CENTER: "Extremely Energy Efficient Collective Electronics (EXCEL)"
4:25-4:50pm

Abstract

Co-funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (E2CDA-NRI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the EXCEL Center is one of six cross-disciplinary, collaborative research efforts aimed at establishing a revolutionary and sustainable general-purpose computing paradigm. Led by the University of Notre Dame, EXCEL explores the demonstration of a computing platform that leverages emerging devices and dynamical systems to execute optimization, learning and inference tasks in a collective, cooperative and scalable way to transcend the current energy efficiency wall by 3 orders of magnitude. This program will facilitate direct collaborative research 'from materials to architecture' using a holistic view, driven by a common set of goals and metrics. The ultimate goal is to create a revolutionary, highly-efficient, general purpose computing platform with neuro-inspired cognitive and learning abilities, which will be required to address the vast range of future data types and workloads. The research is led by 13 Principal Investigators from six universities.

Biography

The primary focus of Professor Niemier's work is on computation beyond the CMOS field effect transistor. He is interested in the design and evaluation of computer architectures for emerging technologies, the integration of heterogeneous technologies to improve computational performance, and non-Boolean computing systems.  Professor Niemier also has a strong interest in education and is currently working on integrating issues related to nano-scale design into a "conventional" computer science curriculum.