office ECOT 621
mail 430 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0430 USA
phone +1 303 492 8894
fax +1 303 492 2844

Faculty Openings (Two Positions). ECEE has two tenure-track positions seeking candiates with background in programming languages, concurrency, security, formal methods, verification, or system engineering.

Ph.D. Positions. I am always looking for enthusiastic students interested in working with me on research projects in programming languages and software systems. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact me.

For recent news about the Programming Languages group at the University of Colorado Boulder, take a look at our most recent recruiting talk.

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Programming Languages and Verification Group at the University of Colorado Boulder.

I work primarily in the areas of programming languages and program analysis. My research interests center on tools and techniques for building, understanding, and ensuring reliable computational systems. Currently, my focus is on using novel ways of interacting with the programmer to design more precise and practical program analyses. The Xisa project is an instance of this approach that infers precise properties of complex data structure manipulations. The novelty of Xisa is that it extracts both the necessary invariants and reasoning rules from executable assertions (analogous to data structure validation code often written for testing). This approach allows the developer to focus the analysis to the properties of interest and without using a separate formalism for testing and static analysis.

I completed my Ph.D. in 2008 with George Necula in the EECS department at the University of California, Berkeley. I also spent the fall of 2008 as a post-doc with Jeff Foster in the PLUM group at the University of Maryland, College Park before joining the University of Colorado Boulder in January 2009.

Even earlier, I spent my undergraduate days at Carnegie Mellon University completing a senior thesis with Frank Pfenning and Bob Harper.

Students

Devin Coughlin (co-advised with Amer Diwan). Gradual programming.
Arlen Cox (co-advised with Sriram Sankaranarayanan). Concurrency.
Sam Blackshear. Witness-generating program analysis.
Yi-Fan Tsai. Hybrid shape analysis.

Teaching

Principles of Programming Languages
Spring 2012 and Fall 2009
 CSCI 3155
Readings in Programming Languages
Spring 2012: Analysis of Dynamic Languages
 CSCI 7900
Compiler Construction
Fall 2011
 CSCI 4555/5525, ECEN 4553/5523
Program Analysis: Theory and Practice
Fall 2010
 CSCI 7135
Program Analysis Practicum
Spring 2011
 CSCI 7135
Fundamentals of Programming Languages
Spring 2010 and Spring 2009
 CSCI 5535

Selected Projects

Efficient algorithms and automatic tools for reasoning about heap-manipulating programs, such as those that use recursive data structures like pointer-based lists and trees.

Papers: POPL 2011, ESOP 2010, POPL 2008, and SAS 2007

Recent Papers

2012
    A Bit Too Precise? Bounded Verification of Quantized Digital Filters
    Arlen Cox, Sriram Sankaranarayanan, and Bor-Yuh Evan Chang
    TACAS 2012: International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems
    2011
      The Flow-Insensitive Precision of Andersen's Analysis in Practice
      Sam Blackshear, Bor-Yuh Evan Chang, Sriram Sankaranarayanan, and Manu Sridharan
      SAS 2011: International Static Analysis Symposium
      Extended Version: Technical Report CU-CS-1083-11
      2011
        Calling Context Abstraction with Shapes
        Xavier Rival and Bor-Yuh Evan Chang
        POPL 2011: ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages
        2011
          Access Nets: Modeling Access to Physical Spaces
          Robert Frohardt, Bor-Yuh Evan Chang, and Sriram Sankaranarayanan
          VMCAI 2011: International Conference on Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation
          Extended Version: Technical Report CU-CS-1076-10
          2010
            Mixing Type Checking and Symbolic Execution
            Khoo Yit Phang, Bor-Yuh Evan Chang, and Jeffrey S. Foster
            PLDI 2010: ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation
            Extended Version: Technical Report CS-TR-4954
            [more]

            Recent Talks

            June 10, 2011
              The Flow-Insensitive Precision of Andersen's Analysis in Practice
              University of California, Berkeley
              March 16, 2011
                Xisa: Extensible Inductive Shape Analysis
                Carnegie Mellon University
                February 25, 2011
                  Programming Languages Research Overview
                  University of Colorado, Boulder
                  Prospective Ph.D. Student Open House
                  December 17, 2010
                    Calling Context Abstraction with Shapes
                    National Taiwan University
                    March 6, 2010
                      Programming Languages Research Overview
                      University of Colorado, Boulder
                      Prospective Ph.D. Student Open House
                      [more]

                      Professional Activities

                      PLDI 2012
                      External Review Committee Member
                      ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation
                      POPL 2012
                      Treasurer and External Review Committee Member
                      ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages
                      VMCAI 2012
                      Program Committee Member
                      International Conference on Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation
                      NSAD 2011
                      Program Committee Member
                      International Workshop on Numerical and Symbolic Abstract Domains
                      LCPC 2011
                      Program Committee Member
                      International Workshop on Languages and Compilers for Parallel Computing
                      PASTE 2011
                      Program Committee Member
                      ACM SIGPLAN-SIGSOFT Workshop on Program Analysis for Software Tools and Engineering
                      POPL 2011
                      Treasurer
                      ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages
                      POPL 2010
                      Co-Treasurer
                      ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages
                      FRACTAL F2009
                      Organizer
                      Front Range Architecture Compilers Tools and Languages Workshop
                      PLDI 2009
                      External Review Committee Member
                      ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation
                      AIOOL 2005
                      Program Committee Member
                      International Workshop on Abstract Interpretation of Object-Oriented Languages