Linda Torczon

Senior Research Scientist

Contact Information: linda at rice.edu

Research Interests

Linda Torczon's research interests include code generation, interprocedural dataflow analysis and optimization, and programming environments. Her published work covers subjects that include as interprocedural analysis and optimization, code generation, adaptive compilation, and the design and implementation of programming environment. Two of her papers were selected for the ACM SIGPLAN publication Best of PLDI 1979-1999.

Dr. Torczon is a co-editor of The Sourcebook of Parallel Computing (with her colleagues Jack Dongarra, Ian Foster, Geoffrey Fox, William Gropp, Ken Kennedy, and Andy White.) This book is intended as a resource for computer science and application researchers, as well as for computational science and parallel computing education and training.

Dr. Torczon is the author of a textbook on compiler construction, Engineering a Compiler, along her colleague Keith Cooper. Engineering a Compiler is currently in its second edition. This book is intended as a textbook for a senior-level course in compiler construction, as well as a reference for professionals.

Professional Experience

Dr. Torczon has served as the Executive Director of a number of different research efforts, all headquartered at Rice University.

Center for Research on Parallel Computation, an NSF Science and Technology Center, 1990 to 2000
Los Alamos Computer Science Institute, a collaboration between Rice University and Los Alamos National Laboratory (funded by DOE), 1998 to 2006
Center for High Performance Software Research, Rice University, 2000 to 2006
The GrADS and VGrADS Projects, NSF-sponsored, multi-institution projects, 2003 to 2009

Recently, she was a PI on the DARPA-sponsored Platform-Aware Compilation Environment project.

Professional Activities

Throughtout her career, Dr. Torczon has been involved in activities intended to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities entering mathematics and science related fields, particularly the field of computational science and engineering. With Ken Kennedy and Richard Tapia, she initiated several CRPC outreach activities, including the CRPC GirlTECH program and the Girl Games effort. She has made presentations to students in many programs programs that encourage high school and middle school girls to pursue technical careers, She has made many presentations to K-12 teachers in training programs at Rice. She served on the Shared Decision Making Team of The Rice School/La Escuela Rice, a Houston Independent School District K-8 laboratory school. Finally, as tutorial chair for the ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation, she directed an NSF-funded tutorial program that brought faculty members from undergraduate institutions, particularly women's colleges and institutions with large minority enrollments, to the conference and tutorials.

Selected Publications

Engineering a Compiler (with K.D. Cooper), Elsevier Morgan-Kauffman, 1st Edition, 2004 (801 pages), 2nd Edition, 2011 (800 pages).
Sourcebook of Parallel Computing (editor with J. Dongarra, I. Foster, G. Fox, W. Gropp, K. Kennedy, and A. White), Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, 2003.
"Interprocedural Constant Propagation", (with D. Callahan, K.D. Cooper, and K. Kennedy), in Best of PLDI 1979-1999 (Special Issue), ACM SIGPLAN Notices 39(4), April 2004, pages 155-166. (Original paper appears in PLDI '86.)
"Coloring Heuristics for Register Allocation", (with P. Briggs, K.D. Cooper, and K. Kennedy), in Best of PLDI 1979-1999 (Special Issue), ACM SIGPLAN Notices 39(4), April 2004, pages 283-294. (Original paper appears in PLDI '89.)
"Exploring the Structure of the Space of Compilation Sequences Using Randomized Search Algorithms", (with K. Cooper, A. Grosul, T. Harvey, S. Reeves, D. Subramanian, and T. Waterman), in Journal of Supercomputing 36(2), May 2006, pages 135-151. (Original paper appeared in 2004 LACSI Symposium.)