Haiyang Ai is an Associate Professor in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program at the University of Cincinnati's School of Education. His research applies corpus linguistics and natural language processing to investigate second language acquisition, writing complexity, and bilingual language processing. His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from The Pennsylvania State University (2015), an M.A. in Linguistics & Applied Linguistics from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2006), and a B.A. in English from Shaanxi Normal University (2003). Dr. Ai's research spans corpus linguistics, natural language processing, second language acquisition, and computer-assisted language learning. He specializes in compiling and analyzing native and learner corpora to develop intelligent language learning systems and investigate lexical/syntactic complexity in L2 writing. His methodological approach integrates computational tools with theoretical linguistics to address practical language teaching challenges. His recent publications (2019-2023) demonstrate consistent focus on lexical bundles in professional communication, automating complexity measurement in Chinese, speech perception mechanisms in bilinguals, and grammatical puzzles in English learning. These works bridge corpus-based analysis with psycholinguistic experimentation across diverse subfields including morphosyntax, pragmatic competence, and cognitive processing in L2 acquisition. Dr. Ai has secured multiple University of Cincinnati grants including three CECH Faculty Development Grants ($2500 in 2017-2018 for verb-noun collocation research, $2000 in 2016-2017 for corrective feedback tools) and the NCFDD Faculty Success Program ($3250 in 2017), all supporting his development of computational language learning resources.
Zachary Tatlock is an Associate Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he leads the Programming Languages & Software Engineering Group (PLSE) and the SAMPL Group. His research spans programming languages, formal verification, compilers, and computational fabrication. He is also an Amazon Scholar with AWS's Automated Reasoning Group and previously advised OctoML. Tatlock's work bridges theoretical foundations with practical systems, focusing on making it easier to write tricky code while ensuring correctness through rigorous proofs and measurements. PhD in Computer Science & Engineering, University of California, San Diego (2014) Thesis: Reducing the Costs of Proof Assistant Based Formal Verification Advisor: Sorin Lerner BS in Computer Science (Honors) and Mathematics, Purdue University (2007) Professor Tatlock's research focuses on the intersection of programming languages, formal methods, and systems. His work in compilers and formal verification aims to make it easier to write tricky code while ensuring correctness through rigorous proofs. He explores computational fabrication techniques that bridge digital design with physical manufacturing. His recent work on equality saturation (via the egg framework) has transformed program optimization and synthesis. Tatlock also investigates floating-point numerics, distributed systems verification, and hardware/software co-design, always seeking to balance theoretical rigor with practical implementation. Tatlock's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on equality saturation techniques (egg framework), computational fabrication, and verified systems. His work increasingly integrates machine learning with program analysis and synthesis. There's a clear trajectory toward more practical applications of formal methods in real-world systems, particularly in numerical computing and fabrication. His research group has made significant contributions to e-graph technology, floating-point accuracy, and the verification of distributed systems. Distinguished Paper Award for Rewrite Rule Inference Using Equality Saturation (OOPSLA 2021) Spotlight Paper Award for Dynamic Tensor Rematerialization (ICLR 2021) Distinguished Paper Award for egg: Fast and Extensible Equality Saturation (POPL 2021) Faculty Appreciation for Career Education & Training (FACET) Award (2020) NSF CAREER Award: Verifying Distributed System Implementations (2017) Distinguished Paper Award for Automatically Improving Accuracy for Floating Point Expressions (PLDI 2015) Distinguished Teaching Award Nomination (2015) Professor Tatlock has advised numerous doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students who have gone on to prominent positions in academia and industry, including faculty positions at the University of Utah and Brown University, and leadership roles at companies like OctoML and Certora. His research is supported by significant funding from NSF, DARPA, DOE, and industry partners, totaling millions of dollars. Current grants include projects on computer-aided reasoning, formal verification, computational fabrication, and machine learning systems. He has served on numerous program committees and organized workshops including FPTalks, EGRAPHS, and PNW PLSE. As co-leader of the Programming Languages & Software Engineering (PLSE) research group and affiliate of the SAMPL Group at the University of Washington, Tatlock has developed influential tools including egg (an equality saturation toolkit), Carpentry Compiler, and Odyssey. His group actively collaborates with industry partners including Amazon Web Services, where he serves as an Amazon Scholar. The group has made significant contributions to equality saturation, floating-point accuracy, program synthesis, and computational fabrication, with applications ranging from compiler optimization to 3D printing.
