Prof. Thomas Wies

"Logical Abstractions of Systems"

Verification technology has proved useful for increasing software reliability and productivity. Its great asset lies in concepts and algorithms for the mechanical construction of formally precise, conservative abstractions of behavioral aspects of systems. Its applicability extends to other problems in Computer Science. A recent example is our uses of abstraction algorithms for automated debugging of programs. In my talk, I will present techniques for computing and analyzing abstractions of systems whose behavior depends on complex data and control, such as heap-allocated data structures and distributed message passing concurrency. Our techniques are based on decision procedures for specific logical theories. The resulting logical abstractions give rise to a new generation of verification tools.

Bio: Thomas Wies is an Assistant Professor in the NYU Computer Science Department and a member of the Analysis of Computer Systems Group. He received his doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Freiburg, Germany (2009). Before joining NYU, he held post-doctoral positions at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland and at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria.