About Me
Hi, I’m JP Walters. I’m a Research Director and Distinguished Principal Scientist at USC’s Information Sciences Institute. I lead research across a broad range of topics organized around heterogenous systems. I’ve led major efforts for sponsors including NASA, DARPA, IARPA, ONR, and the US Government broadly. I’m focused on turning novel ideas into reality. My research outputs target more than just publications (although I like those too). I always strive to bridge what some call research’s “Valley of Death” by delivering real things that are usable, fieldable, and extensible.
My Research
One of my best traits as a researcher is my agility. As a soft money researcher, I have to keep on top of the latest areas of research and get sponsors interested in what I think is the next big thing. As a result, my research spans the full spectrum of computing resources: from supercomputers to deeply embedded edge devices. Within this spectrum of computing resources, I’ve made major contributions to fault tolerant space computing, AI at the edge, compilers, operating systems, cloud computing and much more.
My Publications
My publications reflect the breadth of research I’ve conducted and led over the last 20 years. Here you’ll find both my earliest work in fault tolerance for supercomputers, but also my recent work in AI at the edge for novel signal processing and wildfire detection, domain-specific compilers, and runtime systems for next-generation AI models. I’ve applied much of these ideas across multiple domains, from high performance computing to space systems and other embedded edge architectures.