ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I want to thank John D. Owens, my Ph.D. advisor. I cannot express enough
how much I owe John and how he has influenced me to be a better person, both academically
and personally. Back in the Summer of 2013, I decided to make a change in my Ph.D. focus
from electrical engineering to computer engineering. None of this chapter of my life would
have happened if it were not for John, and how he trusted me, and how he patiently gave me the
opportunity to learn and flourish. My respect and admiration for John is indescribable.
Furthermore, I owe a great deal to some of the best professors in my field. Prof. Nina Amenta,
from the department of Computer Science at University of California, Davis, who if it were not
for the amazing course she taught on “Parallel Algorithms”, I would have not been introduced to
my current field of study. Nina helped me as one of my dissertation committee members and
advised me on many of my research projects and I thank her for all her support. Prof. Martin
Farach-Colton, from the department of Computer Science at Rutgers University, who taught me
a lot on theoretical aspects of data structures and advised me on many of my projects. Martin’s
support had a great influence on me and I cannot thank him enough for that.
I would also like to thank the rest of my dissertation committee members and my Ph.D.
qualifying exam committee who advised me on my journey: Prof. Venkatesh Akella, Prof. Kent
Wilken, and Prof. Chen-nee Chuah. I am honored to have such successful researchers evaluate
my work. I would also thank Prof. Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar and Prof. Hussain Al-Assad who
supported and helped me during my transition to join John’s research group back in the Summer
of 2013.
During my studies, I was lucky enough to be able to have many constructive discussions
and helpful suggestions by experts from all over the field. I hereby thank Prof. Ulrich Meyer
from Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Andrew Davidson at YouTube, Duane Merrill,
Michael Garland and Anjul Patney from NVIDIA Research, Stephen Jones and Lars Nyland
from NVIDIA, Mohamed Ebeida and Scott Mitchell at Sandia National Lab, and Sean Baxter.
Thanks to all the lovely people at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at
UC Davis, who helped me during my studies: Kyle Westbrook, Nancy Davis, Denise Christensen,
Renee Kuehnau, Philip Young, Natalie Killeen, Yulia Suprun, Sacksith Ekkaphanh and many

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