Onur Mutlu (born 1978) is a computer scientist and professor of computer architecture at ETH Zurich. He previously held the William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Early Career Professorship at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on computer architecture, memory systems, hardware security, bioinformatics and efficient computing systems. He leads the SAFARI Research Group at ETH Zurich. He was born in Turkey, he took his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and his postgraduate degree and PhD at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mutlu is known for research on memory system design and reliability, including work on the RowHammer phenomenon in dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). His group's research on the RowHammer vulnerability was the first to demonstrate that repeatedly accessing certain rows in DRAM can cause bit flips in adjacent rows, revealing a widespread hardware failure mechanism, with implications for system security and reliability. he had an h-index of 139, and 473 cited publications.
Mutlu has received numerous honors for his research. In 2017, he was named a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery for "contributions to computer architecture research, especially in memory systems". In 2018, he was named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for "contributions to computer architecture research and practice" and elected as a member of the Academy of Europe. In 2025, he was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), recognized âÂÂfor foundational and innovative contributions to computer engineering research, education, and practice, especially in computer architecture and memory and storage systemsâÂÂ.
Mutlu was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Harry H. Goode Memorial Award in 2025, for "seminal contributions to computer architecture research and practice, especially in memory systems." Mutlu's PhD dissertation was on "Efficient Runahead Execution Processors" and his major first publication on this topic in 2003 received the Test of Time Award of the International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture in 2021. He was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award in 2020, for "innovative and impactful contributions to computer memory systems." Mutlu also received the Association for Computing Machinery SIGARCH Maurice Wilkes Award in 2019, for "innovative contributions to efficient and secure DRAM systems."