
Rick Stevens
- Professor
- Department of Computer Science
- Senior Fellow
- Computation Institute
- Associate Laboratory Director
- Computing, Environment and Life Sciences, Argonne
Interests
Systems
Contact Information
University of Chicago
5640 S. Ellis Avenue, Room 405
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: (773)834-6816
Fax: (773)834-6818
stevens@cs.uchicago.edu
Research
I am interested in the development of innovative tools and techniques that enable computational scientists to solve large-scale problems more effectively on the most advanced high-performance computers. Specifically, my research focuses on three principal areas: collaborative visualization environments, high-performance computer architectures, and performance modeling.In the area of collaborative visualization, I am exploring the use of virtual reality in the visualization of scientific data and processes. My efforts include improving displays, recording, and playback of virtual reality experiences; developing new methods for tracking and control and close coupling with parallel supercomputers; and devising new ways of collaborating in virtual environments. Of particular interest to me is teleimmersion -- strategies for synthesizing networking and multimedia technologies to enhance the development of wide-area wide-area collaborative computational science.
In the area of high-performance computers, I am studying approaches to computing at the Petaflops Scale, focusing on analysis, modeling, and simulation tools for these ultra-high-performance computers. I am also particularly interested in algorithm and software for multithreaded computer architectures and for hierarchical processor and memory architectures.
In a related area, I am investigating analytic performance models that will help researchers understand the performance relationship between high-performance computer systems and scientific applications. My goal is to enable scientific simulations to achieve the very high performance potential of next-generation computer architectures with deep memory hierarchies.