Just-In-Time Compilation Professors and Supervisors in Germany

Torsten GrustView profile

Professor

University of TübingenGermany

Torsten Grust is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Tübingen, leading the Database Systems research group since 2008. Previously, he held professorships at TU München and TU Clausthal. He earned his M.Sc. (Diploma) and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Universität Konstanz in 1994 and 1999, respectively. His research focuses on database languages, query and programming language technology, and scalable processing of non-relational queries. He bridges database and programming language research, emphasizing mutual benefits between the fields. **Education:** Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Konstanz (1999) M.Sc. (Diploma), Computer Science, University of Konstanz (1994) Visiting Scientist, IBM Silicon Valley Laboratories (2000) **Research Interests:** Design and optimization of database languages Query compilation and execution engines Integration of functional programming with SQL Query provenance and debugging **Awards and Honors:** ACM SIGMOD Reproducibility Award (2021) University of Tübingen Teaching Award (2021/22) Winner of Dyalog 2019 APL Program Solving Competition Member of the VLDB Endowment Board of Trustees (2022–2027) **Advising & Grants:** Guided numerous students, including alumni such as Alexander Ulrich, Benjamin Dietrich, and Christian Duta Recipient of grants supporting research in query compilation, provenance analysis, and database language design **Labs & Teams:** Leads the Database Systems research group at University of Tübingen Collaborates with the National Institute of Informatics (Tokyo) on query and programming languages

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Saman AmarasingheView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Software SystemsGermany

Professor Saman Amarasinghe is a full Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Principal Investigator at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He leads the Commit compiler research group, which focuses on programming languages and compilers that maximize application performance on modern computing platforms. His work spans multiple academic departments and research centers, with strong affiliations to both MIT's School of Engineering and CSAIL. Professor Amarasinghe's research interests center around high-performance domain-specific languages and compiler technology . His work combines language design with sophisticated compilation techniques to deliver unprecedented performance for targeted application domains. His research spans multiple areas including image processing (Halide), sparse tensor algebra (TACO), graph analytics (GraphIt), stream computations (StreamIt), and bioinformatics (Seq). A significant thread throughout his work is the application of machine learning for compiler optimizations, from Meta optimization in 2003 to the OpenTuner autotuner framework. Analysis of Professor Amarasinghe's recent publications reveals a strong focus on sparse computing , compiler vectorization , and domain-specific language implementation . His work consistently bridges theoretical compiler concepts with practical performance gains across diverse application domains. The progression from earlier work on StreamIt and Halide to more recent projects like GraphIt and TACO shows an evolution toward more specialized, high-performance DSLs targeting specific computational patterns. His 2020-2025 publications particularly emphasize sparse tensor operations, GPU acceleration, and machine learning integration with compiler technology. ACM Fellow (2019) Professor Amarasinghe has made significant contributions to academic entrepreneurship and student development. He founded Determina, Inc. (acquired by VMware) based on security research from his MIT lab and co-founded Lanka Internet Services, Ltd., Sri Lanka's first ISP. As faculty director of MIT Global Startup Labs, his programs across 17 countries have helped create over 20 successful startups. His teaching includes the popular Performance Engineering of Software Systems (6.172) course with Professor Charles Leiserson, as well as innovative project-based courses like the Open Source Software Project Lab and Bring Your Own Software Project Lab. His educational approach emphasizes hands-on experience with compiler and language design concepts. Professor Amarasinghe leads the Commit compiler research group at MIT CSAIL, which has produced numerous influential domain-specific languages and compilers including Halide, TACO, Simit, StreamIt, and GraphIt. The lab maintains strong industry connections through projects like OpenTuner and Determina, and collaborates with researchers worldwide on compiler technology. The group's work spans both theoretical compiler research and practical implementation, with a consistent focus on bridging the performance gap between high-level programming abstractions and hardware capabilities.

