Randal E. Bryant (born October 27, 1952) is an American computer scientist and teacher known for his work on checking the correctness of digital hardware and software. Bryant has been a teacher at Carnegie Mellon University since 1984. He worked as the Dean of the School of Computer Science (SCS) at Carnegie Mellon from 2004 to 2014. Dr. Bryant retired and was named a Founders University Professor Emeritus on June 30, 2020.

Bryant has received many awards for his research on hardware and software verification, as well as algorithms and computer architecture. His 1986 paper on symbolic Boolean manipulation using a method called Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) has the most citations of any publication in the Citeseer database of computer science literature. In 2009, Bryant was awarded the Phil Kaufman Award by the EDA Consortium "for his important technological advances in the area of formal verification."

Early life and education

Bryant was born on October 27, 1952. He is the son of John H. Bryant and Barbara Everitt Bryant and the grandson of William Littell Everitt, who was a former dean of the electrical engineering department at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1949 to 1968. His sister is Lois Bryant, a textile artist. Bryant grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. Beginning in 1970, he studied at the University of Michigan, where he earned his B.S. in applied mathematics in 1973. His master’s thesis, titled "Simulation of Packet Communication Architecture Computer Systems," was published in 1977. This work is considered one of the first publications on distributed simulation. He completed his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981.

Career

• From 1981 to 1984, Bryant worked as an assistant professor of computer science at the California Institute of Technology. His research focused on VLSI circuit models, logic simulation, and circuit testing. He also taught classes in computer architecture, digital systems theory, and computer algorithms.
• In 1984, Bryant joined Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor of computer science. He continued his research on VLSI simulation, VLSI circuit verification, symbolic manipulation, and parallel computation.
• From 1990 to 1991, Bryant was a visiting research fellow at Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd.
• In 1992, Bryant became a university professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He taught computer architecture from 1992 to 1997.
• Bryant served as dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University from 2004 to 2014. During this time, the total number of students in the school increased by more than 50 percent.
• In 2003, Bryant was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering for his work in symbolic simulation and logic verification.
• Bryant was a member of the Engineering and Computer Science jury for the Infosys Prize from 2011 to 2013.
• From 2014 to 2015, Bryant worked as the Assistant Director for Information Technology Research and Development at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. His responsibilities included research on robotics, machine learning, high-performance computing, semiconductor technology, and cloud computing, as well as providing analysis and advice on Big Data.
• Bryant is currently a professor at the School of Computer Science. His recent research areas include formal hardware and software verification, system testing, and computer science education. He teaches the course 15-213: Introduction to Computer Systems with Professor David R. O'Hallaron. Their book, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, which explains hardware, operating systems, compilers, and computer networks, is used by more than 300 universities worldwide.

Research and publications

Over the past years, Bryant has studied how to check if hardware and software work correctly and how computer systems operate. His most famous work from 1986 was a paper titled "Graph-Based Algorithms for Boolean Function Manipulation," in which he introduced a new way to represent and work with Boolean functions called binary decision diagrams (BDDs). BDDs have been widely used in areas such as testing and designing digital circuits, and in planning tasks for artificial intelligence. Renowned computer scientist Donald Knuth said that BDDs were "one of the most important data structures developed in the last twenty-five years." In 1992, Bryant published an updated guide on BDDs. His paper on BDDs is the most cited in the Citeseer database among all computer science works.

Bryant’s research on verifying digital circuits has earned many awards from IEEE and other organizations. His 1995 paper, "Formal Verification by Symbolic Evaluation of Partially-Ordered Trajectories," described a method called symbolic trajectory evaluation. This method is now widely used in the industry, including by Intel. Since 2004, Bryant has focused on new research in data-intensive computing.

Bryant and Professor David R. O'Hallaron from Carnegie Mellon University co-authored a book titled "Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective." The book teaches computer systems in a new way, focusing on how systems like computer architecture, compilers, operating systems, and networking influence program behavior and performance, rather than on designing systems. The book, now in its third edition, has been translated into Korean, Chinese, Macedonian, and Russian. It is used by educational institutions worldwide.

Awards and honors

• Bryant is a fellow of the IEEE and the ACM.
• He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Science.
• In 1998, he received the ACM Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, along with Edmund M. Clarke, Ken McMillan, and Allen Emerson.
• In 1989, he was awarded the IEEE W.R.G. Baker Prize for the best paper published in any IEEE publication in 1987.
• In 2007, Bryant received the IEEE Emmanuel R. Piore Award for his research on tools to verify semiconductor designs before manufacturing.
• In 2009, Bryant was awarded the EDAC/IEEE Phil Kaufman Award for his "seminal technological breakthroughs in the area of formal verification."
• In 2010, he received the A. Richard Newton Technical Award in Electronic Design Automation.