Jie Han

Jie Han

  • University of Alberta

  • Professor and Director of Computer Engineering

  • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • 1-780-492-1361

  • Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 1H9

  • jhan8@ualberta.ca

    • Dr. Han is currently a Professor and the Director of Computer Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. His research interests include approximate computing, stochastic computing, reliability and fault tolerance, nanoelectronic circuits and systems, novel computational models for learning and biological applications.

    Dr. Han was a recipient of the Best Paper Awards at the International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures (NANOARCH 2015) and the Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference (DATE 2023), as well as several Best Paper Nominations at the 25th Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI 2015), NANOARCH 2016, the 19th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED 2018) and DATE 2022. He was nominated for the 2006 Christiaan Huygens Prize of Science by the Royal Dutch Academy of Science. His work was recognized by Science, for developing a theory of fault-tolerant nanocircuits (2005).

    He serves (or served) as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing (TETC), the IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, the IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine, the IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society, Microelectronics Reliability (Elsevier) and the Journal of Electronic Testing: Test and Application (JETTA, Springer Nature). He served as a General Chair for NANOARCH 2021, GLSVLSI 2017 and the IEEE International Symposium on Defect and Fault Tolerance in VLSI and Nanotechnology Systems (DFT) 2013, and a Technical Program Committee Chair for NANOARCH 2022, GLSVLSI 2016, DFT 2012 and the Symposium on Stochastic & Approximate Computing for Signal Processing and Machine Learning, 2017.

    1-2 graduate student positions available; interested potential candidates please send me an email. Equity, diversity and inclusion are our top considerations. Students from all identities and backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

    Interests

    • Approximate computing
    • Stochastic computing
    • Reliability and fault tolerance
    • Emerging paradigms for circuit and system design
    • Novel computational models for learning and biological applications

    Education

    • Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering, 1999
      Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
    • Ph.D. 2004
      Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

    Teaching

    ECE 311 - Computer Organization and Architecture

    Survey of modern computer architecture and design concepts. Benchmarks, instruction set design and encoding. Pipelined and superscalar processors. Techniques for exposing and exploiting instruction-level parallelism. Performance of cache and virtual memory hierarchies. Input/output subsystem design. Prerequisite: ECE 212 or E E 380 or CMPUT 229. Credit may be obtained in only one of ECE 311, CMPE 382 or CMPUT 429.

    ECE 412 - Fault-Tolerant Computing

    Defects in manufacturing, failure mechanisms, and fault modeling. Reliability and availability theory. Static and dynamic redundancy and repair. Error correcting codes and self-checking systems. Roll-back strategies. Fault-tolerant computers and network architecture. Prerequisite: ECE 342. Credit may be obtained in only one of CMPE 425 or ECE 412.

    ECE 511 - Advanced Digital Circuit and System Design

    Design of advanced digital circuits and systems using synthesis CAD tools. Topics include design flow, hierarchical design, hardware description languages such as VHDL, synthesis, design verification, IC test, chip-scale synchronous design, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), CMOS circuits and IC process technology. For the project, students will design and implement a significant digital system using FPGAs.

    ECE 410 Advanced Digital Logic Design

    Review of classical logic design methods. Introduction to the hardware description language VHDL. Logic simulation principles. Digital system design. Digital system testing and design for testability. Arithmetic circuits. State-of-the-art computer-aided design tools and FPGAs are used to design and implement logic circuits. Corequisite: ECE 304 or E E 351. Credit may be obtained in only one of CMPE 480 or ECE 410.

    ECE 750 Advanced Topics in Micro- and NanoSystems

    Defects in manufacturing, failure mechanisms and fault modeling. Reliability and availability theory. Hardware fault-tolerance: static and dynamic redundancy and repair. Error correcting codes and resilient disk systems. Defect tolerance in VLSI circuits. Soft errors and mitigation techniques. Fault-tolerance in nanocomputing. Checkpointing and roll-back strategies. Fault-tolerant computers and network architecture. Simulation and modeling techniques.

