Mor Harchol-Balter facts for kids

Mor Harchol-Balter is a very important professor of Computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is famous for her work on how computers and systems handle tasks, like making sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently. She studies things like how to manage computer tasks in a line (called queueing theory), how to share computer resources fairly, and how to balance the work across many computers. She also looks at how to save energy in big computer centers.

Her Academic Journey

Mor Harchol-Balter earned her PhD in 1996 from the University of California, Berkeley. Her main advisor was Manuel Blum. After that, from 1997 to 1999, she worked at MIT with help from a special fellowship. Since 1999, Professor Harchol-Balter has been teaching and doing research at the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

What She Researches

Professor Harchol-Balter's research focuses on creating new ways for computer systems to manage their resources. This includes how to share the workload among many computers (load balancing), how to schedule tasks so they get done efficiently, and how to manage power in large computer systems. Her goal is to make sure that many computers working together can handle tasks quickly and without wasting energy.

She wrote a popular textbook called Performance Analysis and Design of Computer Systems. This book helps people understand how to make computer systems work better. It combines ideas from operations research and computer science.

Professor Harchol-Balter has guided many students who were working on their PhDs. Some of her successful former students include Adam Wierman, Bianca Schroeder, and Takayuki Osogami.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Professor Harchol-Balter has received many awards and honors for her work. She holds a special teaching position called an "endowed chair." She is also a Fellow of the ACM and a Fellow of IEEE. These are very high honors in the computer science and engineering fields.

She is very active in a research group called SIGMETRICS / PERFORMANCE. She has won many awards for her research papers from this group, including awards in 2019, 2018, 2016, 2010, 2003, and 1996. She also works closely with big technology companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Intel, and has received many awards from them.

Besides her research, she is also a great teacher. She has won several teaching awards, such as the Herbert A. Simon Award for Teaching Excellence in 2003, the Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teaching Award in 2019, and the Teaching Effectiveness Award in 1994.