Weiwen Jiang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University (GMU), affiliated with the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC). He leads the JQub lab, focusing on hardware/software co-design for computing systems, spanning classical (FPGAs, ASICs) and quantum computing applications in AI-driven fields like medical imaging and geophysics. Prior to GMU, he held a postdoctoral position at the University of Notre Dame and earned his PhD in Computer Science from Chongqing University with a joint PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. His research emphasizes quantum computing, AI accelerators, and domain-specific computing. Notable achievements include the 2025 NSF CAREER Award, ACM Sigda Meritorious Service Award (2024), and IEEE QuantumWeek Best Paper Award (2023). His work is funded by NSF, DoE, ARO, Meta, and Leidos. He co-chaired IEEE QuantumWeek (2023–2025) and created workshops like StableQ at ESWEEK 2023. Key contributions include developing frameworks like QuPAD for quantum learning and JQub's AI-driven geophysical and medical imaging tools. His lab graduated Dr. Yi Sheng (now at University of South Florida) and Dr. Zhepeng Wang (Amazon Applied Scientist). Current research explores quantum machine learning, noise mitigation, and fairness in AI for edge devices.
Professor Tobias Nipkow is a leading researcher in formal methods and interactive theorem proving at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), affiliated with the School of Computation, Information and Technology and the Department of Computer Science. He is a core developer of the Isabelle proof assistant and leads the Theorem Proving Group. His work has profoundly influenced program verification, semantics, and formalized mathematics. University: Technical University of Munich School: School of Computation, Information and Technology Department: Department of Computer Science Research Group: Theorem Proving Group Key Projects: Isabelle, Archive of Formal Proofs, Concrete Semantics His research focuses on formal verification, higher-order logic, semantics of programming languages, and verified algorithms. He has pioneered the formalization of textbook algorithms, data structures like B+-trees and quadtrees, and logical systems. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical tools for software correctness. The most recent publications show a strong trend in verifying classical algorithms (e.g., Gale-Shapley, Earley parser), data structures (B+-trees, deques), and decision procedures, primarily using Isabelle/HOL. His contributions span foundational logic, program analysis, and educational approaches to formal methods. Best Paper Award at CADE 28 (2021) Tobias Nipkow has made extensive contributions to advising and collaborative research, co-authoring with numerous researchers and students. He has secured support for large-scale formalization efforts and contributed to major projects like the Flyspeck proof of the Kepler conjecture. His work is supported by ongoing development of the Isabelle framework and the Archive of Formal Proofs. He leads the Theorem Proving Group at TUM, which is central to the development and application of Isabelle. The group fosters international collaboration, contributes to the Archive of Formal Proofs, and advances research in automated reasoning, semantics, and verified systems.
Philip Wadler is Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh and Senior Research Fellow at IOHK. He is an ACM Fellow, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His work spans programming language design, type systems, and formal verification, with significant contributions to Haskell, Java, and XQuery. He has held leadership roles in ACM SIGPLAN and served on editorial boards for major journals. Research Interests: Wadler's research focuses on the foundations of programming languages , including Gradual and session typing Language-integrated query Functional and logic programming XML data models Parametricity and free theorems Verification of smart contracts Publication Trends: Recent articles emphasize type safety, formal verification, and blockchain applications. Key themes include gradual typing (blame calculus), session types for concurrency, and logical foundations of programming. His 2015–2025 papers show sustained focus on type theory and language design . Awards & Recognition: POPL Most Influential Paper (2003 for 1993 work) SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award Best Paper SBMF 2018 Royal Society-Wolfson Fellowship (2004–2009) ACM Fellow (2007) Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh (2005) Advising & Grants: He has supervised numerous PhD students in programs like the Centre for Doctoral Training in Pervasive Parallelism. His EPSRC Programme Grant "From Data Types to Session Types" (2013–2020) funded major advances in concurrency theory. Current work with IOHK explores blockchain verification using Haskell-based Plutus.