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Sandrine BlazyView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Software SystemsGermany

Sandrine Blazy is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Rennes, France. She is a member of CELTIQUE (also referred to as Epicure), a joint project-team with Inria Rennes Bretagne Atlantique and the IRISA laboratory. Since 2021, she has served as deputy director of the IRISA CNRS UMR 6074 laboratory and will be the general chair for POPL 2026, which will be held in Rennes. She is also a member of the editorial board of the LMCS journal. Dr. Blazy completed her PhD at CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers) in 1993 with a thesis titled "La spécialisation de programmes pour l'aide à la maintenance du logiciel" (Program Specialization for Software Maintenance Assistance). She later completed her Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR) in 2008 at the University of Évry Val d'Essonne with a thesis titled "Sémantiques formelles" (Formal Semantics). Her research focuses on the formal verification of program transformations and semantic properties of programming languages, particularly in the context of the CompCert compiler and Verasco static analyzer. She develops mechanized semantics using the Coq (or Rocq) proof assistant to ensure software correctness and security. A prime application domain of her work is software security, including constant-time programming for cryptographic applications and software obfuscation techniques. Her teaching includes mechanized semantics (in Coq), functional programming (in OCaml), formal methods (using Why3), and software vulnerabilities. Dr. Blazy's publication record from 2019-2025 shows a sustained focus on verified compilation techniques, particularly in preserving security properties during compilation. Her work bridges theoretical formal methods with practical compiler implementation, resulting in tools that have real-world impact in safety-critical systems. She has made significant contributions to the CompCert formally verified compiler project, with particular attention to constant-time preservation for cryptographic applications and JIT compilation verification. Her scientific achievements have been recognized with several major awards: CNRS Silver Medal (2023) Lucas Award from Formal Methods Europe (2023) ACM SIGPLAN Programming Languages Software Award for CompCert (2022) ACM Software System Award for CompCert (2021) Dr. Blazy has been actively involved in the programming languages research community, serving on numerous program committees for major conferences including POPL, ICFP, PLDI, and CPP. She has mentored students and contributed to education through teaching mechanized semantics and formal methods. Her work with the CompCert compiler has led to practical applications in safety-critical systems, with industry collaborations documented in publications like "CompCert: Practical experience on integrating and qualifying a formally verified optimizing compiler" (ERTS 2018). She leads research within the CELTIQUE project team, which focuses on developing trustworthy software using deductive verification. Her team works on advancing the state of the art in formal verification of compilers and static analyzers, with applications in security-critical domains including cryptographic implementations and safety-critical embedded systems.

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Phillip RaffeckView profile

Researcher

University of Erlangen–NurembergGermany

Phillip Raffeck is a researcher at the Department of Computer Science (INF) within the Chair of Computer Science 4 (System Software) at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). His work focuses on real-time systems, embedded systems, and energy-aware computing, with a particular emphasis on worst-case execution time (WCET) and energy consumption (WCEC) analysis. He has contributed to projects like the Invasive Run-Time Support System (iRTSS) and tools for energy-neutral system design. Department: Department of Computer Science (INF) University: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) Position: Researcher His research spans real-time systems , multi-core optimization , and power-aware computing . Key contributions include migrative synchronization protocols , energy-neutral operating systems , and code metrics for timing analysis . Recent work explores carbon-aware co-design and predictable migration in embedded environments. Publications highlight collaborations with teams across Germany and international symposia like RTSS, WCET, and EMSOFT. His article trends reflect advancements in intermittent execution models , transactional networking , and static analysis toolchains . He serves as a secondary reviewer for conferences including RTAS and ISORC. Phillip supervises graduate theses on topics such as DMA-based OS offloading , dynamic migration , and interrupt latency analysis . He contributes to teaching courses like Betriebsystemtechnik and Systemnahe Programmierung in C at FAU.

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Jan VitekView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Software SystemsGermany

