Titulo Estágio
A knowledge system for software defect prevention based on human errors
Áreas de especialidade
Engenharia de Software
Sistