Purdue University

Name: Samuel Gomez

Year: Senior

Major: Data Analytics, Technologies, and Applications

Position: Research Solutions Engineering Student

Can you introduce yourself and share a little about who you are? Hello! My name is Samuel Gomez, and I’m a Data Analytics student at Purdue University. I’m passionate about using data and technology to solve real-world problems and create meaningful impact. Beyond academics, I’m an active member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, a mentor in SHPE, and someone who enjoys helping others grow. My experiences span IT, data science, and project work across several industries, all of which have shaped my interest in building solutions that are both practical and people focused. Outside of my technical work, I enjoy soccer, the gym, and learning from the diverse communities I’ve been part of.

What are some of your main interests or passions? Some of my main interests include watching movies, playing soccer, going to the gym, and lately getting into running. Outside of school and work, I also enjoy photography and reading books on psychology, they help me learn more about people and spark a lot of my curiosity!

Can you tell us about your role at RCAC? What does your job entail? At RCAC, my role centers on developing and supporting solutions that improve how researchers use Purdue’s high-performance computing systems. Most recently, I designed and built a fully automated live-migration system for virtual machines on the Negishi cluster. This system integrates SLURM job scheduling with QEMU to seamlessly move VMs from node to node before job time limits expire, allowing them to run continuously with zero downtime. I also wrote the full internal documentation and an external white paper explaining the system’s architecture, automation logic, and usage, making it easier for both engineers and future users to understand and adopt the workflow.

What do you enjoy most about working at RCAC? What I enjoy most about working at RCAC is the people and the challenges. The team is incredibly supportive, knowledgeable, and always willing to help, which creates an environment where you’re constantly learning. I also appreciate the opportunity to work on complex, real-world problems that push me to grow technically and think creatively.

Tell us more about your favorite project you like to show off!

Project title: Negishi Recursive Migration System

Project description: My favorite project at RCAC is the automated recursive live-migration system I developed for the Negishi HPC cluster. The goal of the project was to allow virtual machines to run continuously on a cluster that enforces strict SLURM wall time limits. To achieve this, I designed a system that integrates QEMU live migration with SLURM scheduling so a VM can seamlessly “hop” from one compute node to another before its job expires. The system automatically launches new VM instances, monitors job runtimes, triggers full memory-state transfers, and sustains uninterrupted VM uptime across job boundaries.

What did you learn from this project? This project taught me how to design automation that fits within real HPC constraints while remaining reliable, policy-compliant, and user-friendly. I gained experience with QEMU internals, cluster networking, and advanced SLURM job orchestration, as well as how to build systems that can operate entirely without human intervention. I also strengthened my technical writing skills by documenting the full architecture, control flow, and implementation details for both internal engineering use and external audiences.

Did you get to showcase this anywhere? Yes, I will! My work is being shared in two ways:

1. Internal engineering documentation on Purdue RCAC’s GitHub for cluster staff and Research Solutions Engineers.
2. A publicly written white paper that explains the system in accessible terms for researchers, students, and anyone interested in HPC systems design. This will allow others to learn from the project and potentially adopt similar approaches on their own HPC environments.