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Massoud Pedram: Pioneer in Low-Power Design

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76 views6 pages

Massoud Pedram: Pioneer in Low-Power Design

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ellen.eric.fuller
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Massoud Pedram

Massoud Pedram (Persian: ‫( )مسعود پدرام‬born in


Ahvaz) is an Iranian American computer engineer Massoud Pedram
noted for his research in green computing, energy
storage systems, low-power electronics and design,
electronic design automation and quantum
[1]
computing. In the early 1990s, Pedram pioneered an
approach to designing VLSI circuits that considered
physical effects during logic synthesis. He named this
approach layout-driven logic synthesis, which was
subsequently called physical synthesis and
incorporated into the standard EDA design flows.[2]
Pedram's early work on this subject became a
significant prior art reference in a litigation between
Synopsys Inc. and Magma Design Automation.[3]

Born Ahvaz, Iran


Biography
Citizenship United States
Massoud Pedram was born in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran. Iran
He came to the United States to continue his higher Alma mater California Institute of
education in 1983. He received a B.S. degree in Technology
electrical engineering from the California Institute of University of California,
Technology in 1986 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Berkeley
electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS) Occupation(s) Stephen and Etta Varra
from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989 Professor of Ming Hsieh
and 1991, respectively. The EECS department of Department of Electrical
University of California, Berkeley, listed him as one of Engineering of the University
her distinguished alumni.[4] of Southern California ([Link]
[Link]) of University of
Pedram then joined the Ming Hsieh Department of
Southern California
Electrical Engineering in Viterbi School of
Engineering of the University of Southern California, Known for Power optimization (EDA)
where he is currently the Stephen and Etta Varra Awards PECASE (1996)
Professor.[5][6] Some of his doctoral students, including IEEE Fellow (2001)
Diana Marculescu, Radu Marculescu and Payam ACM Distinguished Scientist
Heydari have become notable academics. (2008)
IEEE CAS Charles A. Desoer
Technical Achievement Award
Professional services (2015)
Scientific career
Fields Computer Engineering
Pedram has served on the technical program committee Institutions University of Southern
of a number of conferences, including the Design California
Automation Conference (DAC), Design, Automation Thesis An Integrated Approach to
& Test in Europe (DATE), Asia and South Pacific Logic Synthesis and Physical
Design Automation Conference (ASP-DAC), Design ([Link]
International Conference on Computer-Aided Design [Link]/Pubs/TechRpts/1991/1
(ICCAD), and International Conference on [Link]) (1991)
Hardware/Software Codesign and System Synthesis
Doctoral Ernest S. Kuh
(CODES+ISSS). He served as the technical program
advisor
chair and the general chair of the 2002 [7][8] and 2003
[9] International Symposium on Physical Design Website [Link]/~massoud (h
ttp://[Link]/~massou
(ISPD) and the general chair of the 2007 International
d)
Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED).[10]
He served as the inaugural editor-in-chief (EiC) of the
IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems (JETCAS).[11] He also served as
the EiC of the ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems (TODAES).[12] Pedram
served as the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Vice President (Publications) in 2006.[13]

Pedram co-founded and served as the general co-chair of the first ACM International Workshop on Low
Power Design in 1994.[14] When this workshop merged with the IEEE Workshop on Low Power
Electronics in 1996, Pedram served as a co-founder and the technical co-chair of the first International
Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED).[15]

Pedram has been on the advisory board of several companies, including Atrenta Inc.,[16] Envis Corp,[17]
and Magma Design Automation.[18]

Awards
Pedram's awards and recognition have included:

US National Science Foundation's Research Initiation Award (RIA) in 1992 [19]


Young Investigator Award (NYI) in 1994 [20][21]
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 1996 [22][23][24]
IEEE Fellow "for contributions to the theory and practice of low-power design and CAD"
since 2001 [25]
ACM Distinguished Scientist since 2008 [26]
IEEE CAS Charles A. Desoer Technical Achievement Award "for contributions to modeling
and design of low power VLSI circuits and systems, and energy efficient computing" in 2015
[27]
Additionally, Pedram was an ACM Distinguished Speaker.[28] He has been granted 10 US patents.[29] He
was one of ten principal investigators from academia in the United States who were selected by DARPA
to fund for the Power Efficiency Revolution for Embedded Computing Technologies (PERFECT) (http
s://[Link]/Our_Work/MTO/Programs/Power_Efficiency_Revolution_for_Embedded_Computing
_Technologies_%28PERFECT%[Link]) program.[30][31]

Publications
Pedram has published four books, 13 book chapters, and more than 560 journal and conference
papers.[32] According to Google Scholar,[33] his research have been cited more than 17,800 times till
2015. His publications have received a number of awards including two DAC Best Paper Awards,[34][35]
a Distinguished Paper Citation from ICCAD, three ICCD Best Paper Awards, two IEEE Transactions
Best Paper Awards,[36][37] and an ISLPED best paper award.[38] At the 50th anniversary of the Design
Automation Conference held in 2013, Pedram was recognized as one of the four DAC Prolific Authors
(with 50+ papers) and the DAC Bronze Cited Author.[39]

Books
Pedram, Massoud; Rabaey, Jan, eds. (June 2002). Power Aware Design Methodologies (htt
ps://[Link]/engineering/circuits+%26+systems/book/978-1-4020-7152-2).
Springer Press. p. 521. ISBN 978-1402071522.
Chang, Jui-Ming; Pedram, Massoud (June 1999). Power Optimization and Synthesis at
Behavioral and System Levels Using Formal Methods ([Link]
g/circuits+%26+systems/book/978-0-7923-8560-8). Springer Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-
1461373681.
Iman, Sasan; Pedram, Massoud (November 1997). Logic Synthesis for Low Power VLSI
Designs ([Link]
76-4). Springer Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0792380764.
Rabaey, Jan; Pedram, Massoud (November 1995). Low Power Design Methodologies (http
s://[Link]/engineering/circuits+%26+systems/book/978-0-7923-9630-7).
Springer Press. p. 367. ISBN 978-0792396307.

