Fresh Perspectives: Meet Our 2025 Research Interns

This summer, we’re thrilled to welcome four talented interns to the IPinfo research team. As Head of Research, I’m especially excited about the energy and curiosity they’re bringing to the table. 

Our team’s mission is to find out what’s possible with IP data, and that means constantly exploring new ideas, methods, and insights. These interns are already diving into complex problems with enthusiasm and creativity, and I’m confident their contributions will help shape our future research and tools.

Read on to learn more about our interns.

Alagappan

1. What are you studying, and where?

I am a 4th year PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of California Irvine.

2. What drew you to an internship at IPinfo?

As I am approaching the final few year(s) of my PhD, I've been eager to explore how research translates in the industry setting. What really caught my attention about IPinfo was how naturally their work connects with my own research focus –- it felt like a perfect opportunity to bridge that academic-industry gap while working on something genuinely exciting.

3. What are you working on this summer?

This summer, I am working on understanding the anomalies that plague our understanding of internet topology. My work has two main parts: developing detection systems for various mapping anomalies like tunneling techniques, and building a robust system to map IP addresses to their origin networks. It's essentially a key piece toward getting a clearer picture of what the internet topology really looks like at multiple levels after accounting for these anomalies.

4. What’s one thing you’re hoping to learn this summer?

I am hoping to gain an industry perspective on measurement-related research and understand the challenges involved in translating academic work into real-world products — particularly around issues of scale, accuracy, and reliability. I am also eager to learn about current trends in this space and understand what drives consumer and market interest in network measurement technologies.

5. What’s your favorite work snack?

Peanuts or some good trail mix — they give me that steady energy boost, plus I can munch on them while thinking through complex problems.

6. If you could instantly become an expert in any topic, what would it be?

I would probably have to say AI, especially with all the recent breakthroughs happening so rapidly –- like many others, I am sure! It feels like we're at this incredible inflection point where understanding these advances could really shape how we approach problems across so many different fields.

7. What’s a recent tech trend or topic that fascinates you?

I would say the recent advances with LLMs and agentic AI are really captivating right now — there's something fascinating about watching AI systems become more autonomous and capable of complex reasoning. Sustainable tech is equally interesting to me, especially seeing how innovation is driving solutions for climate challenges. Both areas feel like they're moving at breakneck speed with real potential for meaningful impact.

8. What’s the last great thing you read, watched, or listened to?

I recently watched some fascinating history videos about how ancient trade routes shaped entire civilizations. The way they connected something as simple as spice trading to the rise and fall of empires was really eye-opening — it's one of those topics where you realize how much of our modern world traces back to people just trying to get better food seasoning!

Kedar 

1. What are you studying, and where?

I am a third year PhD student at Northwestern University.

2. What drew you to an internship at IPinfo?

IPInfo provides the cutting edge service for IP geolocation and metadata information, with applications spanning fraud and abuse detection, content delivery, as well as research studies to name a few.  As someone who has previously used and continues to use IPinfo services, the opportunity to contribute to improving their geolocation pipeline was too exciting to pass up!

3. What are you working on this summer?

I am working on expanding and improving the IPinfo geolocation service through machine learning techniques to infer IP locations based on hostnames.

4. What’s one thing you’re hoping to learn this summer?

First, I’m super excited to work with the talented research and engineering team at IPinfo. I’m hoping to learn how massive longitudinal internet datasets are managed and collected, as well as the state of the art techniques for internet geolocation, and how to conduct research at industry scale.

5. What’s your favorite work snack?

Probably LaCroix 

6. If you could instantly become an expert in any topic, what would it be?

I would love to be an expert in tennis, definitely my favorite sport.

7. What’s a recent tech trend or topic that fascinates you?

Agentic workflows really excite me; I hope to explore how agents could apply to network tasks like router configuration, data collection, and others in the future.

8. What’s the last great thing you read, watched, or listened to?

The Brothers Karamazov, amazing book!

Mert

1. What are you studying, and where?

I'm a fourth-year PhD student at the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

My research focuses broadly on internet measurement, with a particular emphasis on the challenges of IPv6 scanning and the identification of aliasing behavior in networks — essentially, understanding how to accurately detect and characterize fully-responsive or active networks (some of them are very large!).

