NYU Computer Architecture Day 2024 brings new ideas to the forefront of hardware and software design

In a lively seminar room at 370 Jay street, computer scientists from up and down the Northeastern seaboard gathered for NYU Computer Architecture Day 2024.

In addition to NYU Tandon students and faculty, more than 80 students, researchers, and industry experts — representing academia including Columbia University, Cornell and Cornell Tech, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Princeton University, University of Rochester, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, and Yale University, and industry, including D.E. Shaw Research, Google Deepmind, IBM Research, Lucata, and Qualcomm Labs — attended the event to exchange ideas with fellow computer architects.

Keynote speaker Brannon Batson of D.E. Shaw Research discussed their supercomputer, called Anton 3 — the latest version of a family of supercomputers dating back to 2008 aimed at simulating molecular dynamics. Anton 3 outpaces other supercomputers by at least 100 times in simulating various biomolecular systems, which has been crucial for advancing scientific research and drug discovery. Batson discussed the intricate interplay between hardware, software, and algorithms that enabled the computer to achieve such remarkable speedups.

In addition to Batson’s talk, 17 students presented the research they have been working on, ranging from unique defenses against DNN attacks and speeding up Large Language Models to improving image encoding in virtual reality and creating a hardware “kill-switch” for AIs.

The event was spearheaded by Brandon Reagen, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering, and organized by NYU Tandon students Karthik Garimella, Jianqiao Mo, Negar Neda, Austin Ebel, Nandan Jha, and Alhad Daftardar with support from Raquel Thompson from ECE.