Phyllis Wang

Year in School
Junior

Major
Computer Science

Research Interests
Architecture, Compilers, and Parallel Computing

Research Mentor
Prof. Saugata Ghose

Research/Engagement Experience
I've been researching under Professor Saugata Ghose in computer architecture for the past year, studying Processing-in-Memory technology. I was also previously a CA for CS 128.

Interests
Computer architecture, and anything about how a computer works.

Project Title
Reducing Communication Energy for Data-Centric Computer Hardware

How did I get interested in Computer Science?
I've always loved peeking behind the curtain for everything, and computer science has a deep well of novel ideas and moving parts behind it to give us the technologies we enjoy every day, from computers to the Internet. Solving problems in computer science, from debugging code to research, requires me to think in a fun and unique way all the time.

What social interests matter to me?
I care about the environment and the impact that humanity has had on Earth. Many advancements in technology have come at the cost of the planet's health, but we can also use technology to help solve these problems.

What is my most impactful college experience?
I've been most affected by the great people I've been able to meet on campus who have shaped me as a person.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Hiking, reading, and solving puzzles!

Research Description
My research involves processing-using-memory (PUM), an emerging technology that allows memory to be repurposed for computation along with data storage. While this helps alleviate the energy cost of moving data from memory to the CPU, intra-memory data movement to leverage parallelism can also be costly if done inefficiently. I'm looking to design an efficient and scalable interconnection network on a PUM computer chip to reduce the energy cost of utilizing the technology.

Biography
I am a junior studying Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where I played a lot of music and loved competing in all things STEM-related. I love reading and watching anything science fiction in my free time. I'm currently researching under Professor Saugata Ghose in Computer Architecture, and I'm excited to continue studying and researching at the university!