"I always wanted to study engineering, but studying computer engineering probably had more to do with luck than a well-planned decision. Since childhood, I was fascinated by building things. My mom still keeps my Lego set, with which I started playing when I was less than two years old. In fact, I still enjoy playing with them," he reveals.
A native of Turkey, he discovered early on in his pre-elementary school days that he had a special talent for math and was acknowledged as such in his school yearbook with the farewell note "Good luck to our math genius." Thus, when the time came to make a decision regarding what to study in college, he knew engineering was the most suitable choice. After he took the national entrance exams, his high scores earned him a spot in computer engineering, one of engineering's most desired and competitive disciplines.
Memik went on to study at Istanbul's Bogazici University (known also as Bosphorus University), a time he describes as "a great experience." The university, established on the campus of Robert College in 1971, has one of Turkey's most advanced and comprehensive engineering programs. Its academic strengths are complemented by the fact that it is located in one of the most beautiful areas in Istanbul overlooking the Bosphorus Strait.
"I would claim this is one of the most beautiful locations in the world," he says, adding, "The university is liberal with a very active club/organization scene while being the leading educational institution in the country. So I had the chance to meet with highly intellectual students/faculty and have an active social life."
Though he was never an official member of a campus organization, Memik spent a lot of his time with the university's mountaineering club and volleyball team. He and three of his computer engineering classmates joined together to start their own "club" named "BIGS," an acronym of their names: Bora, Ilkan, Gokhan, and Sencer.
"We spent a lot of time together, and later established a startup together," he says.
By the time Memik completed his undergraduate studies, he had made the decision to become a professor, which of course meant obtaining his master's degree and Ph.D. He received his master's in computer engineering from Northwestern, moving on to complete his doctorate in electrical engineering at UCLA, a time he describes as "five hard but enjoyable years." Immediately thereafter, he joined the faculty of Northwestern University as an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
In 2006 Memik was named the Lisa Wisner-Slivka and Benjamin Slivka Junior Professor of Computer Science, a distinction bestowed upon faculty members demonstrating excellence in education and computer science.
Since joining Northwestern, he has made significant contributions to the research of computer architecture, embedded systems, microarchitecture, and programmable processor design.
Memik is also the co-author of NetBench and MineBench, both network processor and data mining suites, and has authored more than 50 journal and conference publications. He also co-wrote two chapters of Embedded Software for SoC (2004).
Admittedly, it is a difficult task to recognize a single achievement as the high point of career success because, as Memik asserts, "success is accumulated by doing many things right." He maintains that his primary job as a professor is research, which also makes it difficult to measure success since the fruits of his efforts may not register until many years later. Still, there are some major milestones which he highlights as especially noteworthy:
In 2004 he co-wrote a widely disseminated article for MICRO, the premier microarchitecture forum, which accepts less than a quarter of all submissions.
"In this paper we argued about the impact of application knowledge on reliability and made a case for a controversial optimization called clumsy execution, which introduces voluntary faults into the processor pipeline to achieve better performance or reduce power consumption. I still think this is one of the seminal works that came from my group, evidenced by the fact that there have been about a dozen other studies utilizing this notion."
| Q. What do you do for fun? A. Playing sports is a big part of my life. I try to go on a field whenever I have some free time. I play soccer at least once a week. I also play volleyball; in fact, I have been part of the EECS intramural volleyball team for the last four years. Other than that, I run after my one-year-old daughter (which is more energy consuming than any other sports), read, and travel. Q. What CD is in your CD player right now? A. Let me give you the six CDs on the CD player in my car right now: Edith Piaf (The Very Best of Edith Piaf), Loreena McKennitt (Live in Paris and Toronto), Rimsky-Korsakov (Best of Rimsky-Korsakov), Debussy (Best of Debussy), Sezen Aksu (Isik Dogudan Yukselir), and Rafet El Roman (Gonul Yarasi). Q. What is the last magazine you read? A. Architectural Digest. Q. What is your favorite TV show? A. It's a tie: Two and a Half Men and Real Time with Bill Maher. Q. Who is your role model? A. I don't really have a role model. On the other hand, there are many people [from whom] I learned a lot in how to conduct myself in a professional environment and how to balance personal and professional life: my father, Mehmet Memik; my mentor at Northwestern, Professor Alok Choudhary; and my advisor at UCLA, Professor William H. Mangione-Smith. Q. What makes you laugh? A. Many things — I am generally a positive person. |
The following year he was among 24 engineers and scientists awarded the Early Career Award in Mathematical, Information, and Computational Sciences from the U.S. Department of Energy.
In 2006 he published another article in MICRO which "introduced the idea that architectural modifications can be used to control the manufacturing yield of high-performance processors, which is an increasing problem for companies such as Intel and IBM."
He also co-authored another article in the IEEE Computer Architecture Letters in 2006. This article questioned traditional optimization methods in computer architecture, demonstrating that the user should be incorporated.
Memik is careful to add, "I believe my actual success is the accumulation of a body of work; I have published over 70 articles in conference proceedings or journals. These articles [have been] cited [more than] 500 times."
He also acknowledges the significant influence of three individuals over the course of his career:
"First, my mentor and first advisor, Professor Alok Choudhary. I learned a lot from him (and am still learning) in how to approach a research problem, how to manage graduate students individually, and how to manage a lab. Second, Professor Mahmut Kandemir. Before meeting him, I did not know how to formulate problems, how to describe solutions, or how to write professionally. My research and writing styles are arguably most influenced by him. Finally, my Ph.D. advisor, William H. Mangione-Smith. I learned a lot from him in choosing research topics/problems that will have influence — that will truly help others in having better products and/or do more relevant research."
For the nascent engineer or computer scientist, Professor Memik advocates grounding oneself in the importance of inquiry to ensure optimum success:
"The most important thing in a research environment is to be able to ask the right questions and be able to query assumptions used by others. This is something that graduate students or young faculty can learn easily by themselves. On the other hand, a good advisor or mentor makes it much easier, so I would first recommend choosing the right advisor. If you are considering alternatives for graduate school, talk to the faculty you will be working with. Talk to their previous students and try to gather as much information as possible.
"The same rule applies when choosing where to work after graduation. Try to understand what type of research is appreciated, what are the expectations at the institution; some schools place more weight on funding, whereas others put importance on high-impact research. Ask yourself what you really want to do and then choose where you will be working accordingly. Finally, be focused and productive. No matter what your research field is, starting off the ground quickly is appreciated by everyone."
Indeed, for Memik, the appreciation and accolades from his industry, colleagues, and students have been universal.
