Michael F. Spear

Michael F. Spear is an Associate Professor and Master's Program Director in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Lehigh University. His research focuses on concurrency, programming languages, and computer architecture, with an emphasis on persistent memory, transactional memory, and concurrent data structures. He leads a lab supported by industry partnerships with Intel, Google, and Oracle, as well as grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army.

Education:

• Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science, University of Rochester
• M.B.A., University of Alaska, Anchorage
• B.S. in Computer Science, U.S. Military Academy (West Point)

Research Interests: Spear's work aims to simplify concurrent programming through innovative software and hardware designs. He develops open-source frameworks like libLOL/JetLag for mobile game development and contributes to C++ transactional memory standards. His lab explores cloud infrastructure optimization, memory management, and scalable algorithms.

Collaborations & Awards: Active collaborations include Arizona State University, Penn State University, and industry leaders in tech. Notable awards include the University of Rochester's Outstanding Dissertation Award and leadership in NSF-funded research initiatives.

Labs & Contributions: Spear directs a lab producing tools for persistent/transactional memory systems and advises on C++ technical specifications. His work bridges theoretical computer science with practical industry applications, emphasizing scalability and correctness in multi-core environments.