Dr. Mark Dean is presently an IBM Fellow and Vice President of Systems in IBM Research. He is responsible for the research and application of systems technologies spanning circuits to operating environments. Key technologies in his research team include cellular systems structures (Blue Gene), digital visualization, DA tools, Linux optimizations for Pervasive, SMPs & Clusters, Settop Box integration, MXT, S/390 & PowerPC processors, super dense servers, formal verification methods, and high speed low power circuits.
         Prior to this, Dr. Dean was responsible for the IBM Austin Research Laboratory in Austin, Texas. He was appointed to this position in November 1997. The primary focus of the laboratory is the development of high performance microprocessors, systems and software, including the circuits, tools, and micro-architectures to support high frequency operation. Other ARL research activities include high MIPS/milliwatt embedded controllers, full system simulation, formal verification, design for manufacturability, and low temperature cooling methods. Recent lab accomplishments include the successful testing of the first 1GHz CMOS microprocessor, design of a high speed DRAM (<5ns latency), ACES EDA tool development, SimOS-PPC full system simulator demonstration, and the prototyping of a highly scaleable SMP architecture (NUMA) for Intel and PowerPC.
         Throughout his 22-year career with IBM, Mark has held several engineering positions in the area of computer system hardware architecture and design He worked on establishing the strategy, architecture, design, and business plan for proposed video server offerings and studied the technology and business opportunity for settop boxes. He was also chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, ISA systems bus, PS/2 Model 70 & 80, the Color Graphics Adapter, and numerous other subsystems.
         Dr. Dean received a BSEE degree from the University of Tennessee in 1979, a MSEE degree from Florida Atlantic University in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1992. He has papers published in the IEEE Computer Society Press, MIT Press, and IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin.
         Dr. Dean's most recent awards include: IEEE Fellow, the Black Engineer of the Year Award, the NSBE Distinguished Engineer award, and the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators Award in Washington, DC. He was inducted as a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. Dr. Dean was appointed to IBM Fellow in 1995, IBM's highest technical honor. Only 50 out of more than 310,000 IBM employees have the level of IBM Fellow. Dr. Dean is also a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. Dr. Dean has received several academic and IBM awards, including 13 Invention Achievement Awards and six Corporate Awards. He also has more than 30 patents or patents pending.