References
1. "IBM News room - 2002-01-10 Austin Research Lab Hosts First Conference on Energy
Efficient Design - United States" ([Link]
com/press/us/en/pressrelease/[Link]). Archived from the original ([Link]
m/press/us/en/pressrelease/[Link]) on March 10, 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
2. Lavagno, Luciano; Scheffer, Louis; Martin, Grant, eds. (2006). EDA for IC Implementation,
Circuit Design, and Process Technology ([Link]
MC). CRC Press. pp. 2–14, 2–25. ISBN 978-0849379246.
3. "Magma Files Additional Request for Re-Examination of Synopsys Patent | Business Wire"
([Link]
quest-Re-Examination-Synopsys-Patent) (Press release). Retrieved 10 March 2014.
4. "Distinguished Alumni - Electrical Engineering | EECS at UC Berkeley" ([Link]
[Link]/alumni/[Link]). Retrieved 10 March 2014.
5. "USC Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering - Massoud Pedram" ([Link]
du/faculty_staff/faculty_directory/[Link]). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
6. "Named Chairs and Professorships" ([Link]
orships/). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
7. "ISPD 2002 - Advance program" ([Link] Retrieved
5 March 2014.
8. "Physical design needs an overhaul, speakers say | EE Times" ([Link]
[Link]?doc_id=1216330). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
9. "ISPD 2003 - Final Program" ([Link] Retrieved 5 March
2014.
10. "Welcome Notes". 8th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED'07).
2007. pp. xvii–xviii. doi:10.1109/ISQED.2007.171 ([Link]
71). ISBN 978-0-7695-2795-6. S2CID 227275413 ([Link]
D:227275413).
11. Pedram, Massoud; Delgado-Restituto, Manuel; Macii, Enrico; Setti, Gianluca (2011).
"Inaugural Editorial". IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and
Systems. 1 (1): 1. Bibcode:2011IJEST...1....1P ([Link]
T...1....1P). doi:10.1109/JETCAS.2011.2144490 ([Link]
2144490).
12. "ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems" ([Link]
[Link]). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
13. "Officer History | IEEE Circuits and Systems Society" ([Link]
Retrieved 12 March 2014.
14. Pedram, Massoud; Preas, Bryan (1994). "1994 International Workshop on Low Power
Design" ([Link] ACM SIGDA Newsletter. 24 (1–2):
40–46. doi:10.1145/190665.190668 ([Link]
S2CID 11794910 ([Link]
15. "Low Power Electronics and Design, 1996., International Symposium on".
doi:10.1109/LPE.1996.542722 ([Link] {{cite
journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
16. "Atrenta TAB: Technical Advisory Board Atrenta" ([Link]
-advisory-board.htm5). Retrieved 6 February 2015.
17. "Envis Corporation Adds Professors Brayton and Pedram To Its Technical Advisory Board"
([Link]
04+14-Aug-2008+BW20080814). Reuters. Archived from the original ([Link]
m/article/2008/08/14/idUS112904+14-Aug-2008+BW20080814) on 10 March 2014.
Retrieved 7 March 2014.
18. "Founder of Ambit and LogicVision Launches Magma Design Automation, Inc.; Start-Up to
Deliver Physical Design Automation Technology for Next-Generation Chips. -Free Online
Library" ([Link]
ma+Design+Automation,...-a019792553). Retrieved 10 March 2014.
19. "NSF Award Search: Award#9211668 - RIA: Combined Logic Synthesis and Physical
Design" ([Link]
e). Retrieved 8 March 2014.
20. "NSF Award Search: Award#9457392 - NSF Young Investigator: Low Power VLSI Design"
([Link]
Retrieved 8 March 2014.
21. "Summary of Awards- Fiscal Year 1996" ([Link]
[Link]) (PDF). Retrieved 8 March 2014.
22. "NSF Award Search: Award#9628999 - Presidential Faculty Fellows/Presidential Early
Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PFF/PECASE): Power Estimation and
Optimization in IC Design" ([Link]
oricalAwards=false). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
23. "Twenty NSF-Nominated Scientists and Engineers Receive Top Presidential Honor" (https://
[Link]/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=101827). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
24. "National Science Foundation Early Career Awards" ([Link]
s/nsf_awards.htm). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
25. "38th DAC Awards" ([Link]
Archive/awards/[Link]) (PDF). Archived from the original ([Link]
chive/awards/[Link]) (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
26. "ACM Distinguished Member" ([Link]
Retrieved 5 March 2014.
27. "IEEE CAS Recognitions" ([Link]
Retrieved 20 August 2015.
28. "ACM Distinguished Speakers Program :: All Lectures" ([Link]
Retrieved 31 August 2015.
29. "Google Advanced Patent Search" ([Link]
ssoud+ininventor:Pedram#hl=en&q=ininventor%3A%22Massoud+Pedram%22&tbm=pts).
Retrieved 5 March 2014.
30. "DARPA to fund prof research | Daily Trojan" ([Link]
d-prof-research/). Daily Trojan. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
31. "Information Sciences Institute - USC Viterbi Leads the Way at the DARPA "Perfect
Program" " ([Link] Retrieved 5 March 2014.
32. "Publications for Prof. Pedram" ([Link] Retrieved
5 March 2014.
33. "Massoud Pedram - Google Scholar Citations" ([Link]
HiQmOoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
34. "The 33rd Design Automation Conference - Best Paper Awards" ([Link]
DFs/[Link]) (PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
35. "The 42nd Design Automation Conference - Best Paper Awards" ([Link]
b/20120403011438/[Link] (PDF).
Archived from the original ([Link] (PDF)
on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
36. "CAS Society Awards" ([Link]
[Link]). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
37. "VLSI Transactions – Best Paper Award | IEEE Circuits and Systems Society" ([Link]
[Link]/web/20160314114453/[Link]
er-award). Archived from the original ([Link]
-paper-award) on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
38. "ISLPED 2014- Conference Program" ([Link] (PDF).
Retrieved 20 August 2014.
39. "DAC - DAC 2013 - 50th Celebration Events - 50th Anniversary Banquet" ([Link]
m/50th+anniversary+[Link]). Retrieved 12 March 2014.

