Undergrad Architecture Mentoring (uArch) Workshop

New York City, USA, Full-Day Workshop
June 18, 2022 in conjunction with ISCA 2022

Mission          Apply           Committee          Past uArch

Updates:


Program

The workshop program for Saturday June 18, 2022 is as follows (all times are in EDT):

8:30 am  - 8:45 am Welcome

8:45 am - 9:30 am Keynote 1

Speaker: Samira Khan, University of Virginia

Title: How to be a Dragon in the New Era of Computer Architecture

Abstract: In this current data-centric era, data generated by social media, video sharing applications, swarms of sensors, and autonomous cars is growing exponentially. Unfortunately, as the technology scaling slows down, the semiconductor industry has been facing a major challenge in providing better performance while processing such large datasets. As a result, we need to innovate how we design our systems to sustain the demand for computing over exponentially growing datasets. In this talk, I will discuss the current trends, opportunities, and challenges in the post-Moore era of computer architecture and provide my insights on how students can effectively forge the path to become the one who leads these research directions.

Bio: Samira Khan is an Associate Professor at the Computer Science Department in the University of Virginia (UVa). Her research group at UVa -- Shiftlab, is motivated to introduce a paradigm shift by redesigning  and building the software-hardware stack for our future systems. Her group puts a significant effort in building new tools, artifacts, and frameworks for emerging technologies. Currently, she is on leave at the newly formed group, Systems Research at Google (SRG), leading the system-on-chip (SoC) expedition to solve the fundamental software-hardware design challenges at scale. She hosts “Happy Hour with Architects”, where prominent people from academia and industry discuss and debate research trends and directions in computer architecture and systems.

9:30 am - 10:30 am Panel: Life in Grad School

Abhishek Bhattacharyya

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Alen Sabu

National University of Singapore

Ameer Abdelhadi

University of Toronto

Lillian Pentecost

Harvard University

Poulami Das

Georgia Institute of Technology

Sunho Lee

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

10:30 am - 11:00 am Break

11:00 am - 12:00 pm Panel: Life after Grad School

Divya Mahajan

Microsoft

Jongse Park

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Yasuko Eckert

AMD Research

Yipeng Huang

Rutgers University

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch

1:30 pm - 2:45 pm Panel: Applying to Grad School

Djordje Jevdjic

National University of Singapore

Mark Jeffrey

University of Toronto

Mengjia Yan

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Per Stenström

Chalmers University of Technology

2:45 pm - 3:30 pm Break

3:00 pm - 3:40 pm Keynote 2

Speaker: Prashant Nair, University of British Columbia

Title: Research in Academia and Industry!

Abstract: In this talk, I will go over how academic research can influence industry designs and talk about best practices. The talk will also discuss how novelty and creativity are perceived and their importance for research publications. The talk will go over a few examples of how some designs have translated into industry products. This talk will also try to differentiate the goals (broadly) of academic research and contrast them with industry research.

Bio: Prashant Nair is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He also holds an Affiliate Fellow position at the Quantum Algorithms Institute. His primary interests are in Computer Architecture, AI/ML Systems, Quantum Systems, Memory Systems, Reliability, and Security. He frequently publishes in top-tier venues such as ISCA, MICRO, HPCA, ASPLOS, DSN, and VLDB, with two of those papers being awarded honorable mentions in IEEE MICRO Top-Picks. Before joining UBC, he investigated practical data compression for IBM systems at T. J. Watson Research Center in New York. His Ph.D. work on integrating On-Die ECC and Host ECC (XED @ ISCA-2016) has been successfully integrated into the HBM3 Memory Protocol by JEDEC. He was also awarded the ECE Graduate Research Assistant Excellence Award for his Ph.D. at Georgia Tech. 

3:45 pm - 5:15 pm Office Hours

Mission

The Undergraduate Architecture Mentoring (uArch) Workshop is designed to introduce undergraduate and early Master's students to research and career opportunities in the field of computer architecture in particular and graduate school lifestyle and survival skills in general. The program will include technical sessions that cover past, current and future research directions in computer architecture, mentoring sessions that cover how to apply to graduate school and how to navigate the architecture research landscape effectively, and networking sessions that create opportunities for students to interact with their peers and established architects in academia and industry.

Mechanics

The central theme of this workshop is to attract students who are interested in graduate school in computer architecture. To this end, uArch will likely include:

Mentors

Many faculty mentors will be participating! Last year, selected applicants met with professors from:

Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, College of William and Mary, Cornell University, Duke University, EPFL, Google Brain, IISc Bangalore, KAIST, KMUTNB, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, Northeastern University, Ohio State University, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Rochester, Seoul National University, Simon Fraser University, U. Minnesota, UCSC, Univ. of California - Merced, Univ. of California - Riverside, Univ. of California - San Diego, Univ. of California - Santa Barbara, Univ. of California - Santa Cruz, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of British Columbia, University of Edinburgh, University of Murcia, University of Rochester, University of Southern California, University of Toronto, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Uppsala University, Virginia Tech, Yale University 

Applications

This workshop targets undergrads, who typically do not have advisors or departmental support to attend conferences. Early Master's students are also eligible to apply, as well as recent graduates who are currently in industry but are planning to apply to graduate school. Given the virtual format of the conference, funding this year will cover the conference/workshop registration.

All undergraduate and Master's students are invited to apply, but priority will be given to students who will finish their undergraduate degree in 2023 or 2024. Applicants will be reviewed by a panel, with factors influencing the decision including year in school, statement of interest, and membership in underrepresented groups in computer architecture (e.g., gender, race, ability, LGBTQ status).

We will fund as many students as possible. Note that funding may not be available for students from U.S.-sanctioned countries, but all students are welcome to attend.

Application Form: To apply to the workshop, fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/uzDeBijE7GGvZk2q7.

Endorsement Form: To endorse a student for the workshop, fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/h5NhWzy1tDfTbgp76.

Note for women undergraduate and graduate students for additional funding: ACM-W provides support for women undergraduate and graduate students in Computer Science and related programs to attend research conferences. The application deadline is April 15 for conferences taking place in June—July 2022. For more information and to apply visit here.

Important Dates

Application Deadline:
March 11, 2022
(Extended) March 31, 2022

Notification:
April 15, 2022
(Updated) April 18, 2022

Workshop Date:
June 12, 2022
(Updated) June 18, 2022

Organizing Committee

Newsha Ardalani, Facebook AI Research
R. Iris Bahar, Colorado School of Mines
Divya Mahajan, Microsoft
Abdulrahman Mahmoud, Harvard University
Srilatha (Bobbie) Manne, Facebook
Tony Nowatzki, University of California, Los Angeles
Lena Olson, Google
Lillian Pentecost, Harvard University
Joshua San Miguel, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Irene Wang, University of British Columbia

Common Questions

Sponsors