Curriculum Vitae
J. Elliott Forbes, Ph.D., Computer Engineering
Contact219 Wing Technology Center
Department of Computer Science & Computer Engineering
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
La Crosse, WI 54601
(608) 785-6819
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Engineering, May 2016
Emphasis: Computer architecture
Advisor: Eric Rotenberg
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Master of Science, Computer Engineering, December 2008
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI
Bachelor of Science, Computer Engineering, April 2005
[1] Forbes, J. E., Characterization of Load Address Idioms with Implications for Address Prediction. M.S. Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, December 2008.
[2] Al-Otoom, M., Forbes, E., and Rotenberg, E., "EXACT: Explicit Dynamic-Branch Prediction with Active Updates." Proceedings of the 7th ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers, pp. 165-176, May 2010.
[3] Dechene, M., Forbes, E., and Rotenberg, E., "Multithreaded Instruction Sharing," Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Technical Report CESR-TR, December 2010.
[4] Rotenberg, E., Dwiel, B. H., Forbes, E., Zhang, Z., Widialaksono, R., Chowdhury, R. B. R., Tshibangu, N., Lipa, S., Davis, R., and Franzon, P. D., "Rationale for a 3D Heterogeneous Multi-core Processor," Proceedings of the 31st IEEE International Conference on Computer Design, pp. 154-168, Oct. 2013.
[5] Franzon, P., Rotenberg, E., Tuck, J., Davis, W. R., Zhou, H., Schabel, J., Zhang, Z., Park, J., Dwiel, B., Forbes, E., Huh, J., Priyadarshi, S., Lipa, S., and Thorolfsson, T., "Applications and design styles for 3DIC," Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, pp. 29.4.1-29.4.4, Dec. 2013.
[6] Forbes, E., Choudhary, N. K., Dwiel, B. H., and Rotenberg, E., "Design Effort Alloy: Boosting a Highly Tuned Primary Core with Untuned Alternate Cores," Proceedings of the 32nd IEEE International Conference on Computer Design, pp. 408-415, Oct. 2014.
[7] Forbes, E., Basu Roy Chowdhury, R., Dwiel, B., Kannepalli, A., Srinivasan, V., Zhang, Z., Widialaksono, R., Belanger, T., Lipa, S., Rotenberg, E., Davis, W. R., Franzon, P. D., "Experiences with Two FabScalar-Based Chips," 6th Workshop on Architectural Research Prototyping, held in conjunction with ISCA-42, June 2015.
[8] Forbes, E., Zhang, Z., Widialaksono, R., Lipa, S., Dwiel, B., Rotenberg, E., Davis, W. R., and Franzon, P. D., "Under 100-cycle Thread Migration Latency in a Single-ISA Heterogeneous Multi-core Processor," Poster at 27th Hot Chips: A Symposium on High Performance Chips, August 2015.
[9] Franzon, P., Rotenberg, E., Tuck, J., Davis, W. R., Zhou, H., Schabel, J., Zhang, Z., Park, J., Dwiel, B., Forbes, E., Huh, J., Priyadarshi, S., and Lipa, S., "Computing in 3D," IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, September 2015.
[10] Forbes, J. E., Hardware Thread Migration for 3D Die-stacked Heterogeneous Multi-core Processors. Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, March 2016.
[11] Ku, S., Forbes, E., Basu Roy Chowdhury, R., and Rotenberg, E., "Case for Standard-Cell Based RAMs in Highly-Ported Superscalar Processor Structures," Poster at 53rd Design Automation Conference, June 2016.
[12] Forbes, E. and Rotenberg, E., "Fast Register Consolidation and Migration for Heterogeneous Multi-core Processors," Proceedings of the 34th IEEE International Conference on Computer Design, pp. 1-8, Oct. 2016. Winner of best paper award in Processor Architecture track.
[13] Ku, S., Forbes, E. Basu Roy Chowdhury, R., and Rotenberg, E., "A Case for Standard-Cell Based RAMs in Highly-Ported Superscalar Processor Structures," Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design, pp. 131-137, Mar. 2017.
[14] Srinivasan, V., Basu Roy Chowdhury, R., Forbes, E., Widialaksono, R., Zhang, Z., Schabel, J., Ku, S., Lipa, S., Rotenberg, E., Davis, R., and Franzon, P., "H3 (Heterogeneity in 3D): A Logic-on-logic 3D-stacked Heterogeneous Multi-core Processor," Proceedings of the 35th IEEE International Conference on Computer Design, pp. 145-152, Nov. 2017.
[15] Siever, B., Chamberlain, R. D., Forbes, E., and Russell, I., "Including Embedded Systems in CS: Why? When? and How?," Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, pp. 328-329, Feb. 2019.
[16] Doll, D., Rutherford, D., Kernozek, T., Forbes, E., "Visualizing Real-time Feedback of a Rehabilitation Trainer," Proceedings of the 2019 Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium, Apr. 2019.
