Draft:Alex Yakovlev

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Alex Yakovlev FREng FIET
Yakovlev in 2024
Born	Alexandre Yakovlev (1956-04-09) 9 April 1956 (age 69) Leningrad, USSR
Alma mater	Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute (Diplom-Ingenieur, Candidate of Engineering Sciences)
Known for	Signal transition graphs or STGs (unified and symbolic) Causal Logic Nets (compact modeling of strong and weak causality) Place Chart Nets (compact modeling of asynchrony and interrupts) Workcraft, toolkit for asynchronous circuit design and analysis
Awards	Dream Fellow of EPSRC (2012-13) Fellow of the IET (2015) Fellow of the IEEE (2016) Fellow of the RA of Eng. (2017)
Scientific career
Fields	Asynchronous systems Concurrency (computer science) Electromagnetism Electronic design automation Low-power electronics Machine learning
Institutions	Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute University of Newcastle upon Tyne Literal Labs .[1]
Thesis	Design and Implementation of Asynchronous Communication Protocols in Systems Interface (1982)
Doctoral advisor	Victor Varshavsky
Website	www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/alexyakovlev.html blogs.ncl.ac.uk/alexyakovlev/

Alex Yakovlev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Я́ковлев) (born 9 April 1956)^[2] is a Russian-British computer scientist, hardware engineer, and Full Professor of Computer System Design in the School of Engineering at the Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. He is a Head of MicroSystems Research Group at this department ^[3]. After completing his PhD in Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute in 1982, he spent 1984-85 doing post-doc research in Newcastle and in 1991 started a tenured academic career there. He leads research into asynchronous circuits, low-power electronics and machine learning^[4]

Education

In 1973, Yakovlev graduated from Secondary School No. 38 in Leningrad, Soviet Union, a school recognised for its emphasis on mathematics and physics, achieving 75% excellent and 25% good grades. He subsequently passed the entrance examinations for the Faculty of Computer Engineering at Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute (Russian: Ленинградский Электротехнический Институт, now Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University). The Soviet engineering undergraduate programme spanned five and a half years, incorporating practical training at the department and, in the final year, at an industrial facility. Students were required to pass a State Examination and defend a diploma project, with the resulting Diplom-Ingenieur (Dipl.-Ing.) degree equivalent to a Master’s degree.

In his fifth year, Yakovlev won the Leningrad Olympiad in Computer Science and represented the city at the 1979 congress of Academic Olympiad winners in Moscow. That same year, he graduated with a Dipl.-Ing. with distinction, completing a diploma project titled "Software Design for Microprocessor-based Logical Control" under the supervision of Professor Yuri Sidorov.

In 1979, Yakovlev gained admission to the "Aspirantura" PhD programme at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute’s Department of Mathematical Support for Computers (Russian: Математическое обеспечение ЭВМ). Admission required passing examinations, including one on a chosen research topic, and securing a supervisor. Yakovlev sought to join the research group led by Professor Victor Varshavsky, but first had to demonstrate his abilities to Associate Professor Leonid Rosenblum, who became his long-term mentor. In 1982, Yakovlev defended his PhD dissertation, titled "Design and Implementation of Asynchronous Communication Protocols in Systems Interface," earning the Candidate of Sciences degree, as certified by the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK).^[5]

In 2006, as a professor at Newcastle University, Yakovlev completed a DSc dissertation, "Theory and Practice of Using Models of Concurrency in Hardware Design," based on a compilation of his research works.^[6]

Career and Research

In 1982, Yakovlev was appointed assistant professor (Russian: старший преподаватель) in the Department of Mathematical Support for Computers at Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute (LETI). From 1984 to 1985, he undertook a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Computing Laboratory, Newcastle University, returning to his assistant professor role at LETI until 1987. In 1988, he was promoted to associate professor (Russian: доцент) and deputy head of the department, serving until 1990. In October 1990, Yakovlev emigrated from the Soviet Union and joined the Department of Computer Studies at the University of Glamorgan (now University of South Wales) as a senior lecturer. In 1991, he became a lecturer in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, a position he held until 1997. At Newcastle, he established the Asynchronous Systems Laboratory, comprising 15 members, including lecturers, research associates, and PhD students, with collaborations involving industry partners such as Intel, BAe Dynamics, Theseus Logic, Cogency Technology, Acorn Networks, Atmel, and Dialog Semiconductor.

