معرفی
Tor Aamodt is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia within the Faculty of Applied Science. He has been a faculty member at UBC since 2006 and maintains an active research program in computer architecture with a focus on GPU systems. His academic journey includes a BASc, MASc, and PhD from the University of Toronto, followed by industry experience at NVIDIA where he worked on the memory system architecture of the GeForce 8 Series GPU.
Professor Aamodt's research spans computer architecture with particular expertise in accelerators for deep neural networks and graphics processor unit architecture for non-graphics computing. His work has evolved from foundational GPU architecture research to cutting-edge applications in ray tracing, robotics acceleration, and energy-efficient computing. He has made significant contributions to understanding GPU memory systems, interconnect architectures, and the application of GPUs to machine learning workloads. His research group has developed influential tools including the first widely used GPGPU architecture simulator and the Vulkan-Sim ray tracing simulator.
His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward real-time ray tracing acceleration and robotics applications, with substantial work on optimizing tree traversal algorithms for ray tracing workloads. The research shows a clear evolution from general GPU architecture studies to specialized hardware-software co-design for specific application domains, particularly in rendering and robotics. His group consistently publishes at top-tier architecture venues including MICRO, ISCA, and ASPLOS.
- IEEE Micro Top Picks (3 papers)
- Communications of the ACM Research Highlight
- MICRO Conference Hall of Fame
- NVIDIA Academic Partnership Award (2010)
- NSERC Discovery Accelerator (2016-2019)
- Google Faculty Research Award (2016)
- SAMSUNG Global Research Outreach Award (2023)
- IISWC 2023 Best Paper Award
Professor Aamodt has advised numerous graduate students who have gone on to positions at leading technology companies including Google. His research has been supported by major grants from NSERC, NVIDIA, Google, and Samsung. He has served in leadership roles including Program Chair for ISPASS 2013 and General Chair for ISPASS 2014, and was a Visiting Associate Professor at Stanford University during his 2012-2013 sabbatical. His group maintains active collaborations with industry partners and has produced influential open-source tools including GPGPU-Sim and Vulkan-Sim.
