معرفی
Umut A. Acar is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, and an Amazon Scholar. His research bridges formal methods, systems, algorithms, and AI, focusing on concurrency, quantum computing, self-adjusting computation, and dynamic algorithms.
- 2025: Promoted to Full Professor
- 2025: PC Chair for SPAA 2025
His research group includes current PhD students like Pengyu Liu, Colin McDonald, and Mingkuan Xu (jointly advised with Zhihao Jia). Alumni include notable researchers like Sam Westrick (now at NYU) and Stefan Muller (now at IIT Chicago).
Recent publications span quantum computing (e.g., Atlas for GPU-based simulation, GraFeyn for sparse circuits), parallel functional programming (e.g., Quartz, DePa), and self-adjusting computation (e.g., dynamic trees, mesh refinement). Key themes:
- Bridging safety and performance in parallel systems
- Quantum circuit optimization and simulation
- Incremental algorithms for dynamic data
- Provenance tracking in functional programs
Scientific awards include:
- Best paper (QCE 2024)
- Distinguished paper (POPL 2024, ICFP 2022, POPL 2021)
- Intel Award (2022), JP Morgan Chase AI Award (2021)
- ACM SIGPLAN Research Highlight (2019)
- CMU Teaching Innovation Award (2019)
He has supervised numerous projects (Diderot, MPL, Quartz) and advised students on PhD theses in parallel and quantum computing. His work emphasizes practical implementations of theoretical principles.
