Alexa VanHattum and Rachit Nigam have been collaborating very productively.
First, they were selected as finalists for a Qualcomm Fellowship. In a submission entitled "Synthesis-Driven ISA Extensions for DSPs," the team proposed building a compiler by applying state of the art program synthesis techniques to the domain of embedded computing. Qualcomm invited multiple teams from 24 universities to submit proposals for the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship 2020. From 188 proposals, Qualcomm selected 42 finalist teams to present their work (this year, virtually) to the judges to select the final winners.
Moreover, VanHattum and Nigam also published a short work-in-progress paper on Diospyros at Languages, Compilers, and Tools for Embedded Systems (LCTES) 2020 entitled "A Synthesis-Aided Compiler for DSP Architectures." Additional authors include CS Assistant Professor Adrian Sampson, who is doctoral research advisor to both VanHattum and Nigam.