There is no PhD and MASc opening for Fall 2025. I am actively recruiting highly motivated students who are ready to take on ambitious challenges. If you are interested in the research on customizable computing at SFU in the beautiful and immigration-friendly Greater Vancouver area, please email me (zhenman [at] sfu [dot] ca) your CV, transcript, English test results, and research interests, with the following subject: [PhD/Master] Name+Major+School. Note Master's student in Canada is also research based and funded; but preferences will be given to PhD students. Students with background in hardware acceleration and architecture, compilation and automation tool for killer applications such as big data systems, sparsity-aware computation, AR/VR, video encoding/decoding, and fully homomorphic encryption, are highly encouraged to apply.

Before emailing me, please explore my website to get an overview of my research, and make sure you meet the Academic and English Language requirements. !!Please DO NOT phone me!!

My recent research focuses on customizable computing with specialized hardware acceleration, which aims to sustain the ever-increasing performance and energy-efficiency demand of important application domains in post-Moore’s law era. It spans the entire computing stack, including emerging application drivers, novel computer architectures, and corresponding programming, runtime, and tool support. My current research is generously funded by NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation), BCKDF (Canada Foundation for Innovation), SFU, Mitacs, Huawei Canada, Xilinx, and Nvidia. Welcome to explore my research projects, publications, and group for more details.

If you are good at two or more of the following skills, we should talk.

• Strong general coding skills (C, C++, Java, etc.)
• FPGA hardware design experience (Verilog/VHDL/Chisel, HLS C/C++/OpenCL)
• GPU development (CUDA, OpenCL)
• Hardware simulators and modeling (gem5, GEMS, Multi2Sim, Sniper, etc.)
• Compiler implementation (LLVM, Clang, ROSE, etc.)
• System implementation (Apache Spark, Hadoop, YARN, Mesos, other runtime systems)
• Application optimization (machine learning, computer vision, computational genomics, database, etc.) on FPGA, GPU, or ASIC

• For PhD applicants in School of Engineering Science: a Master of Science degree is required by SFU Engineering Science
• For outstanding applicants with only a Bachelor degree, we can admit you as a Master student and then transfer you to a PhD student after one year. This is essentially the same as admitting as a PhD student directly in US.
• For PhD applicants in School of Computing Science: direct PhD admission from undergraduate students is allowed by SFU Computing Science
• For outstanding applicants with only a Bachelor degree, the student should have obtained a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.5 (on a scale of 0.0 - 4.0) or the equivalent, and demonstrated strong competence for entering a PhD program.
• For Master applicants in School of Engineering Science or School of Computing Science: a Bachelor degree is required
• CGPA (cumulative grade point average): at least 3.0/4.33 (B)
• For international students, extra requirements by SFU Graduate Studies can be found here
• Chinese students, minimum 3 on 4-point scale (B, 75%); 4 on 5-point scale (B, 80%), see here
• Indian students, minimum First Class, 8 on 10-point scale, see here
• Pakistan students, minimum First Class or First Division standing, see here
• Korean (South) students, minimum 3.0 on a 4.3-point scale; 80% on a percentage scale, see here
• Iran students, minimum 16 on a 20-point scale, see here

• We accept TOFEL or IETLS, please include your scores in your CV. Detailed requirements can be found here
• TOEFL minimum: 93 with minimum of 20 in each category
• IELTS (academic) minimum: 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each section
• No GRE required

Simon Fraser University is located in metropolitan Vancouver, one of the most livable cities in the world. SFU is consistently ranked among Canada’s top comprehensive universities. It is ranked No. 16 among the QS World University Rankings of top 50 universities under 50 years old (2014), No. 24 among the Times Higher Education Rankings of top 100 world universities under 50 years old (2014). It is also ranked 5th in Canada in Science and Engineering in terms of bibliometrics scores (h-index), according to Higher Education Strategy Associates. More information about SFU can be found at SFU website, School of Engineering Science and School of Computing Science.

Credit: Dr. Tianzheng Wang, SFU.

It's very important to choose a place that you'd enjoy for graduate studies, especially so for doing a PhD! SFU is located in Metro Vancouver, one of the most livable regions in the world with a diverse population (and hence great food!) from all over the world, nice weather, especially when compared to the rest of Canada and northeastern US. Vancouver is the most 'Asian' city outside Asia. It is also the largest city and a major technology hub in Western Canada. Many major companies and startups are here, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Huawei, Intel, Broadcom, Microchip, Oracle and SAP, which bring many research and job opportunities. The Canadian Government and the Province of British Columbia also offer attractive and flexible visa categories and immigration choices after your study. Typically, you can get a three-year post-graduate work permit and eligibility to apply for permanent residency right away after graduation. See details here, here, here and here.

• If you are applying for "School of Engineering Science" (Preferred, this is my major affiliation)
• Application link
• For Department, select "Engineering Science"
• For Program, select "Engineering Science Ph.D." or "Engineering Science MASc"
• Under Proposed Research or Academic Interests:
• For Research Area, select "Engineering Science Comp Sci"
• For Research Area Group, select "Computer Engineering"
• For Academic Advisors, select my name.
• Under Other -> Comments, mention that you would like to choose me as Academic Advisor. If we chatted before, also mention it here
• If you are applying for "School of Computing Science" (It's OK, but please let me know)
• Application link
• For Department, select "Computing Science"
• For Program, select "Computing Science PhD(inclu direct entry from BSc)" or "Computing Science MSc"
• Under Proposed Research or Academic Interests:
• For Research Area, select "Network and Systems"
• For Research Area Group, select an appropriate one, e.g., "Computer Architecture"
• For Academic Advisors, select my name.
• Under Other -> Comments, mention that you would like to choose me as Academic Advisor. If we chatted before, also mention it here