Gary Lindstrom

Rafting the Grand Canyon

Professor of Computer Science

Gary Lindstrom is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University, where he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics, and a Ph.D. in computer science. He is currently Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, having taught previously at the University of Pittsburgh. Among Dr. Lindstrom's research interests are programming language design, specification and implementation, with special emphasis on the programming aspects of parallel and distributed systems. He has served as an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor, and has been awarded the University of Utah College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Lindstrom recently retired as Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Parallel Programming, and co-edited the book Logic Programming: Functions, Relations and Equations. His research has been supported by NSF, ARPA, ONR, and industrial sponsors MCC, IBM, Xerox, NCR and L. M. Ericsson. He served on the NSF Computer and Computation Research Advisory Committee from 1988 to 1992, and as a Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme in 1988. Dr. Lindstrom is chair of the Organick Memorial Lecture Series.

Current Research Projects:
Persistent object stores: The Mach Shared Objects project is building an object manager (OM) layered on modern operating systems. Our OM is based on system server concepts, presenting a standardized interface to C++ and Common Lisp (CL) programs. The MSO approach to persistence emphasizes (i) generality of source language support, (ii) portability and heterogeneity, (iii) data evolution, (iv) distributed implementation and access, and (v) the representation of software components as objects managed through a pervasive system service.

Module manipulation tools: The Fast and Flexible Mach-based Systems project seeks to develop an operating system that provides a much higher degree of flexibility than do traditional systems, and to use that added flexibility to circumvent the performance/functionality tradeoffs that thwart traditional highly-decomposed, microkernel-based operating systems. Foundations for this work include (i) a comprehensive notion of modules, (ii) module manipulation cast as a system service, and (iii) a semantically enriched notion of module compatibility and adaptability. Items (i) and (ii) arose from the Mach Shared Objects project (see above), while (iii) is a new emphasis motivated by pragmatically important inter-module concerns such as address space sharing, storage management policies, and levels of trust.
Software for human genetics applications: In collaboration with the Utah Center for Human Genome Research, software is being developed to aid in genetic applications such as linkage analysis, genetic and physical mapping, and large scale genetic sequencing. Key aspects include (i) data modeling using relational and object-oriented database management systems, (ii) sequencing production workflow simulation, planning and real-time control, and (iii) automated inspection, monitoring, and robotic manipulation of biochemical laboratory processes. The educational dimension of this collaboration centers on an interdisciplinary program in genome science.

Selected Publications

  1. Eric Eide, Kevin Frei, Bryan Ford, Jay Lepreau, Gary Lindstrom, "Flick: A Flexible, Optimizing IDL Compiler", Proc. 1997 ACM Symposium on Programming Language Design and Implementation.

  2. Guruduth Banavar and Gary Lindstrom "An Application Framework for Module Composition Tools", Proc. ECOOP '96, Springer LNCS 1098, pp. 91-113.

  3. Jon Oler, Gary Lindstrom, and Terence Critchlow, ``Migrating Relational Data to an OODB: Strategies and Lessons from a Molecular Biology Experience'', February 13, 1997, University of Utah Computer Science Technical Report UUCS-97-001.ps, to be presented at OOPSLA '97.

  4. Terence Critchlow and Gary Lindstrom, ``The Schema Coercion Problem'', February 20, 1997, University of Utah Computer Science Technical Report UUCS-97-002.ps

  5. Rob Sargent, Dave Fuhrman, Terence Critchlow, Tony Di Sera, Robert Mecklenburg, Gary Lindstrom and Peter Cartwright, "The Design and Implementation of a Database For Human Genome Research", Proc. Eighth International Conference on Scientific and Statistical Database Management, Stockholm, June 18-20, 1996, pp. 220-225. IEEE Computer Society Press.

  6. Guruduth Banavar, Douglas Orr, and Gary Lindstrom, "Layered, Server-Based Support for Object-Oriented Application Development", Proc. of the Fourth Int'l. Workshop on Object Orientation in Operating Systems, Lund, Sweden, August 1995.

  7. Robert Mecklenburg, Charles Clark, Gary Lindstrom and Benny Yih, "A Dossier Driven Persistent Objects Facility", Proc. 1994 Usenix C++ Conference, Cambridge, MA, pp. 265-281.

  8. Gilad Bracha and Gary Lindstrom, "Modularity Meets Inheritance", Proc. International Conference on Computer Languages, IEEE Computer Society, San Francisco, CA, April 20-23, 1992, pp. 282-290.

Selected Research Awards

  1. Sound and Flexible Module Combination, ONR, 1995-1996, PI.

  2. Object Management for Engineering and Manufacturing, ARPA/ONR (AASERT), 1993-1996, PI.

  3. Fast and Flexible Mach-based Systems, ARPA, 1994-1997, Faculty Investigator.

  4. Utah Center for Human Genome Research, NIH (P50), 1994-1999, Faculty Investigator.

  5. Institutional Training Grant in Genomic Science, NIH (T32), 1995 to 2000, Track Leader.

Teaching

  1. The CS509 Parallel Programming home page for Winter 1997 quarter.

  2. The CS513 Database Systems home page for Autumn 1996 quarter.

  3. The CS356/503 Object-Oriented Software Engineering home page for Spring 1996 quarter.

  4. The AMPS seminar home page.

Graduate Studies

Here is the TA / RA / Fellows list Spring 1997.

Here are the MS and PhD course requirements under the semester system (starting Autumn 1998).

Fun Stuff

  • My hero, Dilbert.

  • I share a birthday with a king.

  • Looking for someone to play squash with?

  • How about a river trip?

  • Information on the 1997 Gathering of the Faithful West (GoF West '97) in Park City, Utah, which will draw 100+ T-series MG sports cars.

  • Me B.B. (Before Beard). High School Graduation Picture

    Click on the photo to see what 34 years of hacking will do.