Lu Xiao

Lu Xiao is an Assistant Professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology, where she conducts research in software engineering with a focus on software architecture, software economics, cost estimation, and software ecosystems.

Dr. Xiao completed her PhD in Computer Science at Drexel University in 2016 under the supervision of Dr. Yuanfang Cai. Her doctoral research focused on the relationship between software architecture and quality attributes.

Her research spans several key areas in software engineering with emphasis on empirical methods. She investigates how software architecture influences quality attributes, studies software economics and cost estimation techniques, and examines the dynamics of software ecosystems. Her work frequently analyzes real-world software projects, particularly those in the Apache Software Foundation, providing insights into software maintenance patterns, testing practices, and performance issues. Dr. Xiao has developed practical tools like SAIN for software architecture infrastructure and eFish'nSea for performance education.

Analysis of Dr. Xiao's publication record reveals consistent contributions to empirical software engineering, particularly in software architecture analysis, testing methodologies, and performance issues. Her research often centers on Apache projects, demonstrating methodological rigor in studying real-world development practices. She has made significant advances in understanding test refactoring, mocking frameworks, and the identification of performance bottlenecks through linguistic analysis of issue reports.

Dr. Xiao has actively contributed to the software engineering research community through service on program committees for major conferences including ASE, ICSE, ESEC/FSE, and ICSA. Her work on program committees spans multiple tracks including Research Papers, Student Research Competition, and specialized workshops.

As an academic advisor, Dr. Xiao guides graduate students in research on software architecture analysis, testing practices, and performance optimization. Her research methodology combines empirical analysis of large software repositories with tool development and validation, ensuring practical relevance of her findings.

Dr. Xiao leads research efforts focused on understanding the relationship between software architecture and quality attributes. Her current work on bots in pull requests represents cutting-edge research into automation in open source development processes, continuing her tradition of investigating real-world software engineering phenomena.