Profile

Michael Black

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science

  • Michael Black learned assembly language at age 10 and has been fascinated with computers ever since. Dr. Black earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Although his passion is computer hardware, he enjoys teaching all levels and topics in computer science at American University, from introductory classes to graduate courses. Dr. Black's research interests include computer architecture and parallel computing, and his research is published in international computer architecture and computer science education conferences and journals. Dr. Black is the faculty advisor for AU's student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and chairs the DC ACM Academic Advisory Board. In his free time he enjoys restoring vintage computing machinery and photographing covered bridges.

  • Degrees

    PhD, Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
    MS, Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
    BS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

  • OFFICE

  • CAS - Computer Science
  • Sports Center Annex - 164
  • M, Th 10:45-11:15
    M, Th 12:45-2:00
    M, Th 4:00-5:15

  • CONTACT INFO

  • (202) 885-2011 (Office)
  • (202) 885-2723 (Fax)
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  • FOR THE MEDIA

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    at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • IEEE

    Member (1997-Present)

  • ACM

    Member (2007-Present)

  • Sigma Xi

    Member (2007-Present)

  • Senate Committee for Information Services

    Member (2008-Present)

  • CAS EPC

    Member (2008-Present)

  • DC Association for Computing Machinery Academic Advisory Board

    Member (2008-Present)

Teaching

  • Fall 2013

    • CSC-589 Topics in Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence
    • Description

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

Michael Black's interests include computer architecture, operating systems, computer science education, and computer history. He is currently supervising graduate and undergraduate student research projects in parallel computing, distributed mobile computing, and computer architecture. Dr. Black also enjoys developing innovative classroom projects, and restores vintage computers for classroom demonstrations.

Selected Publications

  • M. Black, "Build an Operating System from Scratch: A Project for an Introductory Operating Systems Course", ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), 2009.
  • M. Black.  "Applying Perceptrons to Speculation in Value Prediction."  VDM Verlag Dr. Muller, 2007.
  • M. Black and M. Franklin.  “Selective Microarchitecture-Level Scaling for Energy Savings.”  International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communications (ADCOM), Dec. 2006.
  • M. Black and M. Franklin.  “Neural Confidence Estimation for More Accurate Value Prediction.”  International Conference on High Performance Computing (HiPC), Dec. 2005.

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