| CSE 330 | Operating Systems |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CSE 511 | Data Processing at Scale |
Spring 2022: CSE 520
- NSF CAREER Award, 2025
- HotStorage 2024 Best Paper Award, 2024
- VLDB 2024 Distinguished Reviewer Award, 2024
- Program Committee of USENIX FAST 2026
- Program Committee of ACM SIGMOD 2026
- Program Committee of IEEE ICDE 2026
- Mentorship Program Co-Chair of USENIX FAST 2025
- Publicity Co-Chair of ACM HotStorage 2025
- Program Committee of USENIX ATC 2025
- Program Committee of USENIX FAST 2025
- Program Committee of ACM SIGMOD 2025
- Program Committee of VLDB 2025
- Program Committee of IEEE ICDCS 2025
- Program Committee of ACM HotStorage 2025
- Program Committee of USENIX ATC 2024
- Program Committee of ACM SIGMOD 2024 (Demo track)
- Program Committee of VLDB 2024
- Publicity Co-Chair of MSST 2024
- Program Committee of ACM HotStorage 2024
- Program Committee of ACM SYSTOR 2024
- Proceedings Co-Chair of ACM SIGMOD 2023
- Program Committee of ACM SIGMOD 2023
- Program Committee of ICPP 2023
- Program Committee of ACM HotStorage 2023
- Virtual Chair of ACM HotStorage 2022
- Program Committee of IEEE NAS 2022
- Program Committee of ACM APSys 2022
- Reviewer of ACM Transactions on Storage (TOS), 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- Reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Computers (TC), 2022,2024
- Reviewer of ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO) 2024
- Reviewer of IEEE Micro 2024
- Reviewer of ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS) 2024
- Reviewer of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON), 2022, 2023, 2024
- Reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD), 2022
- Reviewer of International Journal of Future Generation Computer Systems, 2021
- Reviewer of Transactions on Cloud Computing, 2022
- Reviewer of Computer Communications, 2022
- Reviewer of IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2022
- Volunteer of International Conference on Parallel Processing (ICPP’14)
- Research Scientist Facebook Oct. 2019 - Dec. 2021
- Research Collaborator Facebook Sep. 2018 - Sep. 2019
- Research Intern Facebook Jun. 2018 - Aug. 2018
- Research Intern Veritas Jun. 2016 - Aug. 2016
- Research Intern Hewlett-Packard (HPE) Jun. 2015 - Aug. 2015
- Research Intern Hewlett-Packard (HPE) Jun. 2014 - Aug. 2014