Karsten Schwan (August 21, 1952 – September 28, 2015) was an American

computer pioneer This is a list of people who made transformative breakthroughs in the creation, development and imagining of what computers could do. Pioneers ~ Items marked with a tilde are circa dates. See also * Computer Pioneer Award * IEEE John von ...

, academic who had held the position of professor of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and the director of Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems (CERCS) at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

Biography

Schwan grew up in Oldenburg, Germany, the second of five children to Werner and Erika Schwans. He had a life-changing experience in his teens when his father, who worked for the West German-American military, was sent to El Paso, Texas, for two years. It sparked in him a love of travel and of the U.S. His hobbies included reading science fiction books, hiking, and gardening. An East Frisian man, he greatly enjoyed starting his day with a big breakfast of fresh bread and cheese, and a regular ''Teetied'' with a traditiona
East Frisian tea ceremony
He earned his B.S. degree at West Germany’s Christian-Albrechts Universitaet. Later, he received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

where he began his research in high-performance computing, addressing operating and programming systems support for the Cm* multiprocessor. During the graduate school, he married Cheryl Gaimon, who later becomes Regents’ Professor at

. His thesis, “Tailoring Software for Multiple Processor Systems,” was selected as one of six theses in 1982 to be printed as a book in the “Computer Science Series” by UMI Research Press. In 1983, Schwan started at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

as an assistant professor. He has two children
Valerie Ringland
and

Phillip Gaimon Phillip Gaimon (born January 28, 1986) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2016. He is currently part of Jukebox Cycling, a multi-discipline team of six riders. He began his racing care ...

. He established the PArallel, Real-time Systems (PARTS) Laboratory, containing both custom embedded processors and commercial parallel machines, and conducting research on operating and programming system support for cluster computing and for adaptive real-time systems. In 1988, Schwan moved to

as an associate professor with tenure. In 2001 he co-founde
CERCS
the Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems. He became
Regents' professor
in 2010.

Awards

He won the 2008 HP Labs Innovation Research Award and is elected

IEEE Fellow , the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and ot ...

at 2016 posthumously. Since 2016, the International Conference on Autonomic Conference (ICAC) and High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing (HPDC) have named the Best Paper awards after Schwan.

Ph.D. students

Schwan's doctoral students include: * Fabian Bustamante, professor at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

* Dilma Da Silva, CS Chair at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

* Beth Plale,

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

* Phyllis Schneck,

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwan, Karsten Georgia Tech faculty Carnegie Mellon University alumni 1952 births 2015 deaths