Power Optimization and Prediction Techniques for FPGAs - Jason H ...

AcknowledgmentsThroughout my life, I have had great teachers and mentors. First, thank you to my advisor,Professor Farid Najm, for his guidance throughout my doctoral studies. He helped to set thedirection for this research by encouraging me to pursue paths that initially were unfamiliarto me. His steady, solid, and rigorous approach to research is something I aim to practicein my own career. Many thanks to Professors Zhu, Rose, Chow, Sheikholeslami, and Tessierfor reviewing and evaluating this work. I also acknowledge Profs. Brown and Rose for thesignificant and lasting roles they played in early stages of my research career.I am indebted to my mentors at Xilinx, who, during my four years in San Jose, helped meto develop professional and technical skills that enabled me to produce and succeed in graduateschool. Thanks Rajeev, Sudip, Jim, and Sandor! Thanks also to the members of the Xilinxplace and route team who seamlessly accepted a remote, part-time guy in Toronto. I am gratefulto Xilinx for giving me the opportunity to continue to work part-time during my PhD studies,and for allowing us to demonstrate a portion of this work using Xilinx technology. Thanksto Tim Tuan of Xilinx Research Labs for being a great sounding board, and for his technicalassistance. To all of my friends within Xilinx: thanks for the welcome diversions throughoutmy PhD.I have thoroughly enjoyed being in graduate school and it’s not an experience I would tradefor any other. Many thanks go to my fellow graduate students in the Computer Group andespecially, my office mates in LP392, both current and former, in particular: Imad, Navid, Denis,Lesley, Andy, Paul, Tom, Peter, Anish, Ian, Aaron, Mehrdad, Vince, and Warren. Thanks toKelly Chan for the dependable and conscientious administrative support.I wish to express my appreciation to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council(NSERC) of Canada for the PGS scholarship, and to the Government of Ontario for the OGSand OGS-ST scholarships.Finally, thank you to my wife, Mary, for her love and support throughout our 8 yearstogether, and for always encouraging me to do whatever I enjoy.v