Biography

Hi! I’m Rachit Nigam Pronunciation: Ruh-CHITH NI-gum. First name rhymes with “crutch-it”. . I am starting as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2025-26 academic year. I am currently wrapping up my PhD at Cornell University working with Adrian Sampson. I was previously a visiting scholar at MIT with Jonathan Ragan-Kelley. Before that, I spent a year at the UW PLSE group as a visiting scholar.

Research  My thesis research has produced three systems:

  • Calyx: A compiler infrastructure for compiling high-level languages to efficient circuits. Calyx has been adopted by the LLVM CIRCT project and is the basis for several academic and research tools.
  • Filament: a new hardware description language that uses a novel type system to guarantee correctness of pipeline composition. Filament’s ideas have influenced the design of Google’s XLS system and Jane Street’s HardCaml language.
  • Dahlia, a high-level language for predictable accelerator generation. Dahlia demonstrated how type systems can connect high-level abstractions with circuit-level constraints.

PLTea  I started PLTea during PLDI ’20 in hopes of keeping social interactions alive during virtual conferences. PLTea now has over 400 members, meets monthly, has been organized several times with various PL conferences (PLDI ’22, ICFP ’21, SPLASH ’21, PLDI ’21) and has inspired spin-offs in other communities (ArchChat).

Personal  I am a classically trained Tabla player and have a continuing obsession with synthesizers and digital audio workstations. When the weather allows for it, I go on long bike rides, often in search of little oddities.