Computing engineering graduate student Biresh Kumar Joardar has received a Computing Innovation Fellowship that will support two years of postdoctoral research support.
The fellowship program was developed by the Computing Research Association and the Computing Community Consortium as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is meant to support recent PhD graduates in computing, providing career-enhancing professional opportunities during a challenging hiring environment. It is funded by the National Science Foundation.
Joardar, who is a PhD candidate in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, is advised by Partha Pratim Pande and Janardhan Rao Doppa. For his PhD dissertation, he has worked to develop machine learning-based techniques to design next-generation computer hardware, such as heterogeneous manycore architectures for big data applications. He has presented his work at several prestigious conferences and received a best paper award at the 2019 International Symposium on Networks-on-Chip conference. He has also been nominated for a best paper award at the 2020 Design, Automation and Test in Europe conference. He received the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science’s 2019 outstanding graduate student research award.
The fellowship will support two years of postdoctoral research at Duke University, where he will be working on two tightly coupled research areas in machine learning and reliable computer system design.
Joardar, who hopes to pursue a career in research in a lab or as a faculty member, said he became concerned about job prospects this spring as he heard about COVID-related hiring freezes and cancelled job offers from colleagues and friends. The fellowship will allow him to continue with his research while giving him extra time to begin an academic job search when circumstances improve.
He will also be further developing professional skills, such as in proposal writing and teaching, while also establishing collaborations and networking with other researchers.
“I am confident that this will prepare me for my future career,” he said.
