Noel Kwan is a Database Kernel Engineer at RisingWave, where he works on a cost-effective and scalable database built to streamline data processing and query serving. His day-to-day work centers on the two things production databases cannot compromise on: performance and reliability.

That focus shows up in concrete contributions. Noel has worked on fuzzing tools such as SQLsmith, which stress-test the engine to uncover latent bugs before they reach users, and on performance-related features such as Backfill. He previously studied at NUS with a focus on programming languages, an area that continues to shape his approach to database kernel development.