Asmita

PhD Candidate - Computer Architecture @ UW-Madison

About Me

Asmita Pal

I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at University of Wisconsin - Madison, in the STACS Lab, advised by Professor Joshua San Miguel. I'm currently on the job market, primarily looking to work with research-based teams in the industry.

My research spans several topics in computer architecture and systems with a flavor of security-aware design space exploration. More specifically I have worked on approximate computing, privacy-preserving traces, fully homomorphic encryption and interconnect security. Through these projects, I have developed a deep understanding of workload behavior, memory access patterns, and security vulnerabilities in modern computing platforms. During my PhD, I also interned with AMD Research, where I worked on workload characterization to identify opportunities for acceleration and optimized last-level cache management policies. I have also served on several Artifact Evaluation Committees - ASPLOS 2020, MLSys 2020, ASPLOS 2022, MICRO 2022 and MICRO 2023.

I was born and raised in Kolkata, India, renowned for its colonial architecture, artistic galleries and cultural vibrancy. Often referred to as the cultural capital of India, it has been home to six Nobel laureates and numerous luminaries across various fields. I pursued my undergraduate studies in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, where I gained expertise in hardware design and signal processing. Following which I moved to the United States, to pursue a Master's degree at Utah State University, where I worked on GPU power-performance trade-offs at the Bridge Lab under the supervision of Professor Koushik Chakraborty and Professor Sanghamitra Roy. My research there deepened my interest in architectural optimizations, laying the foundation for my PhD work and fueling my drive to advance the future of computing.

Beyond academia, I love to stay active - currently, I'm training (or at least trying) for a marathon. I also play tennis, albeit with questionable technique. Traveling is my way of keeping an open perspective, much like reading - a lifelong habit shaped by Tagore's verses, Rumi's reflections, and the cinematic brilliance of Satyajit Ray. Additionally, I enjoy food and learning about different cultures. And above all, I adore art in all forms - whether it's paintings, theatre, or music. Every now and then I share glimpses of my journey on Instagram to stay relatable.

Publications

Awards

2024
Winner of Google's AI Sustainability Competition - Organized by N+1 Research Institute, UW-Madison
2024
Sarah and David Epstein Teaching Fellowship - Awarded by the ECE Department, UW-Madison
2023
Student Research Grant - Awarded by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Funding, UW-Madison
2019
Anita Borg Grace Hopper Celebration Scholarship
2018
Wisconsin Distinguished Fellow - Schneider - Awarded by ECE Department, UW-Madison
2018
Rajendra Prasad and Yasoda Mani Grandhi Fellow - Awarded by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Utah State University

Professional Service

Invited Talks

Teaching