    Current Research

    Recent Publications

    Our 2020 article in the Proceedings of the IEEE:

    Tutorial:
    Approximate Computing with Approximate Circuits: Methodologies and Applications (ESWeek 2017)

    Our Recent Neural Network Designs:

    Stochstic Computing Gradient Descent:

    A Recurrent Neural Network:

    A Multi-Layer Perceptron:

    A Deep Belief Network:

    A Cerebellar Model:

    Approximate Computing

    Approximate Arithmetic Circuits

    Multipliers:

    Divider:

    Stochastic Computation

    Circuit design:

    Reliability Evaluation:

    Fault Tree Analysis:

    Gene Network

    Research News

    Listed among Best Scientists in Computer Science for 2023

    Listed among Best Scientists in Engineering and Technology for 2022

    Nature Nanotechnology | News and Views: Computing: Naturally random

    Nature Nanotechnology | News and Views: Computing: New Scientist news

    Faculty of Engineering news about our collaboration with industry partners on Design Verification of Variation-aware Integrated Circuits

    IEEE Computing Now featured our paper on "Analysis of Error Masking and Restoring Properties of Sequential Circuits."

    Transactions on Computers multimedia featured our paper on "Analysis of Error Masking and Restoring Properties of Sequential Circuits."

    The department news about our work on gene network models.

    The faculty news about our work on gene network models.

    Older News about our work on fault-tolerant nanocomputers

    Professional Service

    Editorial Board Member:

    >

    IEEE Embedded Systems Letters (ESL) (2024 - present)
    IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology (2017 - present)
    Microelectronics Reliability (Elsevier Journal) (2018 - present)
    IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society (2020 - present)
    Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications (JETTA, SpringerNature) (2022 - present)
    IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine (CASM) (2020 - 2023)
    IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing (TETC) (2017 - 2021)

    >

    Special Session on Nanoarch Symposium 2022, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 2023.
    Special Section on Unconventional Computing Techniques for Emerging Technology Applications, IEEE JOURNAL ON EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS (JETCAS) (2022)
    Special Issue on Approximate Computing, IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine, 2021.
    Special Issue on Approximate Computing: challenges, methodologies, algorithms and architectures for Dependable and Secure Systems, IEEE Design and Test, 2021.
    Special Session on Nanoarch Symposium 2020, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 2020.
    Joint Special Issue on VLSI and Nanotechnology Design Trends for Computing Innovations, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology and IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing, September Issue, 2017.
    Special Issue on Approximate and Stochastic Computing Circuits, Systems and Algorithms IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing, Third Issue, 2016.
    Special Issue on Approximate Computing, Microelectronics Journal, 2018

    >

    IEEE/ACM Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI)
    Workshop on Approximate Computing (2016 - 2023).

    >

    IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures ( NANOARCH 2021), Virtual, Canada, November 8 - 10, 2021.
    IEEE/ACM Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI ( GLSVLSI 2017), Banff, Alberta, Canada, May 2017. Submission Deadline: December 2016
    IEEE International Symposium on Defect and Fault Tolerance in VLSI and Nanotechnology Systems ( DFT 2013), New York City, New York, USA, October 2013.

    >

    IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures ( NANOARCH 2022), Virtual, December 7 - 9, 2022.
    Symposium on Stochastic & Approximate Computing for Signal Processing and Machine Learning ( SAC 2017), Montreal, Canada, November 14, 2017.
    IEEE/ACM Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI ( GLSVLSI 2016), Boston, MA, USA, May 18 - 20, 2016. Submission Deadline: December 11, 2015
    IEEE International Symposium on Defect and Fault Tolerance in VLSI and Nanotechnology Systems ( DFT 2012), Austin, Texas, USA, October, 2012.

