Dr. Daniel A. Jiménez, professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been appointed the interim chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society Technical Committee on Computer Architecture (TCCA).
TCCA is a community of researchers and practitioners involved with the architecture (integrated hardware and software design) of general- and special-purpose computers. This committee oversees IEEE computer society activities related to computer architecture research, including sponsorship of the IEEE International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)/IEEE International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA) (shared with ACM SIGARCH), as well as a number of other conferences.
As chair, Jiménez leads an executive committee of 18 highly qualified computer architects, including many former program chairs and general chairs of ISCA, HPCA and other prestigious conferences. This includes former chairs of TCCA who also provide advice.
Among other responsibilities, TCCA selects the program chairs and general chairs for the HPCA conference and oversees the selection of the program committee for HPCA. They also cooperate with ACM SIGARCH to select the program chairs and general chairs for the ISCA conference. TCCA also sponsors a number of awards, many in cooperation with ACM SIGARCH.
Recent initiatives from TCCA include improving diversity in their conferences, as well as finding new ways to highlight the contributions of computer architecture research and researchers. One of the main activities this year will be the 2018 ISCA conference during which David Patterson and John L. Hennessy will give their ACM Turing Award lecture. Jiménez and his ACM SIGARCH counterpart will lead the ISCA business meeting where he will present outcomes of recent TCCA activities and discuss new proposed activities, including future venues for TCCA sponsored conferences.
Jiménez’s term as interim chair will extend through September 2018 when a new election will determine the next TCCA chair. Preceding his appointment as interim TCCA chair, Jiménez served as a member of the TCCA executive committee for several years, as program chair of HPCA 2017 and general chair of HPCA 2011. As TCCA chair, he also become a member of the steering committee for the ISCA conference.
Jiménez’s research focuses are computer architecture and compilers. He was inducted into the ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO) Hall of Fame in 2017 and the IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA) Hall of Fame in 2015, and is notable for inventing the perceptron branch predictor, published with co-author Dr. Calvin Lin, professor at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as other impactful research.