Zhendong Su's Homepage

[a few years ago]
Zhendong Su
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of California, Davis
Ph.D. (2002) Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley

Fall 09 OH: none, on sabbatical in 2009-2010
Fall 09 Research Group Meeting: Tu 1:00-2:00 PM, 3083 Kemper
Fall 09 Software Systems Seminar: Tu 2:00-3:00 PM, 3083 Kemper

NEW: Please submit good papers to the following venues: TOSEM, ICSE'10 (research track, doctoral symposium), PLDI'10, FSE'10, SAS'10, ISSTA'10, PLAS'10.
Sorry, I won't be able to accept any additional PC or review invitations for 2010. Thank you.

Research

My research interests span programming languages, software engineering, and computer security, focusing on techniques and tools for improving software reliability & security and development productivity.
I am affiliated with the Center for Software Systems Research (CSSR); I am also a faculty in the Computer Security Group.

Current Projects [Funded by NSF, LLNL, AFOSR, Intel, IBM]

Automated debugging [ICSE'06, ASE'07]
Clone detection and similarity checking [ICSE'07, FSE'07]
Firewall modeling, analysis, and optimization [S&P'06, TNSM]
Malicious code detection, analysis, and prevention [CCS'05, ASPLOS'06, ACSAC'06]
Program analysis of numerical software [TACAS'04, TCS'05, ICSE'06]
Web and database application security and reliability [ICSE'04, SAVCBS'04, POPL'06, PLDI'07]

Selected Recent Publications [complete list | DBLP]

Static validation of CPP macros (ASE'09)
Client-side detection of XSS worms (ESORICS'09)
Detecting functionally equivalent program fragments (ISSTA'09)
Detecting clones in binary executables (ISSTA'09)
Simplifying programs for better testing and analysis (FSE'08)
Mining specifications using compositional rules (FSE'08)
Concolic testing of web applications (ISSTA'08)
Scalable detection of semantic clones (ICSE'08)
Symbolic mining of temporal specifications (ICSE'08)
Static detection of XSS vulnerabilities (ICSE'08)
Context-aware statistical debugging (ASE'07)
Context-based detection of clone-related bugs (FSE'07)
Static detection of SQL injection vulnerabilities (PLDI'07)
Deckard: a new clone detection tool (ICSE'07)
Validity checking for automata over linear constraints (FSTTCS'06)
Temporal search for hidden malware analysis (ASPLOS'06)
Firewall rule validation (IEEE S&P'06)
Hierarchical delta debugging (ICSE'06)
Dimensional unit checking (ICSE'06)
Runtime detection of SQL injection attacks (POPL'06)
Analysis of polymorphic worm exploits (CCS'05)
Subtype satisfiability over posets (ESOP'05)
Static checking of database applications (ICSE'04, ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award)
Integer range constraints (TACAS'04, invited paper for a TCS special issue)
More selected publications: POPL'02, POPL'00, PLDI'98, TACAS'98 (EAPLS Best Paper), ESOP'01, FoSSaCS'98

Professional Activities

Current Activities

Associate Editor: ACM TOSEM, 2008 -- present.
Founding Editorial Board: ICST Transactions on Security and Safety, 2009 -- present.

PC Member: PLAS'10, Toronto, Canada, June 2010.
PC Member: ISSTA'10, Trento, Italy, July 2010.
PC Member: FSE'10, Santa Fe, NM, November 2010.
PC Member: SAS'10, Perpignan, France, September 2010.
PC Member: PLDI'10, Toronto, Canada, June 2010.
PC Member: ICSE'10 (research track), Cape Town, South Africa, May 2-8, 2010.
PC Member: ICSE'10 (doctoral symposium), Cape Town, South Africa, May 2-8, 2010.

Past Activities

PC Chair (past): SAS'09

PC Member (past): ISSTA'09, WWW'09, CC'09, ICSE'09, NDSS'09,
APLAS'08, HASE'08, SecureComm'08, CATARS'08, TASE'08, ICSE'08, WWW'08, NDSS'08,
ETX'07, APLAS'07, FSE'06, SAS'06, TACAS'06, RAMSS'05.

Lecturer: Oregon Summer School, Eugene, OR, July 18-27, 2007.

Reviewer (journals): TOPLAS, TSE, TOSEM, JFP, I&C, HOSC.

Reviewer (conferences): POPL, PLDI, ICSE, FSE, CAV, SAS, ICALP, RTA, INFOCOM, NDSS, ACSAC.

NSF Panelist: 2005, 2006, 2008.

AFOSR Proposal Reviewer: 2007

Research Group [ for prospective students and visitors ]

I am working with the following outstanding researcher and graduate students:

Dr. Earl Barr (I3P Fellow, 2009 -- present)
Mark Gabel (Ph.D. student, 2006 -- present)
Zhongxian Gu (Ph.D. student, 2008 -- present)
David Hamilton (M.S. student, 2009 -- present)
Taeho Kwon (Ph.D. candidate, 2007 -- present)
Vu Minh Le (Ph.D. student, 2009 -- present)
Andreas Saebjoernsen (Ph.D. student, 2006 -- present)
Fangqi (Sophia) Sun (Ph.D. candidate, 2007 -- present)
Thanh Vo (Ph.D. student, 2009 -- present)
Liang (Dennis) Xu (Ph.D. student, 2007 -- present)

I am also working with a few excellent undergraduate students:

Steven Hillman (2009 -- present)
Martin Velez (2009 -- present)
Yuting Tim Xiao (2009 -- present)

I am most proud of the awards and achievements of my students.

Former Students

Lingxiao Jiang (Ph.D., 2009)
- Thesis title: Scalable Detection of Similar Code: Techniques and Applications (Oct. 2009)
- Current employment: Lecturer/Assistant Professor, Singapore Management University
Jeffrey Yuen (M.S., 2009)

Current employment: hire him!

Gary Wassermann (Ph.D., 2008)
- Thesis title: Techniques and Tools for Engineering Secure Web Applications (Sept. 2008)
- Current employment: HP
Jed Crandall (Ph.D., 2007, co-advisor)
- Thesis title: Capturing and Analyzing Internet Worms (May 2007)
- Current employment: Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico
- Awards: NSF CAREER Award (2009)
Ghassan Misherghi (M.S., 2007)
- Thesis title: Hierarchical Delta Debugging (May 2007)
- Current employment: Google
Derrick Pallas (M.S., 2005, co-advisor)
- Current employment: Alexa Internet
Carl Gould (B.S., 2003; M.S. candidate, 2004)

Awards: ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award (2004)

Academic Visitors

Enyi Tang (Ph.D. student, Nanjing University, China, 09/2008 -- 09/2009)
Kyung-Goo Doh (Professor, Hanyang University, Korea, 02/2005-08/2006)
Stephane Glondu (ENS Cachan, France, 06/2005-08/2005)

last modified: 2009.11.02