Kihong Heo is an Associate Professor in the School of Computing and Graduate School of Information Security at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in South Korea. His academic career includes serving as an Assistant Professor at KAIST from 2017-2019 before being promoted to Associate Professor in 2020, following his postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned both his Ph.D. and B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering from Seoul National University. Dr. Heo's research focuses on developing program reasoning systems for safe and reliable software, with specific interests in AI-based program analysis systems for detecting deep semantic software bugs, general-purpose program simplification systems for secure and efficient software, and scalable program synthesis systems for automatic software generation and repair. His work bridges the gap between programming languages, program analysis, and machine learning techniques to create next-generation programming systems. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong trend toward integrating machine learning techniques with traditional program analysis methods, with significant contributions in compiler validation, software security, fault localization, and program debloating. His research has practical impact, with some of his work incorporated into Facebook's Infer static analyzer. ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, FSE 2025 Amazon Research Award, 2024 The Soo-Young Lee Teaching Innovation Award, KAIST, 2024 Prize for Excellence in Teaching, KAIST, 2024 Best Artifact Award, ICSE 2022 ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Paper Award, PLDI 2019 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, ICSE 2019 Dr. Heo actively mentors graduate students, currently advising several Ph.D. candidates including Yeonhee Ryou, Taeeun Kim, and Sujin Jang, as well as master's students. He has served on program committees for major software engineering and programming language conferences including PLDI, ICSE, POPL, and SPLASH, demonstrating his active role in the academic community. His laboratory, the Programming Systems Laboratory at KAIST, focuses on creating innovative programming systems that leverage both semantic-based program analysis and AI techniques.
Joshua Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Informatics Department at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), within the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. His research focuses on software architecture, automated testing, and cybersecurity, particularly in autonomous systems and mobile applications. He leads projects like DeltaDroid, Doppelgänger Test Generation, and Darcy, which address software vulnerability management, architectural consistency, and safety-critical systems. Key achievements include an NSF CAREER Award (2025), an NSF CRI Grant (2018), and a DARPA competition win (2024). His work is adopted by organizations like Boeing, Google, and NASA. Garcia collaborates internationally, involving institutions in Padova and researchers like Luca, Jessy Ayala, and Philipp. Research Interests: Software architecture evolution, automated exploit generation, autonomous vehicle testing, and accessibility in software development Grants: NSF CAREER ($500K+), NSF CRI ($1M+) Labs/Teams: HexHive Group, Autonomous Systems Testing Lab
Madeline Endres is an Assistant Professor at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst. She co-directs the LASER Lab and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan (2024), alongside degrees in Computer Science and Cello Performance. Her research focuses on improving programmer productivity and wellbeing through interdisciplinary approaches combining software engineering, psychology, and medicine. Her research interests include: Programmer cognition and skill acquisition Developer tool design and evaluation Impact of external factors (e.g., psychoactive substances, workplace policies) on software development Neuroimaging studies of programming tasks Key achievements include Distinguished Paper Awards at ICSE 2024 and FSE 2023, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2020). She actively contributes to program committees for major software engineering conferences. Current projects include VR-based spatial reasoning training for novices, TMS experiments to identify cognitive causality in programming, and controlled studies on cannabis use and programming ability. She also maintains the CS Grad Job Guide to support early-career researchers.
Adam Bouland is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, affiliated with the CS Theory Group. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT (advised by Scott Aaronson), followed by postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing (advised by Umesh Vazirani). His research focuses on quantum computing theory, computational complexity, and their connections to physics. He teaches courses such as Quantum Complexity Theory (CS 359D) and Quantum Computing (CS 259Q), and has advised numerous doctoral, master’s, and postdoctoral researchers. His research group includes Tamara Kohler (postdoc), Shaun Datta, Jack Zhou, Jordan Docter, and Chenyi Zhang (doctoral students), among others. Bouland’s work bridges quantum algorithms, entanglement theory, and complexity theory, with contributions to quantum supremacy, pseudorandomness, and holographic principles. Recent highlights include studies on BosonSampling hardness, AdS/CFT duality constraints, and efficient quantum compilation. He has served on program committees for FOCS 2019, QIP 2020, STOC 2023, and ITCS 2025. His research is supported by grants including the NSF CAREER Award for exploring quantum pseudorandomness and complexity frontiers.
