Lori A. Clarke

Background:  PhD Computer Science, University of Colorado (1976). Dr. Clarke joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst Computer Science faculty in 1975. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and co-Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER).

Research:  Dr. Clarke has worked in the area of software engineering, particularly on software analysis and testing for many years. She was one of the primary developers of symbolic execution, a technique used to reason about the behavior of software systems and for selecting test data, and made contributions in the areas of software architecture and object management. Recently her work has focused on analysis of concurrent systems. With colleagues, she has developed FLAVERS, a static analysis tool that uses data-flow analysis techniques to verify user-specified properties. FLAVERS automatically creates a concise, but perhaps imprecise, model of the software system and then allows users to selectively improve the accuracy of the program model as needed to improve the accuracy of the results. The PROPEL system complements FLAVERS, and other event-based finite-state verification systems, by helping users elucidate the details of the properties to be proven. FLAVERS allows users to simultaneously view and construct properties from templates of English language phrases or finite-state automata. The long-term goal is to develop techniques that well-trained software engineers can use to improve the quality of software systems.

Activities and awards:  Professor Clarke is an ACM Fellow, vice chair of the Computing Research Association’s Board of Directors, and a member of the CRA-W. She is a former IEEE Distinguished Visitor, ACM National Lecturer, IEEE Publication Board member, associate editor of ACM TOPLAS and IEEE TSE, member of the CCR NSF advisory board, ACM SIGSOFT secretary/treasurer, vice-chair and chair, as well as a 1990 recipient of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor's Medal, and a 1993 recipient of a University Faculty Fellowship. She received the ACM Recognition of Service Award (1994,1998) and an ACM/SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award (2002). She has written numerous papers, served on many program committees, was general chair of the 2003 and program co-chair of the 1992 International Conference on Software Engineering. She has been a Principal Investigator on a number of NSF and DARPA projects.

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