Dr. Ben Titzer

Professor

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Biography

Ben Titzer is a Principal Researcher in the Software Societal Systems Department at Carnegie Mellon University, specializing in systems, programming languages, compilers, virtual machines, and managed runtime systems. He co-founded the WebAssembly project in 2014, which aims to enhance its usefulness across various domains such as edge computing. His research led to the development of the Wizard Engine, a new WebAssembly engine catering to educational purposes while maintaining competitive performance. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from UCLA, where his work focused on compiler language design for small computers. Titzer also earned a Master's degree and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Purdue University. His industry experience includes positions at Sun Microsystems and Google, where he contributed to the development of high-performance Java and JavaScript engines. Additionally, he has published research on WebAssembly and is actively involved in its ongoing development at Google.

Research Interests

Experience

Principal Researcher

2022-01-01 — Present

Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA

Leads research in the development of software societal systems.

Member Technical Staff

2007-01-01 — 2010-01-01

Sun Microsystems Laboratories • Pittsburgh, PA

Core member of the Maxine VM team, contributing to Java-in-Java virtual machine efforts.

Software Engineer

2013-01-01 — 2019-01-01

Google • Munich, Germany

Core member of the V8 team, involved in the design of TurboFan optimizing compiler.

Requirements for Carnegie Mellon University

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.5
GRE General
Verbal
Required:158
Quantitative
Required:149
Analytical Writing
Required:4
Overall
Required:4
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in Psychology or related field Research experience/publications
Application Checklist
  • Online application
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Transcripts
  • GRE scores (optional but reported in profile)
  • English Proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo)
Specialization Notes

Admission is extremely competitive with no strict GPA cut-offs; holistic review is used.