Alessandro (Alex) Orso

Alessandro (Alex) Orso is the Dean and Professor at the University of Georgia College of Engineering, starting in 2025. Previously, he spent 25 years at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served as a Professor in the College of Computing, Director of the Scientific Software Engineering Center, and Associate Dean for Off-Campus and Special Initiatives.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science – Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• M.S. in Electrical Engineering – Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• B.S. in Electrical Engineering – Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Research Focus: Alex Orso is a leading expert in software engineering, with a focus on software testing, program analysis, and debugging. His work aims to improve software reliability, security, and trustworthiness, and has been validated on real-world systems. He has led initiatives to integrate AI and large language models into testing workflows, particularly for REST APIs and mobile applications.

Scientific Recognition:

• Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• ISSTA Impact Paper Award (2021)

Research Funding & Leadership: Orso has secured major funding from Google, IBM, Microsoft, and government agencies. In 2021, he led the acquisition of $11 million from Schmidt Futures to establish the Scientific Software Engineering Center at Georgia Tech, where he served as inaugural director.

Teaching & Innovation: He was an early advocate of Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) and has taught a virtual software engineering course since its launch in 2014.