Krishna Palem

Krishna.V.Palem

Residence Houston, United States
Citizenship American
Fields Algorithms, Applied Mathematics
Computer architecture, Circuits
Compilers, Devices
Embedded Computing
Physics
Institutions Rice University, USA
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Krishna V. Palem is an American computer scientist and engineer of Indian origin and is the Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing at Rice University [1] and the director of Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics (ISNE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).[2] He is recognized for his "pioneering contributions to the algorithmic, compilation, and architectural foundations of embedded computing", as stated in the citation of his 2009 Wallace McDowell Award,[3] the "highest technical award made solely by the IEEE Computer Society".[4]

Contents

Career and background

He started his career in 1986 as a Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center where he worked on Probabilistic Algorithms [5] and Optimizing Compilers [6] till 1994. Since 1994, he held tenured faculty positions at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU (1994–1999) and Georgia Institute of Technology (1999–2006). Since 2007, he is been at Rice University with joint appointments in Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Statistics.[1]

In 2000, Palem co-founded the Proceler Inc., an Atlanta based venture funded company and served as its Chief Technology Officer.[7][8]

In 2006-07, he was both a Canon Visiting Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and a Moore Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the California Institute of Technology.[9]

In 2007, he also founded the Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics (ISNE) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and currently serves as its director.[10]

In 1998, with Guang Gao, he started the International Conference on Compilers, Architecture, and Synthesis for Embedded Systems (CASES) workshop series[11] in 1998 which has since grown in to the ACM/IEEE sponsored CASES symposium, one of the three anchor conferences of the Embedded Systems Week (ESWeek).[12]

Research

After he moved to NYU in 1994, he founded and headed one of the earliest computer science laboratories in academia on the topic of Embedded Computing called Real-time Compilation Technologies and Instruction Level Parallelism (ReaCT-ILP) within the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.[13] His views expressed in 1996 suggesting the "need for programming tools and software support to eventually compile algorithms implemented in standard and widely-used languages such as C onto the hardware platforms" [14] was the mission statement of this laboratory. His PhD advisee Suren Talla's dissertation on this topic, 'Adaptive EPIC Architectures and their Compilers', was awarded the Janet Fabri prize.[15]

Palem fully developed this concept through 'architecture assembly' [16] through Proceler Inc.[17] Architecture assembly [18] was the foundation of the product offering by Proceler Inc. and was first documented in a patent that Proceler Inc. filed in 2002.[19] Architecture assembly produced custom hardware having pre-synthesized computing elements readily available, and using a compiler to rapidly choose and assemble an application specific and therefore a Dynamically VAriable Instruction SeT Architecture (DVAITA).[8][19] The Analysts' Choice Awards recognized this technology as one of the four nominees for the category of Outstanding technology of 2001.[16] Speaking about this award nomination, Max Baron, the editor-in-chief of Microprocessor report, said that this technology "may develop or be reborn into variants that can change our view of configurable processors, extensions of instruction sets, hardware interpreters, and application-specific accelerators." [16]

Under Palem's direction, the React-ILP laboratory developed the TRIMARAN system,[20][21] co-developed with the CAR group of HP Labs and the Impact project[22] of the University of Illinois, and was aimed at helping universities conduct research on the then emerging EPIC technology embodied in the Itanium processor.[23]

Since 2002, Palem has been developing the thermodynamic foundations [24][25] for radically new ways of approaching the challenge of lowering energy consumption by trading computational accuracy. The implementation of this principle in the context of CMOS devices lead to the invention of a widely known patented technology called the Probabilistic CMOS (PCMOS),[26][27][28] which Technology Review published by MIT recognized as one of the 10 technologies that are "most likely to change the way we live", in 2008.[29] PCMOS was shown to be useful in designing energy and power efficient architectures by his group.[30] Logic and arithmetic being the building blocks of such architectures, PCMOS motivated a new Probabilistic Boolean Logic (PBL) [31] and its arithmetic,[32] which Palem developed with his PhD advisee Lakshmi Chakrapani, whose dissertation received the Sigma-Xi best PhD thesis award.[33] PCMOS technology has also been favorably reviewed in the press recently [34][35][36] when a chip for encryption that was 30 times more energy efficient was announced at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in February 2009.[37]

Since 2008, Palem has also been a Baker Institute Rice Scholar and has been pursuing embedded computing and PCMOS technology based applications of benefit to society, particularly through the I-Slate as an educational tool for resource constrained societies. This project is being pursued in Southern India in collaboration with the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad and ISNE at Nanyang Technological University.[38] As a part of their 125th anniversary, IEEE recognized I-Slate as one of the seven "Technologies That Will Change the Way Humans Interact with Machines, the World and Each Other" [39]

