cs.washington.eduWarren Francis and Wilma Kolm Bradley Chair
I have recently spent some time thinking about the US system of computer science education, whether it is fit for purpose, and what we might do to fix it. I gave a talk on my ideas at Princeton -- the notes for the slides provides the argument in brief, along with a bibliography: pdf with notes, pdf slides only, powerpoint. I have a longer essay version, available on request.
While at Princeton, I also gave an overview of some of my recent research on operating systems for data centers, which you can find here: pdf and powerpoint.
Mike Dahlin and I have the second edition of our undergraduate operating systems textbook, Operating Systems: Principles and Practice. The new version is available now from Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, and your local bookstore. Slides and selected code examples are available.
My research concerns the practical issues in constructing robust, secure, and efficient computer systems. I see myself as a generalist -- I am attracted to the biggest problem I can find, regardless of area. My most recent work has been in the area of improving the performance and reliability of data center operating systems, networks, and distributed systems. I've also done research in programming languages, software engineering, system security, file systems, computer architecture, and educational software.
I studied philosophy as an undergraduate, and John Rawls was on my thesis committee.