Alastair F. Donaldson

Alastair F. Donaldson is a Professor in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London, where he leads the Multicore Programming Group. His primary affiliation is with Imperial College London's Department of Computing within the broader Faculty of Engineering structure. He serves as a Program Committee Member for major conferences including ASE, PLDI, and POPL.

His research spans Programming Languages, Compilers, Verification, Testing, and Multicore Programming, with significant contributions to randomized testing techniques. He pioneered GraphicsFuzz (acquired by Google in 2018) and developed innovative approaches like grammar mutation for parser testing, metamorphic fuzzing for C++ libraries, and specialized tools for GPU API validation. His work bridges theoretical foundations with industrial impact, particularly in compiler correctness and GPU computing.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong trend toward fuzzing infrastructure development (40%), GPU/compiler testing (30%), and formal methods integration (30%). His research increasingly focuses on large-scale automated testing for complex systems including WebGPU, Dafny, and Rust, while maintaining rigorous theoretical grounding in concurrency models and memory semantics.

Donaldson has held significant leadership roles including General Chair for PLDI 2020 and Program Chair for ECOOP. His research has been supported through conference organizational roles and industrial collaborations, notably the GraphicsFuzz spinout. He actively contributes to the PL community through mentoring initiatives like PLMW and community-building efforts such as The PLDI Song.

He leads the Multicore Programming Group at Imperial College London, focusing on practical tools for compiler and GPU driver validation. The group's work combines theoretical program analysis with real-world testing frameworks, maintaining strong industry connections through projects adopted by Google and other technology companies.