Full-System Critical-Path Analysis and Performance Prediction

To my family: for their continuous love and support. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation marks the end of a chapter of my life. My journey through school has been aided by many people over the years and I'm thankful for all their help and support. First, I must thank my family. They have always encouraged me to learn and have been supportive in every way they could be. My mother, Raghda Saidi Henthorne, my father Ghassan Saidi, my step-dad Michael Henthorne, and my sisters, Rania Combs and Rola Hart have continuously provided love, support, and advice. Additionally, I would like to thank Don and Rita Myntti, who I have known since the time I was a small child, and who have never once failed to call me on my birthday. Next, I have to thank Karen Smid. She provided tremendious love and encouragement while we both finished our dissertations, as well as the occasional bit of last minute editing. My advisors, Steve Reinhardt and Trevor Mudge, along with the other Michigan faculty, provided continuous guidance throughout the whole process. Steve is a wonderful mentor, and one of the smartest people I know. His calm and rigorous approach to solving any problem taught me to step back and look at the entire issue, instead of fruitlessly focusing on the minutia. When I was particularly stuck on some issue, I could always count on Trevor to pull some inspiration out of thin air and his meetings always broke up the day with laughs and entertainment. The other graduate students from Steve's group at Michigan were also of great help to me: In particular, I must thank Nate and Lisa not only for their insight and assistance over the years, but also for being great friends. nice During my time in Michigan, I've met some other wonderful people who have become close friends. They have provided great support and laughter that broke up the days into more managable pieces:rnievskaia relentlessly encouraged me to stay in shape, and Kate Cappell, Diane Bouis and Astrid Tuin made sure that the last six months—without Karen and while writing the bulk of my dissertation—was as painless as possible.