John T. Robinson
[email protected]

Summary

An interesting problem is one where it is not known in advance how (or even if) the problem can be solved (as opposed to engineering problems, although engineering problems often turn out to be interesting for various reasons): I like working on interesting problems.

Previously I have worked on problems related to the design, analysis, testing, and verification of novel computer software and hardware systems. I have a broad background in these fields, with over thirty years experience in areas including database and operating systems, parallel and distributed algorithms and systems, storage hierarchies and systems, buffer and cache management, data visualization, performance analysis, compression technology, and hardware design verification.

Currently I am available for work on interesting problems in either full or part time (for example visiting or consulting) positions, and also just for fun (for example on problems that have no obvious commercial potential but are nevertheless interesting).

Education

Stanford University (1971-1974): B.S. with Distinction, Mathematics
I completed the four year program in three years, taking introductory graduate level courses during my last year; also during my last year I worked part time for the Stanford High Energy Physics Laboratory, and full time for one year (1974-1975) after graduation.

Carnegie-Mellon University (1975-1981): Ph.D. in Computer Science
My first research project led to publication of both conference and journal papers (analysis of algorithms for asynchronous multiprocessors). As a research assistant I developed optimistic methods for concurrency control (the starting point for my thesis work) and K-D-B-trees. I also worked as a teaching assistant for various undergraduate computer science courses. My thesis was Design of Concurrency Controls for Transaction Processing Systems; as part of this work I implemented a complete transaction processing system on the CMU 50-way Cm* multi-microprocessor.

Professional Experience

IBM Research Division (1981-June 2005): Research Staff Member
In one of my first projects I developed microcode for a shared disk control unit that implemented a programmable general-purpose locking facility; this was used to develop a working prototype of an IMS multi-system data sharing system with fast locking. Since then I have been involved in a wide variety of different projects, ranging from theory and performance analysis to prototype development, in both hardware and software areas. More recently I have worked on hardware design and verification, compressed memory system design and analysis, storage provisioning in storage area networks, processor cache design, and design and analysis of SMP coherency protocols. My major strengths are system design, performance analysis, and implementation. I generally consider programming languages simply as tools, and have programmed in virtually every major programming and scripting language (although primarily in C for recent work). I have over thirty conference and journal publications, thirty issued patents, and four pending patents.

Career Highlights

Some of my more well-known past work (for example see http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q="john+t+robinson") includes: One of my major contributions within IBM was work on the design and analysis of parallel compression methods and compressed memory systems; this work was part of the basis for the IBM MXT (memory expansion technology) compressed memory system product. My IBM awards include an Outstanding Innovation Award for work on concurrency control for high contention environments, and two Research Division Awards. My most recent IBM invention achievement awards were for the tenth and eleventh plateaus (December 2004 and January 2006). I have had two IBM top-5% and one top-30% rated patent awards, and was an IBM Master Inventor from 1999-2002. Currently I have 33 entries in the DBLP Bibliography Server; here is my ACM Author Profile page.

Recent Work Patents (4 pending; 30 issued) Publications

Journal Publications (15) Conference Publications (16) Other Selected Publications IP.com articles (37) (technical disclosures available from www.ip.com) Awards
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1