Nathan Beckmann

Associate Professor in the
Computer Science Department and
ECE Department (by courtesy)
at Carnegie Mellon University

9021 Gates-Hillman Center
my last name@cs.cmu.edu

CORGi Group
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar

I am an associate professor (w/out indefinite tenure) in the Computer Science Department and (by courtesy) the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University, leading the CORGi research group.

I am also co-founder and Chief Scientist at Efficient Computer Company, where I am currently on leave. We're hiring!

Research

I am interested in computer systems, computer architecture, and performance modeling. Please see the CORGi group web page for the projects I am currently working on, my current students, recent news, and more!

Teaching

Spring 2024: 15-213 Introduction to Computer Systems
Fall 2023: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Fall 2022: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Spring 2022: 15-418 Parallel Computer Architecture and Programming
Fall 2021: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Spring 2021: 15-418 Parallel Computer Architecture and Programming
Fall 2020: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Spring 2020: 15-418 Parallel Computer Architecture and Programming
Fall 2019: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Spring 2019: 15-418 Parallel Computer Architecture and Programming
Fall 2018: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Spring 2018: 15-740 Computer Architecture
Spring 2017: 15-740 Computer Architecture

Service

Program Committees: ISCA'24, IEEE Micro Top Picks '23, ASPLOS'23, HPCA'23, SIGMETRICS/Performance'22, FAST'22, HPCA'22, MICRO'21, ISCA'21, MICRO'20, ISCA'20, MICRO'19, ISCA'19, MICRO'18, and MICRO'17.
External Review Committee: ISPASS'20, HPCA'19, ASPLOS'19, and ISCA'17.
NSF Panel Member in 2019 and 2018.

Bio

My PhD (2012-2015) was advised by Daniel Sanchez at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). I stayed for a one-year postdoc with Daniel (2015-2016). My PhD thesis, Design and Analysis of Spatially-Partitioned Shared Caches, received the 2015 Sprowls Doctoral Thesis Prize for the "best PhD thesis in computer science at MIT". This work introduced the software-defined cache, a new abstraction to manage data placement in large multicores to dramatically reduce data movement.

Before that, I worked in Anant Agarwal's group on fos, a distributed operating system for multicore and clouds (2008-2011). After Anant joined edX full-time, I briefly worked with Frans Kaashoek and Nickolai Zeldovich in the PDOS group (2011-2012). A long time ago, I also worked on Graphite, a distributed multicore simulator. My other interests include math and cryptography.

I received my masters degree in 2010 from MIT. My thesis, "Distributed Naming in a Factored Operating System", won the William A. Martin Memorial Thesis Award for an outstanding Master's thesis. I got my Bachelors of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. I graduated summa cum laude in Computer Science and Mathematics of Computation and was honored as the Bachelor of the Year (2008) in Computer Science.

Personal News (yy/mm/dd)

For research news, please see the CORGi group web page for the accomplishments of my amazing students!

Fun stuff