Awards and Fellowships

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Krishna.V.Palem". Rice University Computer Science. http://cohesion.rice.edu/engineering/computerScience/FacultyDetail.cfm?DivID=1&DeptID=24&RiceID=144108. 
  2. ^ "Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics". Nanyang Technological University. http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ISNE/Pages/default.aspx. 
  3. ^ a b "Past recipients for W. Wallace McDowell Award". IEEE Computer Society. http://awards.computer.org/ana/award/viewPastRecipients.action?id=23. 
  4. ^ "IEEE COMPUTER SOCIETY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL". IEEE Computer Society. http://standards.computer.org/sabminutes/2005Wint/CS%20P&P%20Jan05.pdf. 
  5. ^ Zvi M. Kedem, Krishna V. Palem, Michael O. Rabin, A. Raghunathan. "Efficient Program Transformations for Resilient Parallel Computation via Randomization". ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, 1992. http://www.pubzone.org/dblp/conf/stoc/KedemPRR92. 
  6. ^ Krishna Palem, Barbara B. Simons. "Scheduling time-critical instructions on RISC machines". ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS, 1993. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=155183.155190. 
  7. ^ "Proceler to Preview First C-based Soft Processor Design Capability at ESC 2001". Embeddedtechnology.com. http://www.embeddedtechnology.com/article.mvc/Proceler-to-Preview-First-C-based-Soft-Proces-0001. 
  8. ^ a b Bernard Cole. "Design system compiles silicon straight from C code". EETimes. http://www.design-reuse.com/articles/2263/retargeting-ip-design-system-compiles-silicon-straight-from-c-code.html. 
  9. ^ a b "New Faculty". California Institute of Technology. http://www.eas.caltech.edu/engenious/spr07/newfac.html. 
  10. ^ "Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics". Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics, Nanyang Institute of Technology, Singapore. http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ISNE/Pages/default.aspx. 
  11. ^ "CASES". Embedded Systems Week. http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~sridevan/cases2009/cases2009.shtml. 
  12. ^ "Embedded Systems Week". Embedded Systems Week. http://esweek09.inrialpes.fr/. 
  13. ^ "NYU Lab Is Making Smart Devices Smarter". NYU Public Affairs. http://www.nyu.edu/publicaffairs/newsreleases/b_NYU_L5.shtml. 
  14. ^ Krishna V. Palem. "End-to-end Solutions for Reconfigurable Systems: The Programming Gap and Challenges". 30th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) Volume 1: Software Technology and Architecture, 1997. http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/HICSS.1997.667456. 
  15. ^ "School of Engineering adds twelve new faculty". Rice University. http://news.engr.rice.edu/fall2007.aspx?id=90. 
  16. ^ a b c d Max Baron. "TECHNOLOGY 2001: ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER". Microprocessor Report - The Insider Guide to Microprocessor Hardware. http://www.rose-hulman.edu/class/ee/yoder/ece332/Papers/Technology2001ClearDay.pdf. 
  17. ^ Richard Goering. "C design goes 'soft'". EETimes. http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010423S0032. 
  18. ^ Krishna Palem. "C-based architecture assembly supports custom design". EETimes. http://www.design-reuse.com/articles/2232/reconfiguring-design-c-based-architecture-assembly-supports-custom-design.html. 
  19. ^ a b K. V. Palem, H. Patel, and S. Yalamanchili. "An Instruction Set Architecture to Aid Code Generation for Hardware Platforms Having Multiple Heterogeneous Functional Units". US Serial No. 09/715,578, November 2000. http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2002041104&IA=US2001043255&DISPLAY=STATUS. 
  20. ^ "An Infrastructure for Research in Backend Compilation and Architecture Exploration". TRIMARAN Group. http://www.trimaran.org. 
  21. ^ "NYU Computer Lab Is Working On Challenge Of Bringing EPIC Technology To Embedded Systems". Science Blog. http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/1998/C/199802254.html. 
  22. ^ "The IMPACT Research Group". The IMPACT Research Group. http://impact.crhc.illinois.edu/. 
  23. ^ "HP, University of Illinois and New York University Provide Advanced EPIC Compiler Research Infrastructure to Universities". freelibrary.com. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/HP,+University+of+Illinois+and+New+York+University+Provide+Advanced+...-a021090391. 
