Tyler Bletsch

Tyler Bletsch is an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering. He joined the Duke faculty in November 2015 after several years of work in industry with NetApp, bringing practical industry experience to his academic role. His teaching focuses on practical aspects of computer engineering and systems programming.

Dr. Bletsch received his B.S. from North Carolina State University in 2004, followed by his D.Phil. from the same institution in 2011. His doctoral research focused on software security, particularly addressing code-reuse attacks.

His research interests span hardware and software security, with a particular focus on Rowhammer vulnerabilities and mitigation techniques. He also explores power-aware computing for high-performance systems and has interests in robotics and technology education with an emphasis on project-oriented learning.

Dr. Bletsch's publication record shows a consistent focus on computer security, particularly Rowhammer attacks and mitigation strategies in recent years. His earlier work addressed code-reuse attacks like Jump-oriented Programming and Return-oriented Programming. He has also contributed to power management research for high-performance computing systems.

Dr. Bletsch is actively involved in mentoring students through the Duke Combat Robotics club and FIRST robotics teams. He teaches a variety of courses including Computer Architecture, Digital Systems, Computer and Information Security, and Engineering Software for Maintainability. His teaching philosophy emphasizes hands-on, project-based learning.

He maintains an active research laboratory focused on computer security and has been featured in Duke Today for his educational video "Tyler Bletsch Takes You on a Tour of the Insides of a Computer," which demystifies computer hardware for general audiences.