1 September 1999

Distinguished Computer Scientist Randal E. Bryant Is Named Head of Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science Department

Randal E. Bryant, the president=B9s professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, has been chosen to head the Computer Science Department in the School of Computer Science (SCS). He succeeds James H. Morris who recently was named dean of the school.

Bryant has been a member of the SCS faculty since 1984. He has achieved recognition in academia and industry for developing computer-aided design tools that simulate and verify digital circuits, and for his research in symbolic manipulation and parallel computation. He is also described as a dedicated teacher, esteemed by his colleagues and highly respected for his even-handed judgment, which has won him the chairmanship of committees and other endeavors important to the functioning of the Computer Science Department.

"Randy Bryant is the complete computer science professor," Morris said in announcing his appointment. "He has done ground-breaking research in hardware verification. He and a colleague recently created a new, very successful undergraduate course, and he has chaired the Computer Science Department promotions committee for the past few years. We are all very fortunate that he has stepped up to this new responsibility.

Bryant'ss teaching and research interests include VLSI design, verification and testing, as well as algorithms and computer architecture. In research, he is best known for developing the MOSSIM switch-level chip simulator and for ordered binary decision diagrams (BDDs), a tool that has enabled breakthroughs in the formal verification of hardware and software systems, including the widely acclaimed symbolic model checking, largely developed at Carnegie Mellon.

The MOSSIM simulator, developed in 1983, was the first tool that could accurately model the behavior of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits. The program was used by Intel Corp. for more than a decade to simulate processors. Versions of the COSMOS simulator, which Bryant developed to succeed MOSSIM, are still being used at Intel and Compaq Computer Corporation. In 1985, Bryant developed several very efficient algorithms based on BDDs to manipulate the switching functions that form the basis for computer designs. Since then, researchers at other universties and industry, as well as Carnegie Mellon, have used the algorithms to represent and manipulate large state sets when verifying computer chips.

"Randy Bryant represents all that's exemplary in academia," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon. "He has made seminal contributions in electronic design automation. His colleagues have the greatest respect for him as a scientist, educator and administrator."

Bryant earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1973. He received a doctor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. Before coming to Carnegie Mellon, he spent three years as an assistant professor of computer science at the California Institute of Technology.

Bryant is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE's Transactions on Computer-Aided Design for Integrated Circuits and Systems from 1995 to 1997. He has received several awards from the Semiconductor Research Corporation, including inventor recognition awards in 1989 and 1990, and a technical excellence award shared with Carnegie Mellon colleagues in 1996. This year he shared the Association for Computing Machinery=B9s Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award with three colleagues for his contributions to the development of symbolic model checking. The Kanellakis award recognizes theoretical work in computer science that evolves to affect the commercial world.

During his career, Bryant has consulted for numerous companies, including Hewlett-Packard Corp., IBM, Compaq and Fujitsu. He was a visiting research fellow at Fujitsu Laboratories in Kawasaki, Japan, from 1990-91. He serves on the technical advisory boards of Fujitsu Labs of America and two Silicon Valley start ups. Bryant also holds a courtesy position in Carnegie Mellon=B9s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

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