Wednesday / CS Seminar

October 25th / 12:00 PM

Hybrid / Mudd 3514

Zoom Link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/95896781741?pwd=eUc2bGVmcGFGZ1o2K2tacjgxWXlOQT09

Panopto Link: https://northwestern.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=283ecdf8-2214-446a-afb1-b09a010e39c3

Speaker

Nikos Hardavellas

Title

Reshaping Computer Systems for the New Hardware Landscape

Abstract

Modern computer systems have been built on foundations that were devised decades ago. However, computer hardware has changed significantly since then, as have the demands of users. Many of these foundational concepts still serve us well. On several occasions, though, the decades-old customary practice prevents us from realizing better figures of merit, such as higher performance, lower power, lower energy consumption or easier programming. CMOS transistors have served us well for six decades, but severely constrain us today; emerging devices offer exciting new opportunities. Memory systems were conceptualized in the '60s, but struggle to harness the capabilities of contemporary technologies; sophisticated users and hardware already go to great lengths to circumvent their aged abstractions. Parallel programming is still a formidable endeavor, but no system today, not even a single core, can deliver more than half its peak performance without it. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts to rethink some of the aspects of present-day computer systems and reshape them for the new hardware landscape.

Biography

Nikos Hardavellas is an associate professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at Northwestern University, where he directs the Parallel Architecture Group at Northwestern (PARAG@N, http://paragon.cs.northwestern.edu/). His research interests are at the intersection of computer architecture and nanophotonics, parallel systems, microarchitecture, design for dark silicon, and quantum computer systems. Nikos is the recipient of the June and Donald Brewer Chair at Northwestern University (2009), an NSF CAREER award (2015), a Faculty Service award (2022), was included in the Associated Student Government Faculty Honor Roll (2022), was a keynote speaker at IEEE ISPDC (2010), and became a Fellow of the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence in 2012. He received best paper awards, nominations and test-of-time awards at HPCA (2022), ISLPED (2021), EDBT (2019) and ICDE (2006), an IEEE Micro Top Picks Award (2010), an IEEE Micro Top Picks Honorable Mention (2023), and a Technical Award for Contributions to the Alpha Microprocessor (2000). Prior to joining Northwestern University, he contributed to the design of several generations of Alpha microprocessors and high-end multiprocessor servers at Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard. Nikos received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Research Interests/Area

Computer architecture, nanophotonics, parallel systems, microarchitecture, design for dark silicon, memory-oriented systems, and quantum computer systems.