Mary K. Vernon

Professor of Computer Sciences and Industrial Engineering

Computer Sciences Department
University of Wisconsin
1210 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706-1685

telephone: (608) 262-1204
fax: (608) 262-9777
email: vernon@cs.wisc.edu
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1983
Interests: Techniques and applications of computer systems performance analysis, performance of parallel systems, parallel architectures and operating systems.


Research Summary

I am interested in analytic modeling techniques and their application to computer system performance issues, with an emphasis on parallel and distributed system design issues. The modeling techniques I have developed together with graduate students and colleagues include the Generalized Timed Petri Net, and customized mean value analysis. The GTPN can represent parallel system features such as synchronization and priority service precisely. The customized MVA technique yields a set of intuitive equations that represent parallel system features more approximately but can be solved more efficiently. We have also recently proposed the use of a technique called interpolation approximations for analysis of parallel processor allocation policies. This technique may also have broader applicability for parallel systems performance analysis.

Current research projects include characterization for high-performance parallel workloads, analysis of parallel processor scheduling policies, scheduling issues in multimedia servers, and memory management policies for networks of workstations.

Sample Recent Publications

The fairness of DQDB networks with slot reuse (with G. Brewster), Proceedings of the IEEE INFOCOM Conference, August 1995.

Accurate modeling of the hybrid hash join algorithm (with J. Patel and M. Carey), Proceedings of the ACM SIGMETRICS Conference, June 1994.

Use of application characteristics and limited preemption for run-to-completion parallel processor scheduling policies (with S. Chiang and R. Mansharamani), Proceedings of the ACM SIGMETRICS Conference, June 1994.


This page was automatically created October 30, 1995.
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