Jan Vitek is a Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University's Khoury College of Computer Sciences. He also holds an appointment at Charles University in Prague supported by an ERC.CZ grant. With a background rooted in Czechoslovakia (birth) and Switzerland (education), Prof. Vitek has established himself as a leading researcher in programming languages and systems. Prof. Vitek's research spans programming language design, implementation, and application across multiple domains. His work has significantly impacted real-time embedded systems, concurrent and distributed systems, and more recently, scalable data analytics. He has published extensively in top venues including Programming Languages, Virtual Machines, Compilers, Software Engineering, Real-time Computing, and Bioinformatics. His publication record shows a clear evolution from foundational work on programming language theory to practical implementations and modern data science applications. Early work focused on ownership types and real-time Java systems, while recent publications center on dynamic languages (particularly R and Julia), compiler optimizations, and large-scale code analysis. His research demonstrates consistent innovation in bridging theoretical foundations with practical implementations. Selected Awards: Dahl-Nygaard Senior Prize (2020) ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award (2019) ECOOP Test of Time Award (2018) ISSTA Distinguished Artifact Award (2018) OOPSLA Distinguished Artifact Award (2017) As an advisor, Prof. Vitek has mentored numerous PhD students through successful thesis defenses on topics ranging from type stability in Julia to analyzing large code repositories. He has also been deeply involved in the research community through conference organization, having chaired major events including SPLASH, PLDI, ECOOP, ISMM and LCTES. Currently serving as Editor in Chief of TOPLAS, he continues to shape the field while actively conducting research with his team at the PRL lab. His research group, the PRL (Programming Research Laboratory) and PRL-PRG, focuses on creating beautiful code that solves real-world problems, with particular emphasis on making software development more efficient, reliable, and accessible.

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Holger PirkView profile

Researcher

University of TrierGermany

Holger Pirk is a researcher at Imperial College London , UK, focusing on database systems and data science. His work bridges hardware-aware query optimization, in-memory processing, and machine learning integration. He collaborates with institutions like MIT, TU Delft, and VU Amsterdam. Affiliation: Imperial College London, UK Key Collaborators: Samuel Madden (MIT), Martin Kersten (CWI), Georgios Theodorakis (Imperial), Stefan Manegold (CWI) Research Interests include: Hardware-conscious database optimization Stream/window aggregation algorithms Portable execution models via homoiconicity Compiler-database system integration Efficient tree/index structures Recent Publications (2023-2025) address topics like database kernel composition (BOSS), LLM-generated text compression, hardware-efficient data imputation, and fault-tolerant stream processing. His work emphasizes CPU/cache efficiency, parallelism, and cross-domain system design.

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Olivier FlückigerView profile

Researcher

Max Planck Institute for Software SystemsGermany

Olivier Flückiger is a Researcher affiliated with Google , with past involvement at Northeastern University. He actively contributes to programming language design, compiler optimization, and runtime system verification through publications in venues like PLDI, POPL, and SPLASH. Current affiliation: Google Past affiliation: Northeastern University Committee roles in ECOOP, PLDI, VMIL, and SPLASH Research Interests : Just-In-Time Compilation and Speculative Optimization Function Specialization and Runtime Monitoring Lazy Evaluation and Intermediate Representations Security Implications of Compilation Techniques Language Implementation for Dynamic Languages Compiler Verification and Deoptimization Mechanisms Trends in Publications : His work focuses on hybrid dynamic verification, on-stack replacement, and type feedback mechanisms, emphasizing correctness in speculative optimizations and language migration challenges (e.g., R to strict semantics). Conference Leadership : Co-chair for ICOOOLPS 2021 Program Committee for VMIL, MPLR, and SPLASH tracks Artifact Evaluation Committee for ECOOP Volunteer and session chair roles in academic conferences

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Steffen ZeuchView profile

Researcher

Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz Center for InformaticsGermany

Steffen Zeuch is a researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, with a strong research focus on database systems, stream processing, and Internet of Things (IoT) data management. He is a key contributor to the NebulaStream platform, an extensible, high-performance system for multi-modal edge applications. His work spans query optimization, GPU acceleration, fault tolerance, and distributed state management in stream processing environments. Research interests include database systems, stream processing, IoT data management, query optimization, GPU computing, and hardware-aware execution. His research addresses challenges in real-time analytics, efficient data placement, adaptive compilation, and complex event processing in distributed and edge environments. The publication trends in his recent articles highlight a consistent focus on stream processing systems—especially NebulaStream—with increasing attention to GPU acceleration, adaptive optimization, fault tolerance, and complex event processing. His work bridges theoretical query optimization with practical system implementation, emphasizing performance, scalability, and deployment in real-world IoT and edge infrastructures. Steffen Zeuch has made significant contributions to top-tier venues such as VLDB, SIGMOD, EDBT, and DEBS. His collaborative work, primarily with Volker Markl and other members of the database group at Humboldt University, demonstrates strong research leadership and technical depth in data-intensive systems. He has led and contributed to projects involving system design, performance benchmarking, and real-world deployment of stream processing platforms. His work on tutorials and system demonstrations indicates active engagement in community education and dissemination. While no specific lab or team name is mentioned, his research is centered around the NebulaStream project, a comprehensive platform for managing and analyzing data across fog, edge, and cloud environments. This platform supports complex analytics beyond traditional cloud boundaries, enabling scalable and efficient IoT applications.

