Xusheng Xiao

Xusheng Xiao’s interests in computer science span from software engineering to computer security. He focuses on developing advanced techniques to analyze software behaviors for improving the reliability and the security of complex software and related systems.

Xiao will lead work in these areas as director of Arizona State University’s new Reliable, Intelligent, Secure, and Efficient, or RISE, Software and System Laboratory.

“I am interested in studying how software programs behave and whether their behaviors match the expectations of both the developers and the end users,” Xiao says.

His lab is working specifically on research in mobile app analysis, cyber threat detection and investigation, blockchain and smart contract security, automated software testing, program analysis and error detection.

Formerly an assistant professor in the computer and data sciences department of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, Xiao says he came to the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, one of the seven Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU, because it offers “a larger and better platform to support my research, and I see opportunities for many  research collaborations here.”

Xiao will teach software security, and say his students should be prepared to dive deep into the details of object-oriented programming, security protocols and program analysis, he says.

With the increase in user demand, Xiao says the functionality of today’s software has also been growing rapidly, resulting in highly complex software that adapts to the user demands and the complex operating environments.

“Such complexity makes it infeasible to manually diagnose the software problems and fix them,” he says. “Thus, there is a strong need for automated analysis that can analyze the software and its operating environments to detect and fix software problems.”

Xiao’s expertise has earned him multiple awards and support for his research, including a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award, an NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering Research Initiation Initiative award, a Samsung GRO Award, and research funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program.

Outside of the research lab and the classroom, Xiao says he enjoys traveling with his family and playing basketball and computer games.

Meet the newest faculty members of the Fulton Schools of Engineering here.

Written by Joe Kullman