[17] Severeid, J. and Forbes, E., "dt: A High-level Assembler for RISC-V," Proceedings of the 53rd Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium, Apr. 2020.
[18] Severeid, J. and Forbes, E., "Technical Reference for the dt Programming Language and Assembler," Department of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Technical Report TR04032020, Apr. 2020.
[19] Grunwald, A., Nguyen, P. and Forbes, E., "dptv: A New PipeTrace Viewer for Microarchitectural Analysis," Proceedings of the 55th Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium, pp. 274-284 Mar. 2023.
Other works currently under peer review.
Funded Grants• Multi-frequency Dual Pipetrace Viewer and Performance Debugger, UWL Faculty Research Grant, July 2017-June 2018
• A Software Tool-set for Undergraduate Computer Architecture Projects, UWL Teaching Innovation Grant, July 2019-June 2020
• Computer Science and Engineering Camp, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, July 2022-August 2022
• Program committee member, 37th IEEE International Conference on Computer Design, 2019
• Program committee member, 36th IEEE International Conference on Computer Design, 2018
• Program committee member, 33rd IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, 2019
Assistant Professor (with tenure): August 2016-Present
Director of Computer Engineering: September 2020-Present
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
• Developed curriculum and courses, and obtained approval from department, university and system committees, for a new bachelor of science in computer engineering.
• Courses Taught:
CPE 105 - Introduction to the Computing Environment
CPE 212 - Digital Logic
CPE 309 - Systems Development
CPE 463 - Advanced Computer Architecture
CPE 466 - Code Generation and Optimization
CPE 478 - Virtual Machines
CS 120 - Software Design I
CS 220 - Software Design II
CS 272 - Digital Circuit Design for Microcontrollers I
CS 370 - Computer Architecture
CS 372 - Hardware/Software Integration
CS 419 - Special Topics (Systems Development)
CS 442 - Structures of Compilers
CS 472 - Internet of Things
CT 100 - Computational Thinking
Graduate Research Assistant: August 2007-August 2009, May 2012-May 2016
North Carolina State University
• Exploring the design space of solutions to improve
the physical design quality of automated synthesis, placement, and routing (see [6][11][13])
• Implemented and explored the advantages of a register file
value-swapping mechanism in SystemVerilog to support a fast-thread
migration architecture in a 3DIC (see [4][5][7][8][9][10][12][14])
• Researching performance extensions to a simultaneous multithreaded
processor (see [3])
• Researching the interaction between address computation
and the load instructions which use those addresses (see [1]), the
results were used to guide design decisions for an advanced
branch predictor (see [2])
Adjunct Instructor: August 2009-December 2009, August 2010-May 2012
North Carolina State University
ECE 109 - Introduction to Computer Systems
• Developing course materials and lecturing a 150+ student introductory
course covering many topics in computer engineering, including data
representation, basic digital circuits, computer arithmetic and system
architecture, and assembly programming
• Implementing new curricula to introduce multi-core concepts to
students as part of an NSF-funded Early Adopters program
• Directing teaching assistants for lab and grading duties
• Managing course sections offered as distance education
Graduate Teaching Assistant: August 2006-April 2007
North Carolina State University
• ECE 109 - Introduction to Computer Systems
• ECE 200 - Introduction to Signals, Circuits and Systems
• ECE 209 - Computer Systems Programming
• IEEE Senior Member June 2020
• Winner of best paper award in Processor Architecture track at ICCD-34 October 2016
• MIT Lincoln Labs GFP Fellowship Recipient: June 2007-June 2008
• Member of Eta Kappa Nu, Beta Eta Chapter: Inducted October 2006
• Michigan Tech Dean's List: May 2001-May 2005
• Phuong Nguyen: Winner of Dean's Distinguished Fellowship 2017 -- UWL College of Science and Health
• Adam Grunwald: Winner of Dean's Distinguished Fellowship 2022 -- UWL College of Science and Health
• Adam Grunwald: Winner of 2024 Undergraduate Research and Creativity Grant -- UWL Office of Student Research, Creativity, and Experiential Learning
Intel Corp., Hillsboro, OR
• Graduate Intern Technical: April 2010-August 2010
• Path-finding for architectural support for dynamic binary translation
Intel Corp., Folsom, CA
• Graduate Intern Technical: June 2007-August 2007
• Graphics driver testing for GM45 chipset
Smiths Aerospace Ltd. Contracted through Technisource Inc., Grand Rapids, MI
• Technical Contractor: June 2005 to June 2006
• Graphics hardware and driver testing for C-130 AMP
• Watchdog timer hardware and driver testing for Boeing 767 Tanker
Unisys Corp., Roseville, MN
• Student Technical: Various interships January 2002 to August 2004
• ASIC physical design and characterization for ClearPath IX