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Ben L. TitzerView profile

Researcher

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Ben L. Titzer is a researcher affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University specializing in programming language implementation and virtual machine technology. His work focuses on WebAssembly tooling, compiler design, and JavaScript engine optimization, with consistent contributions to major conferences including PLDI, SPLASH, and ICFP since 2015. His research interests center on WebAssembly infrastructure , where he develops tools for debugging, testing, and benchmarking WebAssembly modules. He has pioneered techniques in record-replay systems (Wasm-R3), program reduction, and diversified execution for uncovering elusive concurrency bugs. His work bridges theoretical compiler design with practical constraints of real-world deployment in browser and non-browser environments. Trends across his publications reveal a consistent focus on making WebAssembly more practical for developers through improved tooling and reliability. His recent work emphasizes standalone WebAssembly execution environments beyond browsers, addressing debugging challenges and performance bottlenecks in compilation pipelines. Earlier work examined JavaScript engine evolution (particularly V8) and memory management optimizations. Titzer actively contributes to the programming languages community through program committee service across multiple conferences including PLDI, POPL, SPLASH, and ISMM. He has chaired workshops and sessions on WebAssembly and virtual machine technologies, and delivered keynotes on WebAssembly's potential as a universal compilation target. As an organizer, he has served as Rebase Co-chair for SPLASH and co-chaired JENSFEST. His tutorial development work helps disseminate WebAssembly research tools to broader audiences. His research has practical impact through integration with major browser engines and WebAssembly toolchains.

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Yanyan JiangView profile

Associate Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Dr. Yanyan Jiang is an Associate Professor at Nanjing University, China, specializing in software systems with a focus on validation, verification, and synthesis. His research spans software testing, analysis, and program synthesis, with significant contributions to the field of software engineering. Dr. Jiang's research interests include: Software Testing - particularly code coverage validation and Android application testing Software Verification - with focus on compiler validation and system correctness Program Synthesis - especially for dynamic software updates and state transformation Operating Systems - including educational approaches and system design principles His recent work shows a strong trend toward practical applications of software engineering research, with focus on Android systems, compiler validation, and self-adaptive software. His publications demonstrate expertise in both theoretical approaches to software validation and practical tools for real-world systems, particularly in the areas of code coverage validation, dynamic software updating, and compiler verification. Dr. Jiang has received numerous prestigious awards: SOSP'23 Best Paper Award ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Awards (ICSE'21 and ASE'18) ACM Europe Council Best Paper Award Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship Award CCF Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award Dr. Jiang actively contributes to the software engineering community through program committee memberships at major conferences including ASE, ICSE, and ESEC/FSE. He also serves on the Steering Committee for regional Computing Olympiad contests and as a Technical Committee member for the Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO) 2022-2024, demonstrating his commitment to both research excellence and educational outreach in computer science.

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Shahar MaozView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Shahar Maoz is a Professor at the School of Computer Science and AI in Tel Aviv University, Israel. He received his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2009 and has been at Tel Aviv University since 2012. His research focuses on software engineering with emphasis on formal methods and reactive systems specification and synthesis. His research interests center around software and systems modeling, testing, formal specification languages, and synthesis. He has developed frameworks like Spectra for reactive systems specifications and has made significant contributions to understanding GR(1) specifications, realizability analysis, and controller synthesis. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in automated software engineering. His recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on reactive synthesis, particularly addressing challenges in GR(1) specifications, specification quality, and practical implementation. The research shows evolution from foundational work on specification languages to practical tools and heuristics that improve the usability and performance of reactive synthesis techniques. ERC Starting Grant (2015) ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2022) ISF Grant (2023) BSF Grant (2025) DFG-ISF grant (2025) ACM SIGSOFT OUTSTANDING DISSERTATION AWARD (awarded to Rachel Tzoref-Brill) Professor Maoz actively mentors graduate students and postdocs, with numerous PhD and MSc students having completed their degrees under his supervision. His research is supported by significant grants including ERC, ISF, BSF, and DFG-ISF funding. He leads the SYNTECH and SYNTACT research projects focused on synthesis technologies for reactive systems software engineers. He directs a research lab with multiple current members including Shachaf Cohen, Shmulik Cohen, Dor Ma'ayan, and others working on projects related to reactive synthesis, formal specifications, and software engineering. He co-organized the International SPECS summer school series and a Dagstuhl Seminar on Specification Engineering.

