Brandon Lucia
Kavčić-Moura Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Brandon Lucia is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. He researches the boundary between computer architecture, computer systems, and programming languages. He leads the abstract research group.
Some of his current research interests include: making intermittent computing devices that harvest energy from their environment and are programmable, reliable, and robust to common-case power failures. These devices are really exciting because they are a great fit for sensing, medical implants, “extreme” scenarios, and many other applications. He also researches the need to create better software systems and computer architectures that make parallel computing correct, reliable, and efficient. The problem space is especially interesting now with the end of Moore's Law and Dennard Scaling, and the move to crazy heterogeneous parallel systems, approximate computing, distributed system architectures, and emerging (e.g., non-volatile, biological) technology maturing and becoming useful.
Lucia’s cross-cutting computer systems research has led to a 2018 NSF CAREER Award, the 2018 ASPLOS Best Paper Award, three IEEE MICRO Top Picks in Computer Architecture (2009, 2010, 2016), a 2015 OOPSLA Best Paper Award, the 2015 Bell Labs Prize, a 2016 Google Faculty Award, and an appointment to the DARPA ISAT study group. He received a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship, a VMWare early career grant, and an IEEE TCCA Young Computer Architect Award. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington in 2013.
Orbital Edge Computing in Smart Nanosatellites
Energy Harvesting Computers: Extracting Energy from the Environment
Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Brandon Lucia designs the basic technology to support “energy harvesting computers,” or devices that can perform computations, sense their environments, and communicate using energy that they extract from their environments.
Education
2013 Ph.D., Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington
2010 MS, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington
2007 BS, Computer Science, Tufts University
Media mentions
Pittsburgh Business Times
Lucia’s company named a startup to watch
ECE’s Brandon Lucia is the co-founder and CEO of one of Pittsburgh Business Times’ 10 Pittsburgh-area startups to watch in 2024.
Five Engineering faculty receive professorships
ECE’s Yuejie Chi, MSE’s Marc De Graef, ECE’s Swarun Kumar, ECE’s Brandon Lucia, and MechE’s Rebecca Taylor recently received professorships in Engineering for their outstanding scholarly achievements.
NPR Post
NPR Post features CMU nanosatellite research
The NPR Post covered CMU's nanosatellite research, highlighting uses such as detecting wildfires, crowd monitoring in major events, and carbon mapping.
Aviation Week
Lucia’s research featured in Aviation Week article
ECE’s Brandon Lucia and his research project have been featured in Aviation Week highlighting a new research project trying to make nanosatellites more computationally robust.
2022 Faculty Awards announced
The 2022 Engineering Faculty Awards winners have been announced.
CMU Engineering
CMU launches initiative to transform nanosatellite capabilities
Researchers at CMU’s College of Engineering are working to develop computationally capable constellations of nanosatellites, equipped with machine learning techniques that extract valuable insights from the data while still in orbit.
CMU Engineering
Satellite designed at CMU launches into low-Earth orbit
Brandon Lucia’s lab developed the Tartan-Artibeus-1 Satellite, the world’s first batteryless PocketQube nanosatellite, deployed to low-Earth orbit aboard the SpaceX Transporter-3 Rocket, earlier this week.
CMU Engineering
Team builds tools, innovations to support federal investment
With major investments in infrastructure and innovation pending, a multi-disciplinary initiative lead by EPP’s Erica Fuchs is building the tools and innovations to inform government decisions.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Fanti and Lucia Receive 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship
ECE’s Giulia Fanti and Brandon Lucia are recipients of the 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship, which honors early career scholars whose achievements put them among the very best scientific minds working today.
Engineering faculty awarded professorships
The College of Engineering recently awarded and virtually celebrated several professorships. MechE’s Conrad Tucker was awarded the Arthur Hamerschlag Career Development Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. MechE’s Jessica Zhang was awarded the George Tallman Ladd and Florence Barrett Ladd Research Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. ECE’s Brandon Lucia was awarded the Sathaye Family Foundation Career Development Professorship. ECE’s Anthony Rowe was awarded the Siewiorek and Walker Family Professorship.
CMU Engineering
Smile, you’re on Camaroptera
Brandon Lucia created a battery-less remote image sensor—and taught it time management.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Lucia receives VMWare Early Career Grant
ECE’s Brandon Lucia has received the VMWare Early Career Grant in support of building efficient intermittent edge computer systems.