David Brooks

Computer Science

Gordon McKay Professor of

Computer Science

Maxwell Dworkin 141
33 Oxford Street
Cambridge MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-3989
Fax: 617-495-2489

E-mail:

dbrooks {at} eecs.harvard.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Research

Courses

My research focuses on the interaction between the architecture and software of computer systems and underlying hardware implementation challenges.  These challenges include power, reliability, and variability issues across embedded and high-performance computing systems.  A basic tenet of my research is that architecture design must be cognizant of these implementation issues, and that multi-layer solutions spanning circuits, architecture, and software can provide significant advantages. Addressing technology-scaling issues in a multi-layer fashion requires an understanding of the impact at the silicon level, and we have completed several prototype chip designs to meet these goals.

I have written a short summary of my research activities, and a longer research narrative.  

CS 141:

Computing Hardware

[Fall '09]

CS 246:

Computer Architecture
[Fall '10]

Projects

Office Hours

• Architectural Modeling and Design with Technology Constraints

• Alarm-based Computing

• Multi-layer Efforts to Mitigate Process Variations

• Ultra-low-power Computing for Wireless Sensor Networks

TBD

Recent Publications

• Wonyoung Kim, David Brooks, and Gu-Yeon Wei. “ A Fully-Integrated 3-Level DC/DC Converter for Nanosecond-Scale DVS with Fast Shunt Regulation ” To Appear, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC-11), Feb. 2011.

• Krishna Rangan, Michael Powell, Gu-Yeon Wei, and David Brooks. “Achieving Uniform Performance and Maximizing Throughput in the Presence of Heterogeneity, ” 17th Annual International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA-17), San Antonio, TX, Feb. 2011.

• Vijay Janapa Reddi, Svilen Kanev, Wonyoung Kim, Simone Campanoni, Michael D. Smith, Gu-Yeon Wei, David Brooks. “Voltage Noise in Production Processors,” IEEE Micro’s Top Picks in Computer Architecture Conferences, January/February, 2011.

• Vijay Janapa Reddi, Svilen Kanev, Wonyoung Kim, Simone Campanoni, Michael D. Smith, Gu-Yeon Wei, David Brooks. “Voltage Smoothing: Characterizing and Mitigating Voltage Noise in a Production Processor Using Software-Guided Thread Scheduling, ” 43rd Annual International Symposium on Microarchitecture (Micro-43), Atlanta, GA, Dec. 2010.

• Full Publication List

PhD Students

• Kevin Brownell: 5th year PhD

• Xiao Guo: 2nd year PhD

• Michael Lyons: 6th year PhD

• Judson Porter: 3rd year PhD

• Yakun Sophia Shao: 3rd year PhD

• Amanda Chih-Ning Tseng: 2nd year PhD

Former Students

• Krishna Rangan: PhD 2011 (Intel)

• Vijay Janapa Reddi: PhD 2010 (Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin)

• Meeta Gupta: PhD 2009 (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center)

• Mark Hempstead: PhD 2009 (Assistant Professor, Drexel University)

• Benjamin Lee : PhD 2008 (Assistant Professor, Duke University)

• Xiaoyao Liang: PhD 2008 (Full Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

Tutorials

• Keith Bowman, David Brooks, Gu-Yeon Wei, Chris Wilkerson. “Design Variability: Trends, Models, and Design Solutions,” 41st Annual International Symposium on Microarchitecture (Micro-41), Lake Como, Italy, Dec. 2008 [Tutorial Website]

• David Brooks, Bronis de Supinski, Benjamin Lee, Sally A. McKee, Martin Schulz, Karan Singh. “Learning and Inference Tutorial (LIT) for Large Design and Parameter Spaces,” International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS'08), Seattle, WA, March 2008. [Tutorial Website]

• David Brooks, Bronis de Supinski, Benjamin Lee, Sally A. McKee, Martin Schulz, Karan Singh. “Inference and Learning for Large Scale microarchitectural Analysis,” 34th International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA-34), San Diego, CA, June 2007. [Tutorial Website]

• Zhigang Hu, David Brooks, Victor Zyuban, “Microarchitecture-Level Power-Performance Simulators: Modeling, Validation, and Impact on Design,” 36th Annual International Symposium on Microarchitecture (Micro-36), San Diego, CA 2003. [Tutorial Website]