  24. ^ Krishna V. Palem. "Proof as Experiment:Probabilistic Algorithms from a Thermodynamic Perspective". Proceedings of the Intl. Symposium on Verification (Theory and Practice), 2003. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~lc6/visen/2003verification.pdf. 
  25. ^ Krishna V. Palem. "Energy Aware Algorithm Design via Probabilistic Computing: From Algorithms and Models to Moore's Law and Novel (Semiconductor) Devices". Proceedings of the Intl. Conference on Compilers, Architecture and Synthesis for Embedded Systems (CASES),2003. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~kvp1/pubs/palem-ea.pdf. 
  26. ^ Krishna V. Palem, Suresh Cheemalavagu,Pinar Korkmaz,and Bilge E. Akgul. "PROBABILISTIC AND INTROVERTED SWITCHING TO CONSERVE ENERGY IN A DIGITAL SYSTEM". United States Patent 7290154. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7290154.html. 
  27. ^ Suresh Cheemalavagu,Pinar Korkmaz,and Krishna V. Palem. "Ultra Low-energy Computing via Probabilistic Algorithms and Devices: CMOS Device Primitives and the Energy-Probability Relationship". SSDM 2004. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~kvp1/pubs/eppbits.pdf. 
  28. ^ Pinar Korkmaz, Bilge E. S. Akgul, Krishna V. Palem and Lakshmi N. Chakrapani. "Advocating Noise as an Agent for Ultra Low-Energy Computing: Probabilistic CMOS Devices and Their Characteristics". Japanese Journal of Applied Physics. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~lc6/visen/2206jjap.pdf. 
  29. ^ a b "Probabilistic Chips". Technology Review published by MIT. http://www.technologyreview.com/specialreports/specialreport.aspx?id=25. 
  30. ^ Lakshmi N. Chakrapani, Bilge E. S. Akgul, Suresh Cheemalavagu, Pinar Korkmaz, Krishna V. Palem and Balasubramanian Seshasayee. "Ultra Efficient Embedded SOC Architectures based on Probabilistic CMOS (PCMOS) Technology". Design Automation and Test in Europe Conference (DATE), 2006. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~lc6/visen/2006date.pdf. 
  31. ^ Lakshmi N. Chakrapani and Krishna V. Palem. "A Probabilistic Boolean Logic and its Meaning". Rice University, Department of Computer Science Technical Report,June 2008. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~lc6/visen/2008ricetr.pdf. 
  32. ^ Lakshmi N.B. Chakrapani, Kirthi Krishna Muntimadugu, Avinash Lingamneni, Jason George, Krishna V. Palem. "Highly Energy and Performance Efficient Embedded Computing Through Approximately Correct Arithmetic: A Mathematical Foundation and Preliminary Experimental Validation". International conference on Compilers, Architectures, and Synthesis for Embedded Systems, (CASES) 2008. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~lc6/visen/2008cases.pdf. 
  33. ^ Department of ECE. "Chakrapani wins Sigma Xi Best PhD Thesis Award (March 2009)". Rice University. http://www.ece.rice.edu/news/awardshonors/09chakrapani_award. 
  34. ^ "Professor works to revolutionize computer chips". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6252697.html. 
  35. ^ Higginbotham, Stacey (2009-02-09). "Brave New Chip For a Brave New Wireless Future". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2009/02/09/09gigaom-new-chip-tech-trades-precision-for-power-savings-38421.html. Retrieved 2010-05-07. 
  36. ^ Fahey, Jonathan (2009-02-26). "A Chip That Is Probably Right". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/25/probablistic-logic-intel-technology-breakthroughs_probability.html. 
  37. ^ ISSCC. "ISSCC Program". International Solid-State Circuits Conference. http://isscc.org/isscc/2009/advprog.pdf. 
  38. ^ Krishna Palem, Al Barr, Avinash Lingamneni, Vincent Mooney, Rajeswari Pingali, Harini Sampath, Jayanthi Sivaswamy. "I-Slate, Ethnomathematics and Rural Education". IEEE Conference on Technologies for Humanitarian Challenges, 2009. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~lc6/visen/2009islate.pdf. 
  39. ^ a b "IEEE 125th Anniversary media roundtable". IEEE. http://www.ieee125.org/newsroom/news/2009-03-10-ieee-celebrates-125th-anniversary.html. 
  40. ^ a b "ACM fellows". ACM. http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/1_2006/acm_fellows_2006.cfm. 

External links