PhD Spotlight: Julian Gutierrez, PhD’24, Computer Engineering

Julian Gutierrez, PhD’24, computer engineering, focused research on the development of a new class of high-performance algorithms used in Global Navigation Satellite Systems. After graduating, he joined as a computer research engineer at the Safety Critical Avionics Systems Branch at NASA Langley Research Center.

Prior to joining Northeastern, Julian Gutierrez worked for several years at Intel Corp. in Costa Rica on the design and verification of the graphics unit on Intel’s leading microprocessor. He received a promotion to local project manager, overseeing a large team of design engineers. In 2017, he earned a master’s degree in computer engineering from Northeastern, and then started his PhD. During this time, he was a member of the Computer Architecture Research Laboratory. His faculty advisors were David Kaeli, COE distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Pau Closas, associate professor of ECE.

Gutierrez’s education was supported in part by a NASA fellowship, as well as through scholarships from the University of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican government. As part of his NASA fellowship, Julian worked as a computer engineer in the Safety Critical Avionics Systems Branch at NASA Langley Research Center beginning in 2020. His thesis research focused on the development of a new class of high-performance algorithms used in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). These algorithms are used for guiding autonomous aerial vehicles (UAVs) and to address risk mitigation. His research enhances navigation precision and robustness in critical UAV applications.

Gutierrez co-authored 13 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. His work received best-paper nominations at numerous conferences, and he contributed to work that received a best-presentation award at GNSS+ 2023. Additionally, he presented research at AIAA Aviation, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, International Conference on Performance Engineering, and technical meetings with the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Navigation, and IEEE. In 2019, Gutierrez received a scholarship from Los Alamos National Laboratory, enabling him to participate in its Radiation Effects Summer School.

While pursuing his PhD, Gutierrez mentored many undergraduate students, resulting in research that received undergraduate and graduate awards at Northeastern’s RISE Expo. He also offered a free GPU programming class to the Northeastern community from 2017-2019.

Gutierrez currently works as a computer research engineer at the Safety Critical Avionics Systems Branch at NASA Langley Research Center. His focus is high-performance computing development within dependable navigation for autonomous aerial vehicles.