Applying advanced AI to automate software implementation, testing, and program verification
I am a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I will join the Department of Computing, Imperial College London as an Assistant Professor in late 2026. I received the PhD degree from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), under the supervision of Prof. Shing-Chi Cheung in the CASTLE lab.
My research focuses on applying advanced AI techniques to automate software implementation, testing, and program verification, to produce software that is reliable by construction. My research interests lie in the intersection of Software Engineering (SE), Large Language Models (LLMs), with an emphasis on LLM4SE, LLM4FM (formal methods), and LLM Evaluation/Benchmarking. I have 39 publications at top conferences and journals, including ICSE, FSE, ASE, TOSEM, CAV, Usenix Security, AAAI, etc. I serve as a program committee member in top conferences such as ICSE, FSE, ASE, and ISSTA, and am a reviewer for TOSEM, TSE, and EmSE. My doctoral dissertation, "Towards Automatic Testing and Fault Localization in Natural Language Processing Systems", was recognized with the π ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award for 2025. Additionally, I was honored with the π 2025 Young Scientist Award in Engineering Science (one awardee per year in Hong Kong).
π₯ Open Positions @ Imperial College London
I will join the Department of Computing, Imperial College London as an Assistant Professor in November 2026.
I'm looking for 1β2 fully funded PhD students (home & international, 2026 Fall / 2027 Spring intake) to build reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient AI systems for real-world software engineering and formal verification.
Let's do something interesting and impactful!
ππ§ β Full details: project, research directions, requirements & how to apply
π β How to submit the PhD application and see more requirements
LLM Benchmark
Rigorous evaluation of LLMs for code generation, reasoning, and SE tasks.
LLM for SE
Write a function that takes a list of integers and returns the second largest unique element. Return None if it doesn't exist.
LLM for Formal Methods
SE for AI
KeyLight
Read less, understand more
AI-powered academic PDF reader that auto-highlights key insights, chats with your paper, and generates structured digests β so you can grasp a paper in minutes.
VeriFormal
AI-powered formal verification
Combines LLMs with static analysis to automatically generate specifications for verifying C, Java, Rust, and Dafny programs.
EasyTODO
Simple. Free. Always on your desktop.
A native macOS todo app built to stay visible and make capture instant β global quick add, color-coded priorities, menu bar progress, and a floating widget that follows you across spaces. Local-first, no account, no setup.
- Submit ISSTA camera-ready
- Review student draft
- Reply to reviewer #2
- Prepare group meeting slides
- Book flight to conference
Skills-4-SE
Browse, search and install skills for software engineering
A curated collection of 180+ Claude Skills spanning the full development lifecycle, with a Skills Manager web interface to search, filter by category or stage, and install everything or just the skills you pick β plus 8 curated Skill Packs.
- 2026 β FSE 2026 Distinguished Reviewer Award
- 2025 β ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award (1~2 worldwide/yr)
- 2025 β Young Scientist Award in Engineering Science (1 per year in Hong Kong)
- 2024 β Rising Stars Women in Engineering Workshop (Shortlisted)
- 2024 β Hong Kong Postgraduate Studentship
- 2024 β ACM SIGSOFT CAPS Travel Grant (ASE 2024)
- 2023 β ACM SIGSOFT CAPS Travel Grant (ESEC/FSE 2023)
- 2019-2023 β Huawei Fellowship Scholarship
- 2017 β China National Scholarship (Postgraduate, Rank 1/106, Top 1%)
- 2014 β China National Scholarship (Undergraduate, Rank 1/52, Top 2%)
- ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award 2025
- ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award 2025
- ACM SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award 2025
- ICSE 2026 research track, ICSE 2025 research track
- ASE 2025 research track, FSE 2025 research track, ISSRE 2024 research track
- RAIE 2025, APSEC 2024-25, Internetware 2024-25, CAIN 2025, Forge 2024-25, SANER 2024, AIware 2024
- ASE 2024 β Code generation 3, Testing 1
- Internetware 2024 β Code Generation and Transformation