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Matteo BassoView profile

Researcher

Max Planck Institute for Software SystemsGermany

Matteo Basso is a researcher at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Switzerland, specializing in compiler design, virtual machines, and WebAssembly technologies. His work bridges high-level programming languages with efficient execution on modern hardware platforms, with a strong focus on practical systems that improve performance and efficiency. His research interests include: WebAssembly and its applications in web and server environments Compiler optimization techniques for virtual machines Memory management and binary serialization formats Performance analysis of programming language runtimes Java Virtual Machine enhancements and thread management Matteo's publication record shows consistent contributions to top-tier conferences including SPLASH, OOPSLA, and CGO, with recent work emphasizing WebAssembly technologies and Java performance optimization. His research on heap management, native-image startup performance, and compiler-level profiling demonstrates practical impact in language implementation. Notable contributions include: Heap snapshot matching using context-augmented heap-path representations Improvements to native-image startup performance in GraalVM Optimization-aware compiler-level event profiling techniques Analysis of Java Vector API performance characteristics As an active open-source contributor, Matteo maintains several popular repositories including asm-dom (a WebAssembly virtual DOM implementation with 2.8k stars) and awesome-wasm (a curated WebAssembly resource list with 9.4k stars).

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George BosilcaView profile

Professor

Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz Center for InformaticsGermany

George Bosilca is a Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, specializing in high-performance computing and parallel systems. With over two decades of research contributions, he has established himself as a leading expert in task-based runtime systems, distributed computing, and MPI implementations. His research focuses on developing and optimizing task-based runtime systems for extreme-scale computing environments, with particular emphasis on fault tolerance, performance optimization, and scalability. Bosilca's work spans multiple domains including scientific computing, climate modeling, and deep learning applications. He has made significant contributions to the PaRSEC runtime system and has extensively researched MPI optimization techniques for modern HPC architectures. The trend in Bosilca's recent publications demonstrates a strong focus on addressing challenges in exascale computing, including fault tolerance in distributed systems, GPU acceleration for scientific workloads, and energy-efficient computing techniques. His work bridges theoretical computer science with practical implementations for real-world scientific applications across various domains. Bosilca maintains extensive collaborations with leading researchers in the HPC community, most notably with Jack J. Dongarra (103 co-publications), Aurelien Bouteiller (60 co-publications), and Thomas Hérault (54 co-publications). These collaborations have resulted in numerous publications at top-tier conferences including SC, IPDPS, and EuroMPI, as well as in prestigious journals such as IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems and the International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications.

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Maximilian SchüleView profile

Assistant Professor

Freiburg University of EducationGermany

Maximilian Schüle serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Data Engineering at the University of Bamberg's Faculty of Information Systems and Applied Computer Sciences since October 2022. Previously, he held research positions at Technical University of Munich (2017-2022). His research bridges database systems and machine learning through compiler-based approaches. His research focuses on in-database machine learning , GPU-accelerated query processing , and recursive SQL extensions . Key contributions include: Developing MLIR-based compilers for automatic differentiation in SQL (DuoLingo-AutoDiff) Creating GPU code generators for database kernels using NVRTC Designing higher-order lambda functions for expressive query languages Implementing end-to-end neural network training within database engines His recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate consistent output in top venues including ICDE, VLDB workshops, and BTW conferences, with growing emphasis on hardware-aware optimization and compiler techniques for analytical workloads. He currently leads a DFG-funded project on elastic memory hierarchies for memory-intensive applications (2025-2028), supporting multiple PhD researchers. His supervision emphasizes open-source contributions to database systems like Umbra and practical implementation skills alongside theoretical foundations. As an active member of the database community, he serves as workshop chair for BTW 2025 and regularly reviews for ACM TODS, VLDB Journal, and Information Systems. His work on public transport analytics demonstrates real-world impact through collaborations with urban mobility initiatives in Bamberg.

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