Dr. Sagar Karandikar

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Sagar Karandikar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Jean Hing Wong Foundation Faculty Fellow and focuses his research on hardware/software co-design for hyperscale cloud data centers, power-critical, and rapidly evolving applications in AI/ML and scalable data processing. His group's expertise encompasses hardware accelerator design, server system-on-chip design, and full-stack system optimization methodologies that support agile, open-source, and AI/ML-infused hardware development. He is part of the SpeciaLIzed Computing Ecosystems (SLICE) Lab at Berkeley. Karandikar's work has earned several recognitions, including the ISCA@50 25-year Retrospective selection, IEEE Micro Top Picks selection, and notable awards such as the MICRO Distinguished Artifact Award. He has over 70 peer-reviewed publications and has contributed to commercially available chips. In 2025, he received the ACM SIGARCH/IEEE CS TCCA Outstanding Dissertation Award for his advancements in agile hardware/software co-design tools for hyperscalar architectures. Additionally, he has received the David J. Sakrison Memorial Prize for outstanding graduate research at UC Berkeley and the UC Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award.

Research Interests

Awards

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ACM SIGARCH/IEEE CS TCCA Outstanding Dissertation Award

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David J. Sakrison Memorial Prize

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UC Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award

Courses

EECS 151. Introduction to Digital Design EECS 151LA-101. Application Specific Integrated Circuits Laboratory EECS 151LA-102. Application Specific Integrated Circuits Laboratory EECS 151LB. Field-Programmable Gate Array Laboratory EECS 251A. Introduction to Digital Design and Integrated Circuits

Requirements for University of California, Berkeley

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
GRE Subject
Overall Score
Required:500
Overall
Required:500
TOEFL
Total
Required:90
IELTS
Overall
Required:7
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree or recognized equivalent Preparation comparable to undergraduate major at Berkeley in Mathematics or Applied Mathematics 2 full years lower-division work (Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Multivariable Calculus) 8 one-semester upper-division courses (Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra)
Application Checklist
  • Graduate Application
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Personal History Statement
  • Three Letters of Recommendation
  • Unofficial Transcripts
  • C.V./Resume
  • Course and Textbook List
Specialization Notes

The Mathematics Subject GRE is required for the Fall 2026 admissions cycle. General GRE is optional.