External links
EPFLTV - EPFL video portal- SMART ENERGY DAY ([Link]
[Link]?page=video&lang=2&t=1&connected=0&id=1061&plugin=9&plugin=1&plugin=2&pl
ugin=3&checkplugin=1) Massoud Pedram gives a talk on "Energy Efficient Enterprise
Computing and Green Data Centers" at EPFL

Retrieved from "[Link]

Common questions

Powered by AI

Massoud Pedram's extensive portfolio of over 560 publications, books, and book chapters, along with his 10 US patents, has substantially advanced low-power VLSI designs by providing foundational theories and methodologies for reducing power consumption in electronic circuits. His work emphasizes integrating power efficiency from the behavioral design stages to system levels, encouraging a holistic approach to VLSI design that optimizes for power savings without compromising performance .

The DARPA PERFECT program aligns closely with Massoud Pedram's research objectives, particularly in power efficiency and low-power electronics. This program, which aims to revolutionize power efficiency in embedded computing, complements Pedram's focus on energy-efficient computations and systems design. By supporting Pedram as one of the principal investigators, the PERFECT program underscores the strategic importance of his research in enhancing the sustainability and efficiency of embedded systems, aligning with national objectives in sustainable computing .

Massoud Pedram's foundational education in electrical engineering and computer sciences at prestigious institutions like the California Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley, provided him with a robust technical foundation. His early academic pursuits culminated in a thesis that integrated logic synthesis and physical design, setting the stage for his future work in low-power electronics and energy-efficient systems. This early focus on optimizing the synthesis and design processes naturally extended into his later interests in green computing and power optimization .

Massoud Pedram has significantly influenced the next generation of computer engineers through his mentorship of notable doctoral students such as Diana Marculescu, Radu Marculescu, and Payam Heydari. These students have themselves become esteemed academics, carrying forward Pedram's legacy of innovation and emphasizing research areas like low-power electronics and advanced computer engineering. This mentorship not only fosters individual academic careers but also cultivates a broader research culture that continues his pioneering work .

Massoud Pedram's contributions to IEEE and ACM, including his roles as Editor-in-Chief and involvement in publication committees, have significantly impacted the dissemination of research in electrical and computer engineering by ensuring rigorous editorial standards and promoting innovative research fields. Under his leadership, journals like the IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems became platforms for cutting-edge research, aiding in the rapid exchange and development of ideas critical to the evolution of technology and engineering practices .

Massoud Pedram's advisory roles in companies such as Atrenta Inc. and Magma Design Automation illustrate a synergistic collaboration between academia and industry. His involvement suggests a bidirectional transfer of knowledge—where academic research informs practical industry applications, while industry challenges shape academic inquiry. These roles enable the real-world application of advanced academic research, highlighting the importance of cross-sector collaboration in fostering innovation and addressing practical challenges in technology design and implementation .

Massoud Pedram's research has had a significant interdisciplinary impact in the broader context of sustainable technology by bridging computation, energy efficiency, and system design. His work in green computing not only contributes to electronic and design automation but also intersects with environmental science by providing scalable and practical solutions for reducing energy consumption across various platforms. These efforts support global sustainability goals by pushing technological boundaries toward more energy-efficient solutions, crucial for mitigating climate change impacts .

Massoud Pedram's work in green computing is poised to have profound long-term impacts on energy consumption in data centers by pushing for the design and implementation of systems that prioritize energy efficiency and sustainability. His research emphasizes the integration of low-power design principles into mainstream computational infrastructures, potentially leading to substantial reductions in the energy footprint of large-scale data centers. This shift not only mitigates operational costs but also addresses environmental concerns associated with high energy consumption in data management facilities .

Massoud Pedram is renowned for pioneering the approach to designing VLSI circuits by considering physical effects during logic synthesis, which he termed 'layout-driven logic synthesis'. This approach was later known as 'physical synthesis' and became a standard in electronic design automation (EDA) flows. His work serves as a significant piece of prior art in legal matters between major EDA companies, highlighting its industry impact .

Massoud Pedram has played a pivotal role in expanding the influence of professional societies by serving in leadership positions, such as the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems and the ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems. His editorial leadership enhanced the visibility and impact of these journals in the field, promoting the dissemination of cutting-edge research in circuits and systems. Additionally, his role as Vice President (Publications) for the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society helped shape the publication strategies of IEEE, further influencing the scientific community .

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