Professional Biography
I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BSE in computer engineering from the University of Michigan in 2003. I continued my education at the University of Michigan where I earned a PhD in 2008 with my dissertation: "Synthesis and Verification of Digital Circuits using Functional Simulation and Boolean Satisfiability". My research advisers were Valeria Bertacco and Igor Markov. I have published in many prestigious conferences and journals including ICCAD, DATE, and TCAD. My research covers various topics from logic synthesis and physical design to circuit reliability and parallel programming. I regularly participate as a peer reviewer for various conferences and journals (e.g, TCAD). After graduating from the University of Michigan, I was hired at the Advanced Technology Group in Synopsys and then transferred to Synopsys's Implementation Group. I work primary in the domain of logic optimization. My independent research entails parallel SAT solving, formal verification, and bioinformatics.
Biography (the unabridged, not so professional version)
I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, or, as I call it, 'da hood'. My generally average physical frame and dependency on corrective lenses meant that being a quarterback at Michigan was probably out of the question. Rather than let cold-hard reality get me down, plan B was to pursue an academic life. Fortunately, in that domain, there seems to often be a direct correlation between lack of atleticism and academic excellence. Unfortunately, there are many cases where athletic people also excel in academic domains, and that's just unfair! But I digress....
I decided to go to the University of Michigan to pursue...something...I first was interested in pre-med, then astrophysics, then aerospace, and finally I settled on computer engineering (although the culinary arts was a close second--I cook a mean Ramen noodles). My 4-year undergrad saw a few academic achievements:
Landes writing award for best project in an Aerospace class
Numerous dean list honors
Participation in the HKN engineering honor society
Summa Cum Laude graduate
This was balanced healthily by my social achievements:
.....
Okay, well I tried at least! I exaggerate a bit, but It is not my fault that only other fellow computer nerds understand my primary language, the binary language of moisture evaporators. I initially intended to go for only a Master's degree. In my first year I had the opportunity to work with Professor Valeria Bertacco (webpage), who would shortly become my research adviser. It was her first year as a tenure-track professor, and my first year as a grad student, so it was a good match. In part, because of this experience, I decided that a PhD was the only road to go (actually the 'easier' road had a traffic jam on it and I often preferred the isolation of the PhD route). I briefly entertained an offer to go to Stanford for a PhD, but I decided to follow my pocketbook...ahem...my heart and go to Michigan. After a couple years of research, I started working with Professor Igor Markov (webpage). Two advisers made sense for me to accomodate my research breadth. (More likely I was too hard to handle for just one person!) My PhD highlights were:
Numerous publications in various research areas
2nd place at the IWLS programming competition
Best paper award at the ISPD conference
Unfortunately, I simply don't have the space to catalogue my social prowess during this period.
After defending my PhD (a process that almost killed me), I applied to several jobs in both industry and academia (in the form of post-docs). After several offers, I decided to take a position at Synopsys in the Advance Technology Group lab in Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately, the economy and the nature of research in computer-aided design resulted in this department being dissolved within a first few months of my hire (I swear it was not my fault!) I now work in the Implementation Group of Synopsys, and, in many ways the work I do now involves more research than before and is also more impactful.
Being out of school has given me some more free time. I volunteer regularly in the Portland area and enjoy playing basketball and roller hockey frequently. Perhaps, I might finally be able to achieve my primary goal of becoming a Michigan quarterback as I seem to be getting stronger and more athletic since I have time to exercise and the means to eat healthy (a sad good bye to the Ramen noodle). As a result, I am starting to become a prolific goal scorer on my hockey team, whereas, before, I rarely got a goal. Alas! I went to Michigan for several years already and have lost my eligibility to play football without even taking a snap! For shame! Surely a tragedy for Michigan football!
I am always exploring new intellectual endeavors and have some plans for a web enterprise (although I am keeping it hush hush now to let the excitement build up throughout the world!) I will keep the interested reader up-to-date!