Profile of Mark Hempstead

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

From a young age, Mark Hempstead ’03 fiddled with his family’s computer. Taking the technology apart and putting it back together allowed him to create endless hours of enjoyment. He learned what parts did what in his dissection, discovering how something so revolutionary could be built so intricately. This fascination led him to numerous degrees in computer engineering, one of which he received from the Tufts School of Engineering. Now, as an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor Hempstead teaches students about the endless possibilities and exciting futures of computer architecture.

During his undergraduate studies at Tufts, Professor Hempstead enjoyed the free-spirited inquisitiveness of a liberal arts institution. Like all Jumbos, he came to Tufts curious. Being from a family of engineers allowed him to have some idea of what his studies may entail, but it could not have prepared him for classes such as Gourmet Engineering, in which the final exam required engineering students to creatively cook a chicken as fast as possible. Fifty percent of the grade was based on actual, practical engineering; however, the other 50% was based on how the chicken tasted. Mark Hempstead was also able to explore his passions in technical theater. He would study the electrical components of stereo speakers during the day, and then he would operate them for Tufts’ theatre performances at night.

Today, Professor Hempstead teaches advancedlevel computer architecture courses and leads groundbreaking research efforts. In his research, Hempstead and his team in the lab seek to improve the ever-changing field of technology in new and exciting ways. “I think about how we build hardware but make it in an energy efficient way. That’s been the theme of my lab going forward: combining hardware and software to build energy-efficient systems.” His novel method of heat-based, thermal investigation allows him to look inside a computer’s “brain” in order to see what’s really going on. Heat can show us which parts of the computer are working, as well as which parts are working the hardest. Professor Hempstead’s research also looks into cybersecurity, opening up the possibility of combating malware via thermal imaging. The United States Department of Energy has also recently enlisted Professor Hempstead’s help in utilizing these new and exciting possibilities.

Similarly, this research has also made Hempstead an expert for some big-name companies. “I love to talk about how to make smartphones more energy efficient,” he said. “I spent a year recently at Facebook, and we published a couple papers looking at how machine learning can be done faster. These are the models that recommend videos to you, they recommend things on your feed, they recommend ads and other things. That required using my tools to analyze which parts of the software [were functioning efficiently].”

Students working in Hempstead’s lab get handson experience that adequately sets them up for successful careers. “Of the students that have worked with me over the years, I have one student who designs microprocessors for IBM. Another one is at Intel, another one at AMD,” Hempstead attested.

Professor Hempstead believes that computer architecture plays a role in everyone’s life, and technological literacy is infinitely beneficial. “Technology is not magic,” he affirmed, “No different than how we would expect someone to read Shakespeare, these concepts [of technology] are not that hard to convey.” With the speed of technological development, Hempstead cultivates curiosity to improve his field. “Computing is everywhere. It’s in our driverless cars, it’s in our rockets that go into space, and in all the websites and video conferences we are spending all of our time on.”—BLAKE ANDERSON ’24

Portrait of Dr. Hempstead standing in front of a building holding his hands in front of himself and looking up into the distance.