Michael D. Ernst
Michael D. Ernst | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Washington (PhD) |
| Known for | Daikon, Dynamic invariant detection, Pluggable type systems |
| Awards | ACM Fellow (2014), IEEE Fellow (2021), John Backus Award (2009) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Software engineering, Programming languages |
| Workplaces | University of Washington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Microsoft Research |
Michael D. Ernst is an American computer scientist and Susan J. Eggers Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.[1] His research focuses on software engineering, programming languages, and program analysis.
Career
Ernst earned his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 2000. He previously served as a tenured professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and worked as a researcher at Microsoft Research.[1] He has also held roles at Facebook and Amazon.
Research
Ernst's research has aimed to improve reliability and security in technology. The subjects of his research include:
- Type theory and pluggable type systems
- Software testing and formal verification
- Bug prediction and program analysis
- Dynamic invariant detection
He is the primary creator of Daikon, a tool in the field of dynamic invariant detection which observes program execution to infer likely mathematical properties of the code.
Awards and honors
Ernst is recognized as a highly cited researcher in software engineering.[2] In 2013, Microsoft Academic Search ranked him #2 in the world for software engineering research contributions over the previous decade.
- ACM Fellow (2014)[3]
- IEEE Fellow (2021)[4]
- ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award (2020)[5]
- CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award (2018)[6]
- Inaugural John Backus Award (2009)
- NSF CAREER Award (2002)
Impact and paper awards
- ICSE Most Influential Paper Award (2017)
- ACM SIGSOFT Impact Paper Award (2013)
- ISSTA Impact Awards (2018, 2019, 2024)
- FSE Most Influential Paper Award (2024)
- 9 ACM Distinguished Paper Awards (across ICSE, ESEC/FSE, and ISSTA conferences)
Selected publications
- Ernst, Michael D.; Cockrell, James; Wg, William G.; Griswold, William P. (1999). "Dynamically discovering likely program invariants to support program evolution". ICSE '99: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Software Engineering.
- Ernst, Michael D. (2007). "The Daikon system for dynamic detection of likely invariants". Science of Computer Programming. 69 (1–3): 35–45.
References
- 1 2 "Michael Ernst Faculty Profile". Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
- ↑ "Top Computer Science Scientists: Michael D. Ernst". Research.com. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
- ↑ "ACM Names Fellows for Innovations in Computing". Association for Computing Machinery. 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
- ↑ "IEEE Computer Society Members Promoted to 2021 Fellow". Allen School. 2021. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
- ↑ "SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award". ACM SIGSOFT. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
- ↑ "Michael Ernst and Catherine Putonti Receive the 2018 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award". Computing Research Association. 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2026-05-04.