    >

    IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures ( NANOARCH 2016, 2015)

    >

    IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology ( IEEE NANO 2022)
    IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures ( NANOARCH 2019, 2018)

    >

    Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference (DATE 2014-2019, Topic Co-Chair: 2021-2022, Topic Chair: 2023)
    International Conference on Computer-aided Design ( ICCAD 2018 - 2019, Track Chair: 2023-2024)
    Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference ( ASP-DAC 2020-2022, Track Chair: 2025 )
    IEEE International Symposium on Defect and Fault Tolerance in VLSI and Nanotechnology Systems (DFT 2011 - 2024)
    IEEE International Conference on Computer Design ( ICCD 2020-2024)
    The International Conference on Hardware/Software Codesign and System Synthesis ( CODES+ISSS 2021-2023)
    The ACM/IEEE Workshop on Machine Learning for CAD ( MLCAD 2020-2024)
    The International Symposium on Design and Diagnostics of Electronic Circuits and Systems ( DDECS 2021-2024)
    Design Automation Conference (DAC 2017 - 2019)
    IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures ( NANOARCH 2015 - 2019)
    The 29th International Conference on VLSI Design and 15th International Conference on Embedded Systems ( VLSID 2018, 2016)
    The 22nd IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Very Large Scale Integration ( VLSI-SoC 2014), Playa del Carmen, Mexico, October 6 - 8, 2014.
    The 26th IEEE International System-on-Chip Conference ( SOCC 2013), Erlangen, Germany, September 4 - 6, 2013.
    First International Workshop on Secure and Resilient Architectures and Systems ( SRAS 2012), Minneapolis, MN, USA, September 2012.
    International Workshop on Unique Chips and Systems, 2010 (UCAS-6) and 2012 (UCAS-7)

    >

    Director of Computer Engineering in the ECE Department, 2022 - 2025.
    Safety Committee Member in the ECE Department, 2022 - 2024.
    Faculty Nominating Committee Member in the Faculty of Engineering, 2020 - 2023.
    Research and Planning Committee Member in the ECE Department, 2019 - 2022.
    Nominating Committee Member in the ECE Department, 2019 - 2021.
    Faculty Selection Committee Member in the ECE Department, 2016 - 2017.
    Publicity Committee Member in the ECE Department, 2010 - 2015 (Chair since 2014).

    Honors and Awards

    Best Associate Editor for the IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine (2023).

    Best Paper Award: Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference (DATE 2023).

    Best Paper Award: IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures 2015 (NANOARCH'15).

    Best Paper Nomination: Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference (DATE 2022).

    Best Paper Nomination: The 19th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED 2018).

    Best Paper Nomination: IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures 2016 (NANOARCH'16).

    Best Paper Nomination: The 25th IEEE/ACM Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI 2015 (GLSVLSI'15).

    Named in Milestones of Science for 2003 by the 125th anniversary issue of Science (July 1, 2005, Vol. 309, No. 5731), for developing theory of fault-tolerant nanocircuits.

    Nominated for the 2006 Christiaan Huygens Prize of Science by the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) Christiaan Huygens Wetenschapsprijs).

    NASA INAC (Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing) Postdoctoral Fellow, 2004 - 2007.

    Current Students and Postdoctoral Fellow

    Tingting Zhang, Ph.D. (Recipient of a China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship and the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES))
    Chengcheng Tang, Ph.D. (Recipient of a China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship)
    Sajjad Hossian Bappy, Ph.D.
    Ruogu Chen, Ph.D.
    Erjing Luo, M.Sc.
    Majid Farhadi, M.Sc.
    Moein Maleki, M.Sc.

    Graduated Students and Postdocs (honor or first job/company)

    35. Bailiang Liu, M.Eng., January 2024
    34. Syed Md Anwarul Islam, M.Eng., August 2023
    33. Jianchao Lyu, M.Eng., January 2023
    32. Christopher Soong, M.Eng., January 2023
    31. Zijing Niu, M.Sc., January 2023
    30. Pengyue Hou, M.Sc., September 2022 (co-advised by Prof. Xingyu Li)
    29. Qichao Tao, M.Sc., September 2022
    28. Sajjad Hossian Bappy, M.Eng., May 2022
    27. Shangda Lyu, M.Eng., April 2022
    26. Xinyue Chen, M.Eng., April 2022
    25. Ryan Holash, M.Eng., March 2022
    24. Yanfei Zhao, M.Eng., March 2022
    23. Kiran Bhageerath Reddy Vuyurru, M.Eng., March 2021
    22. Zhuowen Qian, M.Eng., March 2021
    21. Francisco Javier Hernandez Santiago, M.Sc., April 2020 (Recipient of a CONACYT Scholarship)
    20. Mohammad Saeed Ansari, PhD, November 2019 (co-advised by Prof. Bruce Cockburn and Recipient of a University of Alberta Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship)
    19. Morgan Ledwon, M.Sc., September 2019 (co-advised by Prof. Bruce Cockburn, Recipient of Queen Elizabeth II Master's Scholarships and the C.R. James Award for the best Master of Science Thesis in the ECE Department in Fall 2019)
    18. Siting Liu, Ph.D., September 2019 (Recipient of a China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship)
    17. Yidong Liu, Ph.D., September 2019 (Recipient of a University of Alberta Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship)
    16. Yachita Gupta, M.Eng., August 2019
    15. Abhik Prithu Bhowal, M.Eng., July 2019
    14. Gurjeet Singh, M.Eng., July 2019
    13. Xiaozhen Zuo, M.Eng., August 2018
    12. Honglan Jiang, Ph.D., July 2018 (Recipient of a China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship)
    11.5. Xiaogang Song, Ph.D., May 2018 (Joint with Northwestern Polytechnical University)
    11. Anqi Jing, M.Sc., May 2018 (Recipient of a University of Alberta Master's Recruitment Scholarship)
    10. Dr. Manish Rana (Postdoctoral fellow), September 2017 (Solido Design Automation Inc./Mentor, a Siemens Business)
    9. Oleg Oleynikov, M.Sc., September 2017 (co-advised by Prof. Bruce Cockburn)
    8. Yuanzhuo Qu, M.Sc., September 2017 (co-advised by Prof. Witold Pedrycz)
    7. Peican Zhu, Ph.D., August 2015 (Recipient of an Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship, NWPU)
    6. Ran Wang, M.Sc., June 2015 (co-advised by Prof. Bruce Cockburn)
    5. Michael Shoniker, M.Sc., April 2015 (co-advised by Prof. Bruce Cockburn, Recipient of Queen Elizabeth II Master's Scholarships)
    4. Cong Liu, M.Sc., August 2014 (Recipient of an Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship)
    3. Jinghang Liang, M.Sc., August 2012 (Recipient of an Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship)
    2. Eugene Leung, M.Eng., April 2012 (An engineering firm in Hong Kong)
    1. Hao Chen, M.Sc., January 2012 (PMC Sierra, Vancouver, BC)

    Summer/Fall/Winter Intern Students (Supported by UARE, MITACS, CSC and other programs)

    2024: Gabriela Sandanieli de Aguiar (UARE Undergraduate Interns from Brazil)
    2023: Nicolas Francisco Silva Matute, Marko Jhamil Flores Hinojosa, Leonardo Moina Hinostroza, Elsa Maria Mercedes LUQUE CUESTAS (UARE Undergraduate Interns from Peru), Weihua Xiao (PhD candidate, visiting from Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Alex Xu (a High School student)
    2022: Xuemei Fan (PhD candidate, visiting from Southeast University), George Yan
    2021: Navonil Sarkar (Remote MITACS Summer Intern, 2021), Xuemei Fan
    2020: Kyle Wiskel and Pengyue Hou (Industrial internship), Elliot Saive (USRA and AlbertaSat)
    2019: Xixi Dai (an M.Sc. student from Hohai University)
    2018: Yongqiang Zhang (PhD candidate, visiting from Hefei University of Technology)
    2017: Alexander Schoell (PhD candidate, visiting from the University of Stuttgart), Xinzhi Ma, Qinyu Zhou
    2016: Abhinav Anupam, Wei Li
    2015: Oleg Oleynikov, Sudarsan Mahendran, Chengkun Shen
    2014: Ashutosh Pandey, Naman Maheshwari, Chen Zou
    2013: Rodrigo Cavalcanti, Ren Yu
    2012: Michael Shoniker, Ajaypat Jain, Jaap Donker (A Master's student, visiting from TU Delft)
    2011: Gautam Kamath

    © Jie Han 2024

    Technical Contribution by Alex Xu