2. What drew you to an internship at IPinfo?

What really attracted me to IPinfo was the opportunity to work at the intersection of industry and research. IPinfo stands out as one of the companies that not only supports but actively engages with academic research, which is incredibly motivating for someone like me who’s coming from a research-heavy background. The chance to collaborate with people who’ve had many contributions to how internet measurement evolves — and who also understand the academic mindset — was a big opportunity. Also, having access to IPinfo’s comprehensive data opens up entirely new perspectives on problems I’ve been focusing on, allowing me to explore angles I hadn’t previously considered.

3. What are you working on this summer?

This summer, I’m focused on laying the groundwork for a more accurate and efficient Autonomous System (AS) classifier. The goal is to better understand the behavior and categorization of ASes — whether they belong to hosting providers, ISPs, educational institutions, governments, or other entities. Lately, a growing number of ASes don't fit neatly into these traditional categories and instead are observed to show mixed signals, which often point to them being "Personal ASes".

My internship focuses on identifying and characterizing these Personal ASes, and developing methods to automate and integrate this detection into IPinfo’s existing classification pipeline.

4. What’s one thing you’re hoping to learn this summer? 

IPinfo approaches internet data from a wide range of perspectives, and I’m excited to learn how combining diverse viewpoints and expertise can reveal hidden insights. I think being part of a collaborative, interdisciplinary team will be a great learning experience. I hope to take away a deeper understanding of how to effectively work in larger, cross-functional teams, and how to apply the techniques I learn here to enhance the depth and impact of my own PhD research.

5. What’s your favorite work snack?

Definitely dried fruits/nuts! They’re the perfect energy boost when I need to recharge during the workday.

6. If you could instantly become an expert in any topic, what would it be?

Music theory and playing the guitar/drums! I think that music is a fascinating universal language that can be used to express things that spoken languages cannot deliver effectively.

7. What’s a recent tech trend or topic that fascinates you?

Quantum computing definitely fascinates me. While it's still an emerging field with many challenges before widespread application, I am looking forward to seeing it change how we approach complex problems. I'm especially intrigued by its implications for understanding the universe at a more fundamental level.

8. What’s the last great thing you read, watched, or listened to?

I recently read The Three-Body Problem series by Cixin Liu, and it left a lasting impression on me. Beyond the traditional sci-fi elements, the books explore deep questions about physics, sociology, ethics, and the nature/dynamics of life in the universe. It really shifted how I think about our place in the cosmos and sparked even more curiosity about how everything works on both a scientific and philosophical level.

Shivani

1. What are you studying, and where?

I'm a PhD Student at University of California San Diego. My research interest is internet measurements focused on understanding LEO satellites and content hosting infrastructure

2. What drew you to an internship at IPinfo?

What attracts me to IPinfo is that it's a research-driven startup where I can dive deep into learning while getting a real feel for how these innovative companies operate and adapt so quickly.

3. What are you working on this summer?

I'm working on classifying mobile carrier IP prefixes globally to improve IP geolocation accuracy. Basically, I'm trying to identify and categorize different types of mobile networks — like regular carriers, roaming networks, and eSIM providers — to better understand how they impact location data.

4. Whatʼs one thing you're hoping to learn this summer?

I'm hoping to pick up skills in working with massive datasets efficiently and experience how research collaboration works in a real company setting.

5. What's your favorite work snack?

Sun Chips

6. If you could instantly become an expert in any topic, what would it be?

I'd love to become an expert in using technology for sustainable farming –- like precision agriculture, IoT sensors for soil monitoring, and AI-driven crop optimization. There's something really appealing about combining cutting-edge tech with feeding people sustainably.

7. What's a recent tech trend or topic that fascinates you?

Mixed reality is getting really sophisticated — the blend of physical and digital worlds is creating entirely new user experiences.

8. What's the last great thing you read, watched, or listened to?

I've been hooked on the 'Lex Fridman Podcast' –- his recent episode with Yann LeCun about the future of AI was incredible.

More to Come From Our 2025 Interns

While our interns are gaining hands-on experience in real-world internet data challenges, we’re learning just as much from their perspectives and questions. 

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds, and we’re proud to be part of their journey into the world of internet infrastructure research. We’ll share more about what they’re working on as they delve deeper into their focus areas. 

Interested in being a research intern in 2026? Reach out to our research team.