Stephen Chong

Stephen Chong is a Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where he serves as Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies for Computer Science. His academic career spans over a decade of teaching and research at Harvard, where he has made significant contributions to programming languages and information security.

Chong received his PhD from Cornell University under the guidance of Andrew Myers, and a bachelor's degree from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a consultant and contractor in the software industry, bringing practical experience to his academic research.

Professor Chong's research focuses on language-based information security, using programming language techniques to provide information security assurance. His work bridges the gap between theoretical foundations and practical applications, developing tools and frameworks that help programmers write trustworthy programs. His research has evolved to address increasingly complex security challenges in modern computing environments, from web applications to cyber-physical systems.

His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward integrating advanced programming language techniques with security analysis, particularly through the use of Datalog, SMT solvers, and program synthesis. His work on Formulog has been particularly influential, extending Datalog with mechanisms to construct and reason about SMT formulas for static analysis. His research has expanded to address security challenges in cyber-physical systems, where sensor attacks pose unique threats to safety-critical infrastructure.

Chong has received numerous prestigious awards including an NSF CAREER award, an AFOSR Young Investigator award, and a Sloan Research Fellowship. He has also served in leadership roles for major conferences including CSF 2012-2013, PLMW @ PLDI 2021, and as SIGPLAN-M Chair for 2025-2026.

As an educator, Chong has mentored numerous students through Harvard's undergraduate research programs and has served as a thesis advisor. His teaching portfolio includes foundational courses like CS51, systems courses like CS61, and advanced topics in programming languages (CS152) and compilers (CS1530). He has been instrumental in shaping Harvard's computer science curriculum, particularly in security and programming languages.

Chong leads a research group focused on language-based security, with projects including Formulog (for SMT-based static analysis), PRINCESS (for autonomous adaptation of software), and work on secure shell scripting (Shill). His group collaborates with researchers across Harvard and other institutions to tackle challenging problems at the intersection of programming languages and security.