Generate a tailored SOP for Dr. Ben Titzer. Improve your application with a focused, well-structured draft.
Ben Titzer is a Principal Researcher in the Software Societal Systems Department at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on systems, programming languages, compilers, virtual machines, and higher-level systems support. He co-founded the WebAssembly project in 2014, aiming to enhance its applicability in academic research and new domains such as Edge computing. Titzer is building a new WebAssembly engine named Wizard Engine, which emphasizes simplicity and flexibility while maintaining competitive performance and serving as an educational tool for students learning WebAssembly engines. Titzer earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Jens Palsberg, where he focused on compiler language design for small computers. His previous work includes the development of Virgil, a safe object-oriented language with functional features, and he has experience from various roles at Sun Microsystems and Google, specifically on the V8 JavaScript engine. He spent time teaching at the Australian National University and conducting independent research on WebAssembly and the Virgil programming language.
Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA
Lead researcher in Software Societal Systems.
Sun Microsystems Laboratories • Pittsburgh, PA
Core member of Maxine VM team.
Google • Mountain View, CA
Developed internal exception monitoring tools.
Google • Munich, Germany
Core member of V8 team, designed TurboFan optimizing compiler.
Admission is extremely competitive with no strict GPA cut-offs; holistic review is used.