CISE Seminar: Vijay Reddi, Harvard University
Date: March 21st, 2025
Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: 665 Commonwealth Ave., CDS 1101
Vijay Reddi
John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard University
Architecture 2.0: Foundations of AI Agents for Modern Computer System Design
Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize computer system design, transforming AI from a mere workload that we study and optimize into a full-fledged autonomous design tool. This enables us to build increasingly complex computing systems in less time and with better efficiency. We term this shift toward AI-assisted hardware design as “Architecture 2.0.” This talk introduces the foundational building blocks needed to enable Architecture 2.0. It also states that we must radically rethink our approaches to workload characterization, benchmarking methodologies, and system analysis to leverage these agents in computer system design. The talk dissects this interplay and sets the stage for new avenues of research and development that promise more efficient, adaptable, and intelligent computing systems in the future, paving the way for a new paradigm in computer architecture.
Dr. Vijay Janapa Reddi is an Associate Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, where his research focuses on the intersection of computer architecture, machine learning systems, and autonomous agents. His multidisciplinary expertise drives advancements in efficient and intelligent computing systems across scales, from mobile and edge platforms to Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Prior to joining Harvard, Dr. Janapa Reddi was an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to his academic role, Dr. Janapa Reddi is deeply involved in shaping the future of machine learning and edge AI technologies. He serves as Vice President and co-founder of MLCommons, a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating machine learning innovation. In this capacity, he oversees the MLCommons Research organization, sits on its board of directors, and co-led the development of the MLPerf benchmarks, which evaluates a wide range of ML systems from megawatt to microwatt scales. Dr. Janapa Reddi also serves on the boards of directors for the EDGE AI Foundation, fostering academic-industry partnerships at the edge of AI. Throughout his career, Dr. Janapa Reddi has earned numerous awards and accolades, including the Gilbreth Lecturer Honor from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2016, the IEEE TCCA Young Computer Architect Award (2016), the Intel Early Career Award (2013), and Google Faculty Research Awards in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2020. He has also received Best Paper awards at the 2020 Design Automation Conference (DAC), the 2005 International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO), and the 2009 International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA). Additionally, he has won various honors and awards, including IEEE Top Picks in Computer Architecture (2006, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023). He is included in the MICRO and HPCA Halls of Fame (inducted in 2018 and 2019, respectively). Dr. Janapa Reddi is passionate about expanding access to applied machine learning and promoting diversity in STEM. He has developed an open-source book, “Machine Learning Systems,” (mlsysbook.ai) which is widely adopted by institutions worldwide. Additionally, he created the Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) series on edX, a massive open online course that has trained over 100,000 students globally in recent years. Dr. Janapa Reddi holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Harvard University, an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a B.S. in computer engineering from Santa Clara University.
Faculty Host: Ajay Joshi
Student Host: Beste Oztop