Zhiru Zhang

Zhiru Zhang is a computer scientist whose work connects machine-learning algorithms with specialized hardware. He co-founded AutoESL around his high-level synthesis dissertation research; Xilinx acquired the company in 2011, and its technology evolved into Vivado HLS and Vitis HLS. At Cornell, he coauthored an FPGA accelerator for binarized neural networks, became an IEEE Fellow in 2023, and shared the 2025 ASPLOS Best Paper Award with his team for SmoothE. He is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell, where his group works on high-level synthesis and hardware specialization for machine learning.

Now at: Cornell University
Works: 230
Citations: 7,222
h-index: 42
Badges: Founder
Bridge

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

2001–2007

Computer science degrees

He earns a B.S. in computer science at Peking University in 2001, an M.S. in computer science at UCLA in 2003, and a Ph.D. in computer science at UCLA in 2007.
2006–2011

Co-founding AutoESL

In 2006, he co-founds AutoESL Design Technologies based on his dissertation research on high-level synthesis; Xilinx acquires the company in 2011, and its HLS technology evolves into Vivado HLS, now Vitis HLS.
2012

Software manager at Xilinx

Before Cornell, he serves as a software development manager at Xilinx; in 2012, he receives the Ross Freeman Award for Technical Innovation, Xilinx's highest technical award.
August 2012

Joining Cornell ECE

He joins Cornell's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an assistant professor in August 2012.
2017

Binarized neural-network accelerator

In 2017, he coauthors “Accelerating Binarized Convolutional Neural Networks with Software-Programmable FPGAs.” Its accelerator outperforms existing FPGA-based CNN accelerators in GOPS and energy and resource efficiency.
July 2018

Associate professor at Cornell

In July 2018, Cornell promotes him to associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2023

IEEE Fellow

He is named an IEEE Fellow in 2023.
November 2024

Professor at Cornell

In November 2024, he becomes a professor in Cornell's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2025

ASPLOS Best Paper for SmoothE

In 2025, he and his team win the ASPLOS Best Paper Award for “SmoothE: Differentiable E-Graph Extraction.”
Since November 2024

AI hardware at Cornell

In October 2026, he is a professor in Cornell's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the Computer Systems Laboratory. His group's current work covers high-level synthesis, hardware specialization for machine learning, and programming models for software-defined FPGAs.