John WawrzynekView profile
Professor
John Wawrzynek is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is affiliated with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in the College of Engineering and serves as Co-Director of the Berkeley Wireless Research Center and Co-PI of the CONIX Research Center, one of the six centers in the Joint University Microelectronics Program sponsored by DARPA. Dr. Wawrzynek received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from SUNY, Buffalo (1977), M.S. in EE from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign (1979), and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Caltech (1987). Before joining the Berkeley faculty in 1988, he worked as a consultant at Schlumberger Palo Alto Research. His research focuses on Computer Architecture, Reconfigurable Computing, Wireless Systems, and Integrated Circuit and System Design . His work spans both theoretical foundations and practical implementations, with particular emphasis on FPGA-based computing systems, reconfigurable architectures, and wireless communication systems. His research group has made significant contributions to the field of reconfigurable computing, including the development of the Garp architecture and various tools for reconfigurable computing systems. Analysis of his recent publications (2022-2025) reveals continued focus on reconfigurable computing, FPGA design, wireless networking, and formal methods for hardware verification. His work shows an evolution from traditional computer architecture towards specialized hardware acceleration, machine learning for EDA, and wireless systems research, with particular emphasis on SAT sampling, differentiable computing, and efficient FPGA implementation of neural networks. DAC's Most Influential Paper Award (2025) NSF Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) (1989) Charles Lee Powell Fellowship (1985) NASA Certificate of Recognition (1983) Rensselaer Engineering and Science Medal (1975) Professor Wawrzynek has advised numerous graduate students throughout his career, many of whom have gone on to prominent positions in both industry and academia including Google, Xilinx, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. His research has been supported by various grants from NSF, DARPA, and industry partners. He leads the Berkeley Wireless Research Center, which focuses on next-generation wireless communication systems and technologies, and is actively involved in the CONIX Research Center which explores connected intelligence at the network's edge.









