Vijay Goyal

I work on efficient machine learning, with a focus on knowledge distillation, inference systems, and optimization.

Computer Science + Combinatorics & Optimization at Waterloo

Publications

Research methodology

Knowledge Distillation

A research platform for studying how response-priming prompts change knowledge distillation from a large language model teacher to a smaller local model.

Python
PyTorch
LoRA
Hugging Face
GSM8K

Paper GitHub

Projects

Inference systems

QuickServe

An experimental C++ inference scheduler built on llama.cpp for comparing FIFO, continuous-batching, and heuristic AIMD policies on Apple Silicon.

C++17
llama.cpp
CMake
Apple Silicon

GitHub

Reinforcement learning

Racey-Car

A sim-to-real reinforcement-learning pipeline for autonomous driving on a physical racecar, backed by a configurable PyBullet environment.

Python
PyBullet
PyTorch
Stable-Baselines3
Arduino

GitHub

Optimization research

SOPHIA-G

A PyTorch optimizer that blends Sophia-style curvature clipping with AdamW-style moment tracking and weight decay.

Python
PyTorch
Optimization
Hessian approximation

GitHub

Learning systems

C++ CNN + Autodiff Engine

A convolutional neural network and reverse-mode autodifferentiation engine implemented in C++ without machine-learning libraries.

C++
Autodiff
CNN
AMSGrad
pybind11

GitHub

Machine-learning fundamentals

multiNN-cpu

A modular neural-network framework written in C++ without machine-learning libraries, organized around networks, layers, and neurons.

C++
Neural networks
CPU training
AdamW

GitHub

Experience & education

Experience

ML Research Engineering Intern

May 2026 – Aug. 2026

CIBC Global Asset Management

Built evaluation and GPU-accelerated modelling infrastructure for comparing interpretable financial models, including memory-bounded PyTorch tooling for large datasets.

Technical Project Lead

Apr. 2026 – Present

WAT.ai, Design Team

Leads an ML research and engineering team developing a world-model control stack for bimanual cloth folding.

Education

University of Waterloo

2025 – 2030

Bachelor of Mathematics, Computer Science