Adrian Sampson

Adrian Sampson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University, where he is part of the Computer Systems Laboratory and the Programming Languages Group. He leads the Capra research group, focusing on programming languages, computer architecture, and hardware-software co-design. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Cornell (2016–2022) and a researcher at Microsoft and Google.

Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington (2015), advised by Luis Ceze and Dan Grossman. Dissertation: Hardware and Software for Approximate Computing. B.S. in Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College (2009).

Research interests include approximate computing, compiler optimization, hardware accelerators, and formal methods in systems programming. His work on Geometry Types and Reticle has advanced abstractions for graphics programming and FPGA design. Sampson is known for contributions to compiler infrastructure for accelerators, such as the Timeline Types framework for predictable hardware design.

Awards include the Cornell Bowers CIS Research Excellence Award (2024), IEEE TCCA Young Computer Architect Award (2021), NSF CAREER Award (2019), and the Google Ph.D. Fellowship in Computer Architecture (2013–2015). He has advised over 30 graduate and undergraduate students, contributing to projects like compiler-driven accelerator simulation and vectorization techniques.

Teaching includes courses on compilers, programming languages, and computer architecture at Cornell. He has served on program committees for major conferences (ASPLOS, PLDI, ISCA) and chairs roles in ISCA and ASPLOS. Sampson’s research is supported by grants from NSF, Google, and industry partnerships.