Hi!

I'm Ben, a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan advised by Michael P. Flynn. I am currently interested in mixed-signal computer architecture, very-large-scale integration (VLSI), and hardware-software codesign. I previously earned my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering in May 2025, also from the University of Michigan.

Email · LinkedIn · Google Scholar · Resume · GitHub

Research

Chips and the infrastructure it takes to show they work and use them for interesting things.

• k-SAT solver chip — 200 variables, analog SAT solving in microseconds (ISSCC & JSSC 2026)
• 3-SAT solver chip — its predecessor, 3,000× faster than WalkSAT (ISSCC & JSSC 2025)
• LDPC decoder chip — 1,000× lower error rate than belief propagation at low SNR (JSSC 2025)
• Chiplet beamformer — a 28 GHz array built by tiling one chiplet (IEEE OJ-SSCS 2025)
• Battery bench supply — quieter than the $1,400 boxes, for about $80 (SRC TechCon 2024)
• Chip-testing platform — remote job runner used by DARPA and NASA researchers

Projects

• Michigan Solar Car — race-strategy simulators as a web app instead of a terminal ritual
• Data-acquisition platform — distributed chip testing at 100M+ samples per second
• mmWave signal source — a 22–40 GHz generator without the instrument-catalog price
• Elevator safety controller — safety-critical control work from an internship at Otis
• High-altitude avionics — rocket payload instrumentation for 80,000 ft
• TempoTimer — pace clock app for swimmers
• QuickKey — typing speed test in the browser
• PathVis — watch pathfinding algorithms search a grid you draw

Games

From 2017 to 2021 I was a Java content creator for Minecraft Realms at Mojang, creating games like:

• Annoying Ghosts — 1.2M+ downloads, with a trailer and everything
• The Missing Sandwich (I & II) — a two-part epic about a missing sandwich; 700K+ downloads

Experience

• University of Michigan — Graduate Student Research Assistant, Flynn Research Group (2025–present); Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022–2025)
• Otis Elevator Company — Model-Based Design Software Engineer Intern (2024)
• UM Solar Car Team — Race Strategy & Software (2022–2024)
• MASA Rockets — Avionics Engineer (2021–2022)
• Hurley Medical Center — Information Security Extern (2021)
• Mojang Studios — Java Content Creator for Minecraft Realms (2017–2021)

Publications

• Medusa: A Scalable Quantum-Inspired k-SAT Solver with Make and Break Feedback

  Wormald, L. D., Hsu, Y-T., Dikopoulos, E., Tang, W., Datsko, B., A. Hammoud, Zhang, Z., and Flynn, M. P.

  IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC), 2026, February · Full text

• CMOS Quantum-Inspired Solvers for Low-Density Parity Check Codes and Satisfiability Problems

  Flynn, M. P., Wormald, L., Dikopoulos, E., Hsu, Y-T., Datsko, B., Tang, W., and Zhang, Z.

  In 2026 Government Microcircuit Applications & Critical Technology Conference (GOMACTech), 2026, March

• Medusa: A Quantum-Inspired 200-Variable 1016-Clause Analog k-SAT Solver

  Wormald, L. D., Hsu, Y-T., Dikopoulos, E., Tang, W., Datsko, B., A. Hammoud, Zhang, Z., and Flynn, M. P.

  In 2026 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2026, February · Full text

• CMOS Physics-Inspired Architectures and Circuits for Combinatorial Optimization Solvers

  Flynn, M. P., Dikopoulos, E., Wormald, L., Hsu, Y. T., Datsko, B., Tang, W., and Zhang, Z.

  In 2025 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), 2025, December

• Daedalus: A Physics-Inspired Mixed-Signal Optimization Engine With Dynamic Continuous-Time Injection for Solving 3-SAT Problems

  Dikopoulos, E.*, Hsu, Y. T.*, Wormald, L.*, Tang, W., Datsko, B., Zhang, Z., and Flynn, M. P.

  IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC), 2025 · Full text

• Electro: An Ultra-Low-Noise Battery Power Supply for Sensitive Analog Characterization

  Datsko, B., Wormald, L. D., and Flynn, M. P.

  Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) TechCon, 2024 · Full text