Larry Rudolph

Principal Research Scientist, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT

Larry Rudolph is a researcher at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Larry received his Ph.D. also in Computer Science in 1981 from the Courant Institute at NYU. He was on the faculty at the University of Toronto, Carnegie-Mellon University, and The Hebrew University, before joining MIT as a principal research scientist, in 1995. In 1978, he helped start the Ultracomputer, a high-performance parallel computer architecture, many ideas of which can be found in current multi-core computer chips. Through the lens of parallel processing, Larry’s research took a new look at most aspects of computer systems, from algorithms and programming languages down to computer architecture, switching networks, as well as free-space optical interconnection networks. His research focused switched from high to low-performance computing, that is, mobile systems and applications. He took a break from MIT to launch the mobile virtualization project at VMware whose code can be found with the Android OS on Verizon phones. He also founded a used marketplace for digital goods.

On-line and distance learning has been of interest to Larry since teaching a “pervasive computing” course as part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance where students were sitting in classrooms either in Cambridge or Singapore; the 12 hour time difference was a fun challenge. Larry’s interest in Python is exemplified in his book “Bluetooth For Programmers” which uses Python to explain how to control Bluetooth functionality.