Between 1982 and 2006, Yakovlev’s research focused on asynchronous design techniques for very-large-scale integration (VLSI) systems. His work demonstrated the utility of formal concurrency models, particularly Petri nets, in developing reliable and efficient asynchronous systems, optimising speed, power consumption, and size. These efforts were documented in his 2006 DSc dissertation.^[7]

Yakovlev contributed to academic partnerships supported by grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), British Council, Leverhulme Trust, and the EU ACiD-WG. He was part of the "Petrify team" (with Jordi Cortadella, Michael Kishinevsky, Alex Kondratyev, and Luciano Lavagno), which received funding from Intel, EPSRC (in collaboration with Bristol University and King’s College London), and BAe Dynamics. He supported the formation of an asynchronous design team at Intel, contributing to the RAPPID asynchronous instruction decoder project (1996–1999), and led the EU GENESIS consortium to develop methods for synthesising distributed, concurrent, and asynchronous systems.

Yakovlev chaired or co-chaired multiple International Symposia on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems (ASYNC)^[8] and organised workshops and conferences on Petri nets. He co-founded and chaired the Steering Committee of the International Conferences on Application of Concurrency to System Design (ACSD) from 2001 to 2018^[9] and served on the Steering Committee of PATMOS conferences, acting as general chair in 2012. With Professor Steve Furber, he co-founded and led the UK Asynchronous Forum from 1997 to 2012. He delivered invited lectures on Petri nets and asynchronous design at institutions including Helsinki University of Technology, Technical University of Denmark, IMEC Leuven, and universities in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Augsburg, and Cottbus, as well as at companies such as HP Research Labs, Acorn Networks, Dialog Semiconductor, Analog Devices, and Nordic Semiconductor.

As of 2024, Yakovlev’s publications total over 500, including 135 refereed journal articles and 300 peer-reviewed conference papers, with 17 conference papers receiving best paper awards.^[10][11] He co-edited seven monographs and co-authored two, including works on asynchronous controller synthesis and Petri net modelling.^[12][13] He holds six patents related to asynchronous systems and synchronisation.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} By 2024, he had supervised 76 PhD students to completion.^[20]

Awards and Honours

In 1985, Yakovlev was recognised as a Pioneer of Futurebus (IEEE 896 Standard). From 1992 to 2004, he represented Newcastle University in the European Working Group on Asynchronous Circuit Design (ACiD-WG). In 2012–2013, he was named a Dream Fellow by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), conducting research on energy-modulated computing.^[21] In 2015, Yakovlev was elected a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET) and registered as a Chartered Engineer (CEng). In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (FIEEE),^[22] followed by election as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2017. In 2018, he received an IET Achievement Medal for contributions to electronic engineering.^[23]

Scientific Genealogy

The scientific genealogy of Yakovlev traces the influence of mentors and collaborators across generations of scholars. Yakovlev’s mentor, Leonid Rosenblum (1936–2019), was unable to fully pursue his scientific career as intended. In contrast, Vyacheslav Marakhovsky (born 1940) continued his academic career at the University of Aizu, Japan.^[24] Both Rosenblum and Marakhovsky, members of the research group led by Yakovlev’s academic supervisor Victor Varshavsky, significantly shaped his development. Additionally, Professor David Kinniment (1940–2012), a pioneer in metastability and synchronisation studies and founder of the Microelectronics Design research group at Newcastle University in 1979, profoundly influenced Yakovlev’s research and leadership during his time at Newcastle.^[25]

