Qirun Zhang

Qirun Zhang is the Catherine M. and James E. Allchin Early Career Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2013) and bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Zhejiang University (2009). Zhang teaches graduate courses in compilers, software analysis, and program analysis, including CS 6340 Software Analysis and Test (Fall 2024) and CS 4240 Compilers and Interpreters (Spring 2025).

His research focuses on improving software reliability and security through program analysis and compiler optimization techniques. Key research areas include computational complexity, analytic combinatorics, graph theory, and formal languages. Current projects include SLOT (SMT-LLVM Optimizing Translation), Mutual Refinements of Context-Free Language Reachability, and Context-Free Language Reachability with Transitive Redundancy Elimination, among others.

Zhang's research has produced award-winning work including the SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award (FSE 2023) and PLDI Distinguished Paper Award (2020). He has advised multiple students including Ph.D. graduates Shuo Ding (2024) and Yuanbo Li (now at Facebook), with Benjamin Mikek and Camille Bossut currently pursuing their Ph.D.s.

As an academic leader, Zhang has served as:

• Artifacts Chair: PLDI'26, PLDI'25
• Program Committee: PLDI'26, POPL'26, SAS'25, ASPLOS'25, SAS'24, FSE'24
• External Reviewer: PLDI'19, PLDI'18

His group maintains active GitHub repositories for tools like Perses (syntax-guided program reduction) and Skeletal Program Enumeration (compiler testing framework). Zhang also contributes to educational resources by maintaining course materials on static analysis, symbolic execution, and webassembly analysis.