Researching intelligent, distributed, cloud-native systems for the next generation of applications.
DINA LAB — Distributed Infrastructure for NextGen Applications is a research lab focused on the intersection of intelligent systems and modern distributed infrastructure.
The lab explores how next-generation applications can be designed, deployed, and coordinated across cloud, edge, serverless, and federated environments.
The lab is directed by Dr. Mehrdad Ashtiani, alongside core research leads and researchers working across systems, AI, and distributed computing.
LLM · Federated Learning · FedLLM · Software Systems · FaaS · Serverless · Cloud Computing · Edge Computing
This repository contains the official DINA LAB website — a modern, responsive research showcase designed around the lab's identity, people, projects, and activity.
- Research — visual presentation of the lab's main research directions.
- People — profiles for the Lab Director, Core Leads, and researchers.
- Academic Badges — compact degree indicators for B.Sc, M.Sc, and Ph.D members.
- Current Work — manually curated research threads showing what teams are currently building.
- Projects — project cards with descriptions, research tags, contributors, and optional publication/demo links.
- GitHub Activity — privacy-aware aggregate repository and commit statistics.
- Research Coffee Meter — a playful activity metric derived from commit count.
The website is content-driven and keeps most frequently edited information in simple JSON files.
data/
├── members.json # People, roles, photos, links, degree and research focus
├── lab-work.json # Current work and project information
└── github-stats.json # Generated aggregate GitHub activity
Member references inside project data are automatically matched with members.json, allowing the site to reuse profile photos and identity information consistently across sections.
DINA LAB includes an automated statistics workflow built with GitHub Actions.
It can surface aggregate information such as:
- total repository count
- organization-wide commit activity
- last statistics update
- derived activity indicators such as the Research Coffee Meter
The public website is designed to expose aggregate metrics only and does not need to publish private repository names, source code, or internal project details.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Structure | HTML5 |
| Styling | Modern CSS3 |
| Interactions | Vanilla JavaScript |
| Content | JSON |
| Automation | GitHub Actions |
| Hosting | GitHub Pages |
| Icons | Lucide |
| GitHub Data | GitHub REST API |
The site intentionally avoids a heavy frontend framework, keeping the codebase lightweight, transparent, and easy to maintain.
The visual identity combines:
- deep navy backgrounds
- warm cream typography
- DINA orange accents
- gold leadership highlights
- subtle glass surfaces
- minimal motion and glow effects
- responsive research-oriented layouts
The goal is to give the lab a visual identity that feels equally at home in AI research, distributed systems, and production-grade infrastructure.