About me

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS), supervised by Prof. Haifeng Yu. I am on the job market and will graduate in early 2025.

My research focuses on designing robust distributed systems for adversarial settings. I have actively published in top-tier conferences and journals, including IEEE S&P (Oakland), SPAA, ToN, INFOCOM, and Computer Networks. Notably, I proposed the first practical blockchain system capable of tolerating majority Byzantine faults, culminating in two IEEE S&P (Oakland) publications in 2022 and 2023.

Originally from Beijing, China, I moved to Singapore in 2009 for my high-school education under the SM1 scholarship. I continued my studies in Singapore and married my wife in 2019. I am now the proud father of a lovely son. Beyond academia, I am passionate about carpentry and have even built an entire kitchen for my family.

Education

  1. National University of Singapore

    2019 — 2024

    Ph.D in computer Science (expected to graduate early 2025)
    Advisor: Prof. Haifeng Yu

  2. National University of Singapore

    2014 — 2018

    Double Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics
    GPA: 4.9/5.0
    Valedictorian

  3. Hwa Chong Institution

    2010 — 2013

    Pre-U, Hwa Chong Diploma

Selected Publication

  • Ruomu Hou, Haifeng Yu, and Yucheng Sun , "Selfied: Sybil Defense in Permissionless Blockchains via In-protocol Bandwidth Consumption." Computer Networks, Volume 256, Version of Record published Oct 2024.
  • Yucheng Sun, Ruomu Hou, and Haifeng Yu , "Robust and Low-degree Overlay for Secure Flooding Against Resource-bounded Adversaries." In Proceedings of the IEEE Pacific Rim International Symposium on Dependable Computing (PRDC'24), Oct 2024. Winner of Best Paper Award.
  • Yucheng Sun, Ruomu Hou, and Haifeng Yu , "Using Multi-dimensional Quorums for Optimal Resilience in Multi-resource Blockchains." In Proceedings of the IEEE Pacific Rim International Symposium on Dependable Computing (PRDC'23), Oct 2023. Winner of 2023 IEEE Distinguished Paper Award on Dependable Computing.
  • Ruomu Hou and Haifeng Yu , "Optimistic Fast Confirmation While Tolerating Malicious Majority in Blockchains." In Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland'23), May 2023.
  • Ruomu Hou, Irvan Jahja, Yucheng Sun, Jiyan Wu, and Haifeng Yu , "Achieving Sublinear Complexity under Constant T in T-interval Dynamic Networks." In Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Parallelism in Algorithms and Architectures (SPAA'22), July 2022.
  • Ruomu Hou, Haifeng Yu, and Prateek Saxena , "Using Throughput-Centric Byzantine Broadcast to Tolerate Malicious Majority in Blockchains." In Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland'22), May 2022.
  • Irvan Jahja, Haifeng Yu, and Ruomu Hou , "On the power of randomization in distributed algorithms in dynamic networks with adaptive adversaries." Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, Volume 159, pp. 35-50, Jan 2022.
  • Ruomu Hou, Irvan Jahja, Loi Luu, Prateek Saxena, and Haifeng Yu , "Randomized View Reconciliation in Permissionless Distributed Systems." IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (ToN), Volume 28, Issue 5, Oct 2022.
  • Irvan Jahja, Haifeng Yu, and Ruomu Hou , "On the power of randomization in distributed algorithms in dynamic networks with adaptive adversaries." In Proceedings of the International European Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing (Euro-Par'20), Aug 2020.
  • Haifeng Yu, Ivica Nikolic, Ruomu Hou, and Prateek Saxena , "OHIE: Blockchain Scaling Made Simple." In Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland'20), May 2020.

Teaching

Teaching Experience

  1. CS4231 Parallel and Distributed Algorithms

    Jan - May 2022

    Teaching Assistant
    Conducted weekly consultation sessions, and helped in preparing other course materials.

  2. CS1101S Programming Methodology

    Aug - Dec 2021

    Teaching Assistant
    Developed a graphical programming environment and a web UI for the course.

  3. CS3230 Design and Analysis of Algorithms

    Aug - Dec 2018

    Teaching Assistant
    Conducted weekly tutorials, prepared and marked assignments.

  4. CS3230 Design and Analysis of Algorithms

    Jan - May 2017

    Teaching Assistant
    Conducted weekly tutorials, prepared and marked assignments.

  5. CS3230 Design and Analysis of Algorithms

    Aug - Dec 2016

    Teaching Assistant
    Conducted weekly tutorials, prepared and marked assignments.