The following lineage illustrates the academic connections across four generations, spanning a 30-year age difference:

• Victor Varshavsky (1933–2005), professor of computer science, Leningrad
• Michael Tsetlin (1924–1966), professor of mathematics and physics, Moscow
• Israel Gelfand (1913–2009), professor of mathematics, Moscow
• Andrey Kolmogorov (1903–1987), professor of mathematics, Moscow

References

1. "About Alex Yakovlev". Literal Labs. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
2. "Appointments for Alexandre. Yakovlev". Companies House. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
3. µSystems Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
4. This Asynchronous World. Essays dedicated to Alex Yakovlev on the occasion of his 60th birthday (Festschrift), 2016
5. А. В. Яковлев. Проектирование и реализация протоколов асинхронного обмена информацией в межмодульном интерфейсе. Диссертация на соискание учёной степени к.т.н. ЛЭТИ, Ленинград, 1982. (A. V. Yakovlev. Design and Implementation of Asynchronous Communication Protocols in Systems Interface. PhD thesis. Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, 1982.)
6. A. Yakovlev. Theory and Practice of Using Models of Concurrency in Hardware Design. DSc dissertation. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2005.
7. A. Yakovlev. Theory and Practice of Using Models of Concurrency in Hardware Design. DSc dissertation. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2005.
8. A list of International Symposia on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems (ASYNC)
9. Proceedings of International Conferences on Application of Concurrency to System Design (ACSD)
10. Yakovlev's Google Scholar
11. Full list of Yakovlev's publications up to 2024
12. J. Cortadella, M. Kishinevsky, A. Kondratyev, L. Lavagno and A. Yakovlev. Logic Synthesis of Asynchronous Controllers and Interfaces, Springer, 2002.
13. В. Б. Мараховский, Л. Я. Розенблюм и А. В. Яковлев. Моделирование параллельных процессов. Сети Петри: курс для системных архитекторов, программистов, системных аналитиков, проектировщиков сложных систем управления. СПб.: Профессионал. лит., 2014.
14. V. I. Varshavsky, M. A. Kishinevsky, Yu. V. Mamrukov, V. B. Marakhovsky, L. Ya. Rosenblum, B. S. Tsirlin and A. V. Yakovlev, "Asynchronous sequential register," USSR author's certificate SU1136216, Jan. 23, 1985.
15. V. I. Varshavsky, O. V. Maevsky, V. B. Marakhovsky, L. Ya. Rosenblum, V. I. Timokhin and A. V. Yakovlev, "Device for coupling the data receiver with the bus of data source," USSR author's certificate SU1241248, Jun. 30, 1986.
16. L. Ya. Rosenblum, O. A. Fedorova, A. V. Yakovlev and I. V. Yatsenko, "Device for synchronizing the modules of computing system," USSR author's certificate SU1442985, Dec. 07, 1988.
17. A. Yakovlev, R. Ramezani and T. Mak, "Apparatus and method for voltage sensing," Patent US9121871, Sep. 01, 2015.
18. D. Sokolov, V. Khomenko and A. Yakovlev, "Asynchronous circuit," Patent US10581435, Mar. 3, 2020.
19. V. Khomenko, D. Sokolov and A. Yakovlev, "Tools and methods for selection of relative timing constraints in asynchronous circuits, and asynchronous circuits made thereby," Patent US10839126, Nov. 17, 2020.
20. List of Yakovlev's PhD alumni up to 2024
21. Dream Fellowship: Energy-Modulated Computing, Details of EPSRC grant EP/J005177/1
22. "IEEE Fellows Awarded Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering". IEEE United Kingdom and Ireland Section. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
23. Winners of the IET Achievement Medal 2018
24. A list of publications by V. Marakhovsky at Researchgate
25. A list of publications by D. Kinniment in IEEE Xplore

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