Neil Ernst

Neil Ernst is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Victoria, where he serves as Director of the UVic Matrix Institute for Data Science. His academic career spans multiple prestigious institutions including the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of British Columbia.

His research focuses on the intersections of design and requirements in software engineering, with particular emphasis on technical debt in scientific software, climate informatics, and the impacts of AI on human aspects of software development. Ernst employs empirical methods and Bayesian statistics to advance software engineering research methodology, advocating for registered reports and open science practices in the field.

As a dedicated educator, Ernst teaches courses in software engineering including Requirements Engineering (SENG 321), Data Science for Software Engineering (SENG 404/504), OO Software Design (SENG 330), and Software Architecture (SENG 350). He also serves as acting director of the Bachelor of Software Engineering program.

Ernst holds leadership roles as Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of Systems and Software and Associate Editor for the Journal of Empirical Software Engineering. He is actively involved in the software engineering research community through program committees for major conferences including ICSE, RE, XP, CAISE, ER, and MODELS.

His professional service includes directing the UVic Matrix Institute for Data Science and advocating for open science practices within the software engineering research community. Ernst's research group, OcteraIS, focuses on trans-disciplinary applications of software engineering principles in fields like astronomy, geography, and oceanography.