Mark Plagge

Biography

Dr. Mark Plagge is a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Computational Research at Sandia National Laboratories. With a background in high performance computing; modeling and simulations; and distributed systems, Mark is working to advance artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing through AI model development, hardware accelerator simulations, and novel large-scale benchmarking methods.

Mark joined Sandia National Laboratories in 2019 as an intern, and became a postdoctoral researcher in 2020 after completing a PhD in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His PhD focused on large scale parallel discrete event simulations, and he developed models of neuromorphic hardware that scaled up across thousands of nodes on a BlueGene/Q supercomputer system. He received a BS in computer science from Columbus State University, with a focus on game development, and continues to apply game engine programming techniques in his computational science career.

When not working, Mark enjoys hiking throughout New Mexico, competitive e-sports, and flying sailplanes.

Education

Ph.D., Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2020

B.S., Computer Science, Columbus State University, 2014