About Me

My name is Rodrigo and I'm currently a software engineer at Ava Labs.

I recently graduated from Cornell University with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics. During my time there, I came across blockchain and its many applications - first focusing on DeFi pricing and the MEV space. I now work at the protocol level, with most of my experience/expertise revolving around the Avalanche protocol.

Most broadly, I am interested in (and fascinated by) large systems. Seeing multiple components work together in unison towards a common goal (whether in a distributed or centralized manner) is awesome.

In my free time, I enjoy taking my dog Lucho on walks and practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

"A stone thrown in the air: nothing bad for it on the way down or good for it on the way up."

- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9:17

Experience

Software Engineer - Ava Labs (December 2024 - )

I transitioned to a software engineering role with my focus being on the core architecture and implementation of the HyperSDK. Here, I took on various initiatives such as redesigning our load testing framework and improving test coverage throughout the repository.

Currently, I work on EVM performance testing.

Developer Relations Engineer - Ava Labs (July 2024 - December 2024)

I worked on the HyperSDK, an opinionated framework focused on enabling developers to build high-performance VMs while abstracting away common code. I built various VMs demonstating the performance and DevX capabilities of the HyperSDK across various verticals (DeFi, NFTs, etc.).

Developer Relations Intern - Ava Labs (July 2023 - November 2023)

Most of my internship revolved around building out the Avalanche Academy - I contributed to various EVM courses and built the foundation for a Solidity course, utilizing my experience from teaching at Cornell.

Additionally, I was given the liberty to build with the Avalanche RustSDK, a framework which enabled building VMs in Rust. A sample VM that I built was ChessVM, a VM which enabled users to play chess completely on-chain.

Course Instructor - CS4998 [Blockchain Development] (January 2023 - December 2023)

I founded the first technical, for-credit blockchain course in the Ivy League. I hosted lectures twice-a-week and provided students with both lecture materials and homework/projects. I also wrote a textbook which guided students through the syntax of Solidity.

Capital Markets Intern - Crosstower

I automated the process of risk report generations at the end of each trading day for the trading desk. Additionally, I queried on-chain data to produce visual graphs for the traders to identify correlations.