Tom Regpala

TOM REGPALA
COMPUTER ENGINEER

I work on GPU security, large-scale measurement, and analog hardware — from CUDA-side defenses against model-extraction attacks down to the solder joints on a two-layer board.

Based in
Bakersfield, California
Education
B.S. Computer Engineering, CSU Bakersfield
Published
Atmospheric Environment: X, 2026
Looking for
Systems and hardware roles, PhD positions

Selected work

Three projects that cover the range

Hiding a transformer from its own GPU

The Decepticon attack (IISWC 2023) steals a model's architecture by fingerprinting GPU kernel execution — a trace fine-tuned models inherit from their pre-trained parent. We recreated the attack and built two CUDA-side defenses against it. Constant-load padding cuts the attack's identification rate from 95% to under 10% but costs a 6.6× slowdown; jitter scheduling costs 33% overhead and still cuts it to 61%. Together they bracket a security-performance tradeoff rather than closing it.

Read the write-up
CUDA, GPU security 2024–2025 CSUB research
Peer-reviewed

Air pollution exposure inequality across U.S. income and racial groups

First-author study introducing two dimensionless diagnostics — the Middle-Group Residual and Within-Stratum Slope Heterogeneity — that recover structure the standard slope index of inequality discards. Built on 24 years of EPA monitor readings for four criteria pollutants, with PM2.5 extended across 44 states by fusing regulatory monitors with population-weighted satellite estimates. The analysis also shows that where the EPA places its sensors biases national estimates enough to reverse the direction of the measured pollution–income trend.

Read the write-up Read the paper PDF My R pipeline Published code
R, RStudio 2024–2026 Atmos. Env: X

Fitting a noise-gated distortion circuit into a 1590B

A two-layer PCB implementation of a JFET-gated guitar distortion circuit from Almqvist and Nordberg's 2019 thesis, reworked from a bench-sized layout into the 86.5 × 54.5 mm footprint of a standard stompbox enclosure — jack-supported mounting, pot connections ordered to match the panel so the harness runs straight. The populated board didn't work: tone and volume passed signal, distortion and gate didn't. I traced it to four design-side faults, including reversed supply pins on both TL061s from a mirrored symbol and an RC4558 power unit that was never placed, and documented each with its fix. The surrounding senior project also covered a modular controller for power and signal routing across a pedalboard.

Read the write-up Repository Technical report
KiCad, LiveSPICE 2024–2025 Senior design

Publication

Regpala, T., Palafox, E., & Yatawara, A. (2026). Air pollution exposure inequality across U.S. income and racial groups, 2000–2023: A hybrid monitor–satellite analysis with two new shape diagnostics. Atmospheric Environment: X, 31, 100492. doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2026.100492

Experience

Undergraduate research assistant

CSU Bakersfield

Ran the full analysis pipeline for the air quality study and implemented the CUDA extraction defenses. Presented the GPU benchmark results as an invited speaker at Summer Research in Artificial Intelligence: From Secure to Local LLMs.

May 2024 – Aug 2025

IT assistant, student lead

CSU Bakersfield, Information Technology Services

Trained and led 20 student technicians and standardized support procedures campus-wide. Resolved 30+ tickets weekly across Windows, macOS, and VoIP for 70+ departments, and administered Active Directory policy across several thousand accounts.

Aug 2021 – Jul 2025

Substitute teacher

Kern High School District

Taught AP Calculus AB/BC, pre-calculus, and computer science across 19 campuses.

Nov 2025 – present

Tools

Languages

C, C++, C#, CUDA, Python, R, MATLAB, VHDL, MIPS and ARMv8 assembly

Hardware and EDA

KiCad, Altera Quartus, NI Multisim, NI LabVIEW, LiveSPICE

Lab and test

Oscilloscope, digital multimeter, AC/DC supply, soldering and rework

Systems

Active Directory, ServiceNow

Get in touch

I'm open to systems, hardware, and GPU-adjacent engineering roles, and to PhD positions in GPU architecture and high-performance computing.

sebastianregpala@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub