Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Education
- Doctoral Degree, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
- Master's Degree, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
- Bachelor's Degree, Electrical Engineering, Princeton University
Biography
Peter Beerel received his B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1989, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1991 and 1994, respectively. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering-Systems at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering in 1994, where he is currently a Full Professor and Associate Chair of the Computer Engineering Division. He is also a Research Director at USC's Information Sciences Institute.
Previously, Dr. Beerel was the Faculty Director of Innovation Studies at the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation from 2006 to 2008. In May of 2008, he took a leave of absence from USC and co-founded TimeLess Design Automation with one of his Ph.D. students, Dr. Georgios Dimou. Their mission was to demonstrate and commercialize an asynchronous ASIC flow for high-performance systems. They were successful and sold the company in July of 2010 to Fulcrum Microsystems which was acquired by Intel in 2011.
Dr. Beerel was recipient of a VSoE Outstanding Teaching Award in 1997 and the VSoE Junior Research Award in 1998. He received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and a 1995 Zumberge Fellowship. His interests include a variety of topics in CAD, VLSI, and Machine Learning. He and his students have won several best paper awards, including at ASYNC'99, ASYNC'2014, and ASYNC'2020. He was the 2008 recipient of the IEEE Region 6 Outstanding Engineer Award and is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Research Summary
My research interests span circuits, micro-architecture, and algorithms that target a variety of emerging areas in energy-efficient, secure, and sustainable computing. My group is guided by academic curiosity, integrity, and the spirit of collaboration to solve real-world problems using the wide array of mathematics that make up the foundation of Electrical and Computer Engineering. My group’s current research projects include topics in machine-learning algorithm hardware co-design, superconducting electronics, hardware security, and asynchronous VLSI design. My group is also collaborating on multidisciplinary problems including mitigating wild fires using a network of drones.
Awards
- 2021 IEEE ASYNC Symposium Best Paper Award
- 2018 ICCCNT Best Paper Award
- 2018 USC Stevens Commercialization Award
- 2017 National Academy of Inventors Inductee, National Academy of Inventors, USC Chapter
- 2014 IEEE ASYNC Symposium Best Paper Award
- 2011 Viterbi School of Engineering USC Faculty Service Award
- 2009 IEEE Outstanding Engineer Award, IEEE Region 6, Southern Area (2008)
- 2008 IEEE Senior Member
- 2008 IEEE Region 6, Southern Area Outstanding Engineer Award
- 2000 Large-Scale NSF ITR Award Recipient
- 1999 IEEE ASYNC Symposisum Best Paper Award
- 1998 USC School of Engineering Junior Faculty Research Award
- 1997 Philips Corporation & SUN Microsystems Charles Molnar Award
- 1997 USC School of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award
- 1995 USC NSF Career Award
- 1995 USC Zumberge Fellow
- 1993 Stanford University Philips Fellowship
