Short Biography

Michael Huang received the BS degree in computer science and engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, in 1994, the MS and the PhD degree in computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999 and 2002, respectively. From 1994 to 1997, he was a lead architect in building a 32-processor hierarchical shared-memory multiprocessor. He joined the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department in 2002. His research interests include various aspects of high-performance computer architecture such as processor microarchitecture, communication and memory substrate, reliability, and energy-efficient and complexity-effective design. His research focuses on addressing emerging issues and exploring new technologies in the underlying device, circuit, and manufacturing technology. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award and a member of the IEEE and the ACM.

Research Overview

Increasing reliance on computing as a means of scientific exploration demands ever higher speed, reliability, and efficiency from high-performance systems. Achieving sustained gain in all these metrics requires continued innovation in processor microarchitecture, the communication and coherency substrate, and the underlying device technology. Such innovation builds upon concrete understanding of the interaction of these components. Our research spans these components and focuses on delivering practical, complexity-effective solutions. In addition to architectural exploration, we are also investigating how to leverage new technologies and circuit techniques. For example, we are investigating the use optics as well as mixed-signal circuits to design nature-based non-von Neumann computings systems.

Research Interests

• High-performance and energy-efficient computer microarchitecture
• non-von Neumann computing
• Ising machines

Selected Publications

• Increasing Ising Machine Capacity with Multi-Chip Architectures, Anshujit Sharma, Richard Afoakwa, Zeljko Ignjatovic, and Michael Huang, Proceedings of the 49^th International Symposium on Computer Architecture, Jun. 2022
• BRIM: Bistable Resistively-Coupled Ising Machine, Richard Afoakwa, Yiqiao Zhang, Uday Kumar Reddy Vengalam, Zeljko Ignjatovic, and Michael Huang, Proceedings of the 27^thInternational Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture, Feb./Mar. 2021
• Bootstrapping: Using SMT Hardware to Improve Single-Thread Performance, Sushant Kondguli and Michael Huang, Proceedings of the 24^th International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems, Apr. 2019
• Division of Labor: A More Effective Approach to Prefetching, Sushant Kondguli and Michael Huang, Proceedings of the 45^th International Symposium on Computer Architecture, June 2018

See the publications page of Professor Huang's website for a full list of publications.