Mark D. Hill

Mark D. Hill is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, renowned for transformative contributions to computer architecture spanning memory systems and parallel computing. His work earned the ACM-IEEE CS Eckert-Mauchly Award in 2019 and ACM Fellowship in 2004.

Hill pioneered the 3C model for cache misses, SC for DRF memory consistency (with Sarita Adve), and transactional memory via LogTM (with David Wood). His simulation frameworks—Dinero, GEMS, gem5, and BadgerTrap—enable advanced analysis of memory behavior and virtual systems, while concepts like 'page reservation' directly impact Linux kernel design. Research spans cache optimization, heterogeneous processor memory models, and scalable parallel evaluation techniques.

Hill's accolades include:

• ACM-IEEE CS Eckert-Mauchly Award (2019) for contributions to memory systems and parallel computer design/evaluation
• ACM Fellow (2004) for innovations in memory consistency models and memory system architecture

With over 160 co-authors and 20,000+ citations, Hill mentored influential researchers like Sarita Adve. His grant-supported projects—including the Wisconsin Wind Tunnel simulator—produced industry-adopted tools cited thousands of times, driving real-world implementations in programming languages and operating systems.

Hill leads critical research initiatives at Wisconsin, developing the Dinero cache simulator, GEMS/gem5 full-system simulators, and BadgerTrap virtual memory analyzer. These projects underpin modern architecture research and continue to evolve for emerging heterogeneous computing challenges.