Weiyi Shang

Weiyi (Ian) Shang is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, affiliated with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering. His research focuses on software engineering, performance testing, and machine learning applications in software systems. He leads the Software Engineering and System Engineering Lab, emphasizing practical solutions for logging, performance optimization, and automated testing.

Key research areas include log analysis (privacy leakage detection, log summarization, and logging strategies), performance monitoring (regression detection, workload modeling), API evolution (migration techniques, workaround analysis), and automated code generation (LLMs in bug decomposition, AI code evaluation). His work bridges theoretical advancements with industrial applications, particularly in web systems and mobile app ecosystems.

Publications span empirical studies, novel algorithms (e.g., DELA for error detection, CoMSA for configuration testing), and tools like LogAssist and Log4Perf. His research consistently addresses challenges in developer productivity, system reliability, and security across diverse domains like federated learning and DevOps practices.

Notable contributions include improving log management through topic models, enhancing performance testing efficiency via microbenchmark optimization, and analyzing privacy risks in mobile app logs. Ongoing work explores AI-driven code evaluation and generalizable code embeddings for software tasks.

Shang’s lab collaborates with industry on real-world systems, as seen in case studies involving serverless applications and database-centric systems. His research often involves empirical studies and tool development to bridge gaps between academic research and practical software engineering challenges.