Alastair F. Donaldson is a Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London, where he leads the FastPL research group. His academic career spans over a decade at Imperial, progressing from Lecturer (2011-2014) to Senior Lecturer (2014-2017), Reader (2017-2020), and Professor (2020-present). He has also held significant industry positions, including Founder and Director of GraphicsFuzz Ltd. (acquired by Google in 2018), Senior Software Engineer at Google (2018-2021), and Visiting Researcher at both Google and Microsoft Research Redmond. Donaldson earned his PhD from the University of Glasgow under Alice Miller, following a BSc (hons, First Class) in Computing Science and Mathematics. His postdoctoral work included an EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford and a Research Fellowship at Wolfson College Oxford. His research focuses on formal analysis, software testing and programming languages techniques for improving software reliability, with special emphasis on high-performance systems. Donaldson's work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications, particularly in compiler testing, GPU programming verification, and metamorphic testing. His research has significantly influenced both academia and industry, as evidenced by the acquisition of his startup GraphicsFuzz by Google. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on fuzz testing techniques applied across diverse domains including compilers, GPUs, cryptographic protocols, and large language models. His work consistently combines formal methods with practical testing approaches, addressing challenges in compiler correctness, memory models, and API verification across multiple platforms. 2017 BCS Roger Needham Award EPSRC Early Career Fellowship Best Paper Award, EuroSys 2024 Best Paper Award, MET 2021 Best Paper Award, IWOCL 2019 Best Paper Award, IISWC 2019 Best Paper Award, ICST 2016 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, ISSTA 2023 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, FSE 2017 ACM SIGPLAN Most Influential OOPSLA Paper Award, 2022 (for GPUVerify) As Director of Research in the Department of Computing, Donaldson oversees research strategy and development. His FastPL research group investigates novel techniques for programming, testing and reasoning about high performance systems. He has served on numerous program committees and held leadership roles including PLDI Steering Committee Chair (2022-2025) and PACM-PL Advisory Board member. His industry engagement includes testifying as an Expert Witness in the IBM UK Ltd v LzLabs GmbH & Ors case. The FastPL research group, which Donaldson leads, focuses on formal analysis, software testing and programming languages. The group has made significant contributions to compiler testing, GPU verification, and metamorphic testing techniques, with practical impact demonstrated by the acquisition of GraphicsFuzz. Current research directions include fuzzing for zero-knowledge proof circuits, randomized testing of decompilers, and systematic testing of large language models for code generation.
Professor Simon Devitt is Research Director of the Centre for Quantum Software and Information (QSI) at the University of Technology Sydney's Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, School of Computer Science. He also holds several prestigious international appointments including InstituteQ Visiting Chair of Excellence in Quantum Technologies at Aalto University, Finland, and visiting positions at RIKEN in Japan. As a leading figure in quantum computing research, he directs the Australian Quantum Software Network and co-founded quantum education startup Eigensystems Pty Ltd. His educational background includes: PhD in Physics from University of Melbourne (2004-2007) BSc (Hons) in Physics from University of Melbourne (2000-2003) Professor Devitt's research spans quantum software, quantum architecture, and quantum error correction, with a focus on making quantum computing practical at scale. His work addresses fundamental challenges in quantum computing architecture when scaled to millions or billions of qubits. He has pioneered approaches to quantum error correction, resource estimation, and quantum network design, particularly through his leadership of the Quantum Technology at Scale (QTS) research group. His research bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementation challenges, aiming to shape the evolution of quantum technology over the coming decades. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on practical quantum computing challenges, with particular emphasis on error correction techniques, resource estimation, and quantum architecture. A significant portion of his work addresses the surface code and its variants, exploring ways to optimize qubit usage and error rates. He has also made important contributions to quantum networking, particularly through the concept of "quantum sneakernet," and to quantum education and standardization efforts that will be critical for the emerging quantum industry. His notable awards and recognitions include: Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales Warren Prize from the Royal Society of NSW InstituteQ Visiting Chair of Excellence in Quantum Technology Professor Devitt actively mentors numerous PhD students, postdocs, and researchers through his Quantum Technology at Scale group. His research is supported by significant funding from diverse sources including Google Academic Research Awards, Sydney Quantum Academy, DARPA, and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. He has led projects on quantum sneakernet networks, quantum algorithm benchmarking frameworks, and quantum software tools that address critical challenges in the field. He leads the Quantum Technology at Scale (QTS) research group at UTS, which focuses on the design and architectural challenges of quantum computing and communications technology at scale. The group includes researchers working on quantum computing architectures, quantum networking (Rottnest Quantum Sneakernet project), and quantum software (Quokka project). The team collaborates extensively with international partners including Aalto University in Finland, University of New South Wales, Keio University in Japan, and industry leaders like Rigetti Computing.
Associate Professor Anna Eriksson is an international leader in comparative penology and criminal justice reform at Monash University's Department of Criminology. She holds roles as Convenor of the Criminology program and previously led the Bachelor of Criminology degree. Her work bridges empirical research with interdisciplinary theory, focusing on Nordic penal exceptionalism, neurodisabilities in criminal justice systems, and veterans' transitions between military and correctional environments. Research highlights include a 2012 DECRA Fellowship exploring 'othering' in Australian and Norwegian prisons, and an ARC Discovery Grant (2021–2026) on social infrastructure in prisons. Collaborations span Canada, the UK, and Germany, addressing prison staff dynamics and neurodisability policy. She co-edited Neurodisability and the Criminal Justice System (Edward Elgar, 2021) and advises the Open Door network on veteran integration. Key awards include the 2009 New Scholar Award and a 2013 High Commendation for her book Contrasts in Punishment . Her media engagement includes podcasts and expert commentary on youth detention design and prison reform. Research Themes: Nordic penal systems, restorative justice, veterans in criminal justice, arts-based interventions. Grants: ARC DECRA (2012), SSHRC Insight (2020), ARC Discovery (2021). Publications: Over 50 articles/chapters, including works on prison staff interactions, neurodisability policy, and cross-cultural penology.
Vivek Sarkar is the John P. Imlay, Jr. Dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology and a professor in the School of Computer Science. He leads the Habanero Extreme Scale Software Research Laboratory, focusing on parallel computing, programming languages, compilers, and runtime systems. Previously, he was a Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Rice University and held senior roles at IBM Research, where he contributed to projects like the X10 programming language and the Jikes Research Virtual Machine. Research Interests: His work spans parallel computing software, including programming languages (e.g., X10, Habanero-Java), compiler optimizations, runtime systems, and debugging tools for high-performance systems. He emphasizes scalability and correctness in distributed and heterogeneous environments. Awards & Affiliations: ACM Fellow (2008), IEEE Fellow, Ken Kennedy Award (2011), member of the US Department of Energy’s ASCAC, and former IBM Academy of Technology member. He chairs the Center for Research into Novel Computing Hierarchies (CRNCH) at Georgia Tech. Grants & Students: His research is supported by NSF grants. He advises students in parallel computing, with openings for researchers interested in his lab’s work on asynchronous systems, graph processing, and quantum-classical programming. Labs & Projects: Habanero Lab, CRNCH, and collaborations on Chapel runtime systems, actor-based programming models, and exascale computing challenges.
Li Li is a Professor of Software Engineering at Beihang University , China. Previously, he served as an ARC DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Monash University , leading the SMart software Analysis and Trustworthy computing (SMAT) research lab at the Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Software Engineering from the University of Luxembourg (2016), supervised by IEEE Fellow Prof. Yves Le Traon and Dr. Jacques Klein. Research Interests Li's research focuses on Mobile Software Engineering (Mobile Security, Quality Assurance) and Intelligent Software Engineering (SE4AI, AI4SE). He applies static code analysis , dynamic program testing , and machine/deep learning to enhance software security and reliability. Key areas include Android API evolution, automated patch validation, and multi-language code analysis frameworks like Scalpel for Python. Scientific Recognition ARC DECRA Fellowship Rising SE Research Star Top-5 Most Impactful Early Career SE Researchers (2020, 2017) 5 Best/Distinguished Paper Awards across PLDI, WWW, ASE, MSR, and SANER Academic Contributions He has contributed to foundational Android analysis tools (e.g., AndroZoo++, DroidRA) and developed scalable systems for distributed program analysis (Seads). His work appears in top venues like ICSE, ESEC/FSE, ASE, ISSTA, POPL, and TSE.
Joseph Emerson is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo's Department of Applied Mathematics and a faculty member at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC). He is also a Fellow of CIFAR's Quantum Information Science program and CEO of Quantum Benchmark, a startup specializing in quantum computing error diagnostics. His research focuses on scalable quantum error correction, foundational quantum theory, and protocols like randomized benchmarking, now a global standard for quantum gate characterization. Emerson earned a BSc from McGill University, an MSc in experimental nuclear physics, and a PhD in theoretical physics from Simon Fraser University. His postdoctoral work at MIT and the Perimeter Institute explored quantum randomness and decoherence. He has held roles at IQC since 2005, advancing quantum computing's practical implementation through error suppression and validation techniques. Research Highlights Developed randomized benchmarking for error diagnostics across quantum platforms. Framework for unitary t-designs applied to quantum algorithms and thermodynamics. Investigated contextuality in quantum mechanics as a computational resource. Awards & Recognition Early Researcher Award (Ontario, 2008–2013) CIFAR Quantum Information Science Fellow NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2003–2005) Labs & Affiliations Emerson leads research teams at IQC and collaborates with Perimeter Institute and industry partners. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical tools for quantum computing scalability.
