Travis D. Breaux

Travis D. Breaux is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, where he directs the Requirements Engineering Lab. His research bridges software engineering, privacy, security, and legal compliance, with a focus on developing formal methods to ensure software systems adhere to regulatory frameworks. He holds appointments in the Software and Societal Systems Department and directs the Masters of Software Engineering (MSE) Professional Programs.

Breaux's research investigates privacy policy compliance, empirical extraction of legal requirements, and risk quantification in system design. His work employs AI, formal specification, and empirical methods to resolve ambiguities in policies and quantify privacy/security risks. Key themes include regulatory alignment, automated reasoning for compliance, and human factors in risk perception.

Recent publications emphasize AI-driven requirements engineering, including LLM applications for goal modeling, legal requirement extraction, and automated question generation. His work consistently addresses the intersection of formal methods, policy analysis, and scalable compliance verification.

Awards and Honors:

• NSF CAREER Award (2015)
• IEEE RE Distinguished Paper Award (2018)
• Distinguished Reviewer Awards (ICSE 2018, RE 2023)
• IEEE RE Most Influential Paper Award (Honorable Mention, 2016)

Breaux advises PhD and Master's students in privacy engineering and requirements formalization. He has led NSF-funded initiatives including the Workshop on Designing Accountable Software Systems (DASS). Current courses include Prompt Engineering and Artificial Intelligence for Software Engineering, focusing on LLM applications and AI ethics.