Milos Ercegovac

Milos Ercegovac is a prominent Serbian American computer scientist and professor renowned for his foundational contributions to the field of computer arithmetic. His research, particularly in online arithmetic and digit-recurrence algorithms for division and elementary functions, has significantly influenced the design of modern microprocessors and digital signal processors. A long-time faculty member at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he is also celebrated as a dedicated educator and author of influential textbooks that have shaped generations of engineers.

Biography

Milos Ercegovac was born in 1941 in Belgrade, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He completed his undergraduate education in electrical engineering at the University of Belgrade, a major academic institution in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Pursuing advanced studies, he moved to the United States and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, a leading center for computational science research. His doctoral work was supervised by the noted computer scientist David E. Muller, co-inventor of the Muller C-element. Ercegovac subsequently joined the faculty of the Computer Science Department at UCLA, where he has spent the majority of his academic career contributing to both research and education in computer engineering.

Career and research

Throughout his career at UCLA, Ercegovac's research has focused on the theory, design, and application of efficient arithmetic algorithms for digital hardware. He is a pioneer in the area of online arithmetic, a digit-serial computational model where operations begin as soon as the first input digits are available, reducing latency in complex pipelined systems. His work on digit-recurrence algorithms provided robust and area-efficient methods for implementing division, square root, and elementary functions like logarithms and trigonometric functions, which are critical in scientific computing and GPU design. This research has been applied in the development of floating-point units for companies such as AMD and Intel, and in specialized ASICs for digital signal processing. He has collaborated extensively with other luminaries in the field, including Tomas Lang, with whom he co-authored seminal texts and papers.

Awards and honors

Ercegovac's contributions have been recognized by several prestigious awards from major professional societies. He was elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow, a distinction reserved for those with extraordinary accomplishments in the IEEE fields of interest. In recognition of his profound impact on engineering education, he received the IEEE Computer Society Taylor L. Booth Education Award. His pedagogical work has also been honored through the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science Distinguished Teaching Award. Furthermore, his influential textbook, *Digital Arithmetic*, co-authored with Tomas Lang, received an award from the American Society for Engineering Education.

Selected publications

Ercegovac is a prolific author whose publications are widely cited in the literature on computer architecture. His most notable work is the comprehensive textbook *Digital Arithmetic*, co-authored with Tomas Lang and published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, which is considered a definitive reference in the field. Another key text is *Introduction to Digital Systems*, co-authored with Tomas Lang and John G. Cleary, which serves as an important resource for undergraduate education. His significant journal articles include "Division and Square Root: Digit-Recurrence Algorithms and Implementations" in the *IEEE Transactions on Computers* and "On-Line Arithmetic: A Design Methodology and Applications in Digital Signal Processing," which appeared in *VLSI Signal Processing*.

Legacy and impact

Milos Ercegovac's legacy is firmly established in both the theoretical advancement and practical application of computer arithmetic. His algorithms are embedded in the arithmetic units of countless microprocessors, impacting the performance of systems ranging from supercomputers to embedded systems. As an educator, he has mentored numerous Ph.D. graduates who have gone on to influential positions in academia and industry at organizations like Google, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments. Through his authoritative textbooks and dedicated teaching, he has fundamentally shaped the curriculum and understanding of digital design for engineers worldwide, ensuring his continued influence on future generations of computer scientists.

Category:American computer scientists Category:Serbian computer scientists Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:IEEE Fellows