Biography
Torsten Hoefler is a distinguished Professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, renowned for his pioneering contributions to the field of high-performance computing. As a member of Academia Europaea and a Fellow of both the ACM and IEEE, he has achieved significant acclaim for his “Performance as a Science” vision, which integrates mathematical models of architectures and applications to create optimized computing systems. Prior to his tenure at ETH Zurich, Hoefler played a crucial role at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he led the performance modeling and simulation efforts for Blue Waters, the first sustained Petascale supercomputer. His influential work extends to the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard, where he chaired the “Collective Operations and Topologies” working group, significantly advancing the field of parallel computing.
Hoefler’s research excellence is evidenced by his numerous accolades and best paper awards from prestigious conferences, including ACM/IEEE Supercomputing. He has published a wealth of peer-reviewed articles and contributed to the MPI-2.2 and MPI-3.0 standards, reflecting his deep expertise and impact on the domain. His significant recognitions include the IEEE CS Sidney Fernbach Memorial Award, the ACM Gordon Bell Prize, the ISC Jack Dongarra Award, and multiple awards from IEEE TCSC, among others. These honors underscore his contributions to scalable computing and performance modeling. Furthermore, his alma mater, Indiana University, acknowledged his outstanding achievements with the 2014 Young Alumni Award and the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Beyond his impressive accolades, Hoefler’s research interests are centered around performance-centric system design, encompassing scalable networks, parallel programming techniques, and performance modeling for large-scale simulations and AI systems. His groundbreaking work has not only advanced the field but also earned him ERC Starting and Consolidator grants, marking him as a leading figure in European research. Hoefler’s sustained influence is reflected in his election to the steering committee of ACM’s SIGHPC since 2013, where he has been consistently re-elected. Additional information about his work and contributions can be found on his homepage at htor.inf.ethz.ch.