Samuel Webb Williams
UCB Office: 573 Soda
Computer Science Division, EECS
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1776
 LBNL Office: 50A-2137
One Cyclotron Rd.
MS:50A-1148
Berkeley, CA 94720

I am a graduate student working on a Ph.D in Computer Science under David Patterson. I am interested in computer architecture, high performance computing, auto-tuning, and VLSI. I currently perform research on campus in several ParLab groups including Architecture, BeBOP, ParLib, and the Berkeley View, as well as at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in the Future Technologies Group (FTG) under Kathy Yelick. I previously worked on the IRAM project.

After filing my masters in December of 2004, I passed my qualifying exam in November of 2006. I plan on completing my dissertation in 2008. I did my undergraduate work at SMU, which is located in Dallas, TX; I received bachelor degrees in Electrical Engineering (computer specialization), Mathematics (applied), and Physics in 1999.

PublicationsTalks, Presentations, and Posters
  • K. Datta, S. Kamil, S. Williams, L. Oliker, J. Shalf, K. Yelick, "Optimization and Performance Modeling of Stencil Computations on Modern Microprocessors", SIAM Review (SIREV) (to appear), 2008.
    [pdf]

  • K. Datta, M. Murphy, V. Volkov, S. Williams, J. Carter, L. Oliker, D. Patterson, J. Shalf, K. Yelick, "Stencil Computation Optimization and Autotuning on State-of-the-Art Multicore Architectures", Supercomputing (SC) (to appear), 2008.
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, K. Datta, J. Carter, L. Oliker, J. Shalf, K. Yelick, D. Bailey, "PERI: Auto-tuning Memory Intensive Kernels for Multicore", SciDAC PI conference, Journal of Physics: Conference Series (to appear), 2008.
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, J. Carter, L. Oliker, J. Shalf, K. Yelick, "Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Optimization on Leading Multicore Platforms", International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS), 2008.
    WINNER: Best paper, applications track
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, L. Oliker, R. Vuduc, J. Shalf, K. Yelick, J. Demmel, "Optimization of Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication on Emerging Multicore Platforms", Supercomputing (SC), 2007.
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, J. Shalf, L. Oliker, S. Kamil, P. Husbands, K. Yelick, "Scientific Computing Kernels on the Cell Processor", International Journal of Parallel Programming (IJPP), 2007.
    [pdf]

  • K. Asanovic, R. Bodik, B. Catanzaro, J. Gebis, P. Husbands, K. Keutzer, D. Patterson, W. Plishker, J. Shalf, S. Williams, K. Yelick, "The Landscape of Parallel Computing Research: A View from Berkeley", UCB Technical Paper, 2006.
    [pdf]

  • S. Kamil, K. Datta, S. Williams, L. Oliker, J. Shalf, K. Yelick, "Implicit and Explicit Optimizations for Stencil Computations", Memory System Performance and Correctness (MSPc), 2006.
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, J. Shalf, L. Oliker, S. Kamil, P. Husbands, K. Yelick, "The Potential of the Cell Processor for Scientific Computing", ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers, 2006.
    Highest ranked conference paper
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, J. Shalf, L. Oliker, P. Husbands, K. Yelick, "Dense and Sparse Matrix Operations on the Cell Processor", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Paper LBNL-58253, 2005 http://repositories.cdlib.org/lbnl/LBNL-58253
    [pdf]

  • J. Gebis, S. Williams, D. Patterson, C. Kozyrakis, "VIRAM1: A Media-Oriented Vector Processor with Embedded DRAM", Design Automation Conference (DAC), 2004.
    [pdf]

  • S. Williams, "Verification of VIRAM1", Masters Thesis, 2003.
    [pdf]

  • C. Kozyrakis, D. Judd, J. Gebis, S. Williams, D. Patterson, K. Yelick, "Hardware/Compiler Co-development for an Embedded Media Processor", Proceedings of the IEEE, 2001.
    [pdf]


Major: High Performance Dependable Computing Minor #1: Embedded System Design Minor #2: Astronomy
  • Embedded System Design
    (Electrical Engineering 249), Fall 2002.

  • Logic Synthesis
    (Electrical Engineering 244), Spring 2001.

  • Digital Logic Design
    (Electrical Engineering 241), Spring 2001.
  • Planetary Science
    (Astronomy 249), Fall 2004.

  • Galactic Astronomy
    (Astronomy 218), Spring 2004.

  • Radiative Processes in Astrophysics
    (Astronomy 201), Fall 2003.
Sam Williams