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Joshua Yang

Arthur B. Freeman Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Education

  • 2007, Doctoral Degree, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  • 2003, Master's Degree, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  • 1997, Bachelor's Degree, Southeast University

Biography

J. Joshua Yang is the Arthur B. Freeman Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California. He was a professor of the ECE department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst between 2015 and 2020. He spent about 8 years at HP Labs between 2007 and 2015, leading an emerging materials and devices team for memory and computing. His current research interest is Post-CMOS hardware for in-memory computing, near-sensor compputing, neuromorphic computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence. He holds 121 granted and about 60 pending US Patents, among which two patents on MRAM were licensed by a world leading semiconductor company, the patents on RRAM were transferred to memory manufacturers and national Labs for product development, and the patents on neuromorphic computing led to a fast-growing startup company recently.

Dr. Yang is a Co-founder and the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of TetraMem Inc., a startup company focusing on the hardware acceleration of AI/ML. He is the Director of the Center of Excellence on Neuromoprhic Computing sponsored by Air Force and a Co-director of the Institute for the Future of Computing at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Yang has guest-edited 12 journal special issues on Memory or unconventional computing. He serves on a number of Advisory Boards of international journals and conferences. He serves as an Associate Editor of Science Advances (AAAS). He is the Founding Chair of the IEEE Neuromorphic Computing Technical Committee, a recipient of the Powell Faculty Research Award, and a recipient of UMass distinguished faculty lecturer and UMass Chancellor Medal, the highest honor of UMass. He was named as a Spotlight Scholar of UMass Amherst in 2017. He is a Clarivate™ Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field. He is among the Top Best Scientists in the Research.com list in the Electronics and Electrical Engineering category. Dr. Yang was elected to the IEEE Fellow and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow for contributions in resistive switching materials and devices for memory and neuromorphic computing.

Research Summary

Materials and devices beyond CMOS; Computing Circuits, Architecture, and Algorithms beyond von Neumann Systems.
Current projects include:
1. Intelligent and efficient systems based on near-sensor computing, in-memory computing, analog and parallel computing;
2. Neuromorphic computing using nonlinear dynamical memristive devices as synapses, neurons and dendrites to implement neuroscience principles;
3. Hardware accelerators to efficiently implement Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning using analog resistive switching devices;
4. High performance Non-volatile memory arrays using emerging materials and devices as memories and selectors;

Appointments
  • Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Electrophysics
Office
  • PHE 608
  • Charles Lee Powell Hall
  • 3737 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089
  • USC Mail Code: 2560
Contact Information
  • (213) 740-4709
  • jjoshuay@usc.edu
Links