Zachary Kincaid

Zachary Kincaid is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University. His research focuses on program analysis, logic, and programming languages, with emphasis on making analysis compositional and robust.

• PhD, University of Toronto (2016)
• BSc, Western University

Research Interests
Dr. Kincaid develops algebraic program analysis frameworks combining symbolic methods with abstract interpretation. His work addresses challenges in:

• Compositional analysis of concurrent and recursive programs
• Termination analysis for loops with complex control flow
• Non-linear numerical invariant generation
• Strategy synthesis for logical games
• Parameterized program verification

Publication Trends
His research output spans program analysis (2024-2010), formal verification (2018-2010), concurrency (2016-2010), and automated synthesis (2013-2012). Recent work (2024) explores polynomial ideals and nonlinear ranking functions, while foundational contributions include vector addition systems and recurrence-based invariants.

Scientific Engagement
Dr. Kincaid contributes to the academic community through:

• Program Committee service (PLDI, POPL, CAV, IJCAI, LICS, FMCAD, ESOP, etc.)
• Co-developing the Duet analyzer for unbounded concurrency
• Collaborative work with leading researchers (Tom Reps, Azadeh Farzan, Jason Breck)

Advising & Grants
He advises PhD students and leads research funded by the ONR grant N00014-19-1-2318. Current advisees include Jake Silverman and Shaowei Zhu, while former student Charlie Murphy (PhD 2023) now holds a postdoctoral position at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Labs & Teams
Dr. Kincaid co-developed the Duet program analyzer and contributes to tools like Srk and SimSat. His work integrates SMT solvers (MathSAT, Z3) and mathematical frameworks (rational vector addition systems, recurrence relations) for robust program analysis.