Computer Science | Grinnell College

On Thursday, April 18, Brooks Davis will discuss the architecture of new computers designed for research into computer systems and networks:

A team of more than thirty researchers from SRI International and the University of Cambridge have spent the last two years developing a pair of clean-slate processor designs and a supporting set of operating systems and programming language extensions. The primary goal of this work is increasing our ability to compartmentalize important -- but risky -- applications such as web browsers at a much finer scale than currently possible. Secondary goals include modernizing the process of hardware design, raising the bar for CPU research, and developing a platform for future work. This talk will discuss our goals in detail and our progress toward building a research platform to support them.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk, “Building a platform for modern systems research,” will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Click on any picture for the original, larger version.

John Stone's research lab

Henry Walker's research lab

Computer science faculty maintain active programs of scholarship and often involve students in this work. During a semester, this work may involve one or two students; in the summer, teams of four or more students are common.

Separate faculty research labs allow these long-term projects to progress efficiently and effectively.

• Workstations can be configured for specialized software and environments.
• Faculty and student researchers have access to systems, independent of class schedules and demands for teaching labs.
• Teams can post notes, brainstorm ideas, develop "to-do" lists on white boards, without interfering with class notes in classrooms and teaching spaces.
• When teams meet in different labs, discussions by one research team do not disrupt work by other teams.