Kihong Heo

Kihong Heo is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), where he leads the Programming Systems Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from Seoul National University and previously served as an Assistant Professor at KAIST (2017-2019) and a Post-doctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania (2009-2017).

His research focuses on developing program reasoning systems for safe and reliable software, with three main thrusts: AI-based program analysis systems for detecting deep semantic software bugs, general-purpose program simplification systems for secure and efficient software, and scalable program synthesis systems for automatic software generation and repair. His work bridges formal methods, programming languages, and machine learning to address critical challenges in software reliability and security.

Prof. Heo's recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward integrating machine learning techniques with traditional program analysis and verification methods. His research spans compiler correctness (particularly for JavaScript engines), mobile security verification, and automated program transformation. The work on 'Safeguarding Mobile GUI Agent via Logic-based Action Verification' (MobiCom 2025) and 'Optimization-Directed Compiler Fuzzing for Continuous Translation Validation' (PLDI 2025) exemplifies his focus on practical verification techniques for real-world systems.

• ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award (FSE 2025)
• Amazon Research Award (2024)
• The Soo-Young Lee Teaching Innovation Award, KAIST (2024)
• Prize for Excellence in Teaching, KAIST (2024)
• Best Artifact Award, ICSE (2022)
• ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Paper Award, PLDI (2019)

Prof. Heo actively mentors graduate students, currently advising three Ph.D. students (Yeonhee Ryou, Taeeun Kim, Sujin Jang) and four Master's students. He serves on program committees for major conferences including ICSE, PLDI, OOPSLA, and SAS, and is an Associate Editor for ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM). His Programming Systems Laboratory develops tools like Sparrow, a state-of-the-art static analyzer for C programs that applies abstract interpretation techniques to verify the absence of fatal bugs.