UMass Amherst: Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research

The Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER) is a research lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. LASER is dedicated to investigating techniques for reducing software development and maintenance costs while simultaneously improving the quality of the systems produced. LASER is aggressively attacking the problem of assuring the quality of software. Modern systems are increasingly dependent upon software which is becoming increasingly complex. The growing size of such systems, and their increasing reliance upon such features as concurrency and distribution creates new concerns and challenges.

LASER research centers on the use of finite state verification of concurrent and distributed systems to assure that these systems must adhere to key properties for all possible executions. We are developing systems that are computationally tractable, easy to use, and applicable to wide classes of properties.

LASER's particular interests are in developing techniques, tools, and processes to support the most challenging kinds of systems: those with high reliability requirements, running on highly distributed platforms, using heterogeneous tools, and perhaps developed in geographically dispersed environments.

Laboratory Co-Directors
Lori Clarke				Lee Osterweil
Associated Faculty
George Avrunin				Barbara Staudt Lerner Mt. Holyoke College
Norm Sondheimer
Current Graduate Students
Bin Chen Bell Trading				Stefan Christov
Heather Conboy				Huong Phan
Borislava Simidchieva				Jianbin Tan ITA Software
Current Undergraduate Students
Mario Barrenechea				Tiffany Chao
Joseph Harney				Joshua Molloy
Nicolas Scarrci				Stevie Sellers
Scientific and Technical Staff
Sandy Wise
Ph.D. Graduates
Aaron Cass Union College				Albert (Tim) Chamillard University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Jamieson Cobleigh The MathWorks				Rachel Cobleigh The MathWorks
James (Jay) Corbett Google				Laura Dillon Michigan State University
Matt Dwyer University of Nebraska				Eric McCall Vertica
Gleb Naumovich Goldman Sachs				Andy Podgurski Case Western Reserve University
M. S. Raunak Loyola College				Debra Richardson University of California, Irvine
Peri Tarr IBM Research				Margaret Thompson Cleveland Clinic
Alex Wolf Imperial College London
Recent M.S. Graduates
Matt Billmers Akamai				Ricky Chang University of Texas, Austin
Kim Frederick				Bradley Hawkes Google
Nathan Jokel EMC				Matt Marzilli Google
Dave Miller				Xueying (Libby) Shen EMC
Joel Sieh Raytheon				Timothy Sliski Raytheon
Shangzhu Wang				Yan Zeng Siemens

Welcome to LASER