[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania

Dear Colleagues,

We are looking for enthusiastic students who plan to pursue a Ph.D. in
Computer Science and are interested in studying programming languages.
The University of Pennsylvania is an exciting place these days: our
faculty size has grown substantially in the last few years -- overall,
and in particular in and around programming languages -- and there is a
lot of great research being done.

As the three faculty members primarily interested in PL, we (Stephanie
Weirich, Steve Zdancewic, and Benjamin Pierce) would like to attract
outstanding Ph.D. students to our program.  We'd be grateful if you could
forward this message to any potential candidates from your undergraduate
program and encourage them to apply to Penn.

Here is some information about our current research:

   Stephanie is interested in advanced type systems, polytypic
     programming, type analysis, reflection, type-based program
     verification and extension frameworks for statically typed
     languages.  Her current work focuses on formalizing languages that
     use run-time type information to define generic (or polytypic)
     programs; she is also interested in putting these ideas into
     practice.  She has previously worked in resource-bound certification
     and type-safe dynamic linking.

   Steve studies language-based security, most recently focusing on using
     extended type systems to describe information-flow policies.  His
     interests also include programming language support for security in
     concurrent and distributed systems, typed compilation of secure
     languages and linear logic.

   Benjamin's work in PL spans a range of topics, including type systems
     (subtyping, foundations for object-oriented languages), language
     design and implementation, and foundations for concurrent,
     distributed, and mobile computing.  His current projects are
     developing type systems for XML processing (the Xtatic project) and
     semantic foundations for synchronization tools (Unison and Harmony).

Penn also provides excellent support for interdisciplinary PL research.
There are *many* faculty whose research touches on PL in some way.  Carl
Gunter (of semantics and domain theory fame) now works on network
security and domain-specific languages, with a strong PL slant.  Val
Tannen and Zack Ives bring a strong PL flavor to the database group.  
E Lewis works in high-performance computing and compilers.  The systems
group (Jonathan Smith, Michael Greenwald, etc.) has a number of
PL-related projects, including "active networks" and security formalisms.
The model checking, hybrid systems, and real-time groups (Rajeev Alur,
Insup Lee, etc.) work on process algebras, specification logics, and
other technologies with close relations to core PL topics.  We also
maintain strong ties with the math and philosophy departments, with
collaborators such as Andre Scedrov, Peter Freyd, and Scott Weinstein.

Please encourage your students to contact us with any questions about
Penn's Ph.D. program in computer science, the university as a whole,
Philadelphia, or anything regarding the application process.

Many thanks,

  -- Benjamin Pierce   (bcpierce@cis.upenn.edu)
     http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce

  -- Stephanie Weirich (sweirich@cis.upenn.edu)
     http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~sweirich

  -- Steve Zdancewic   (stevez@cis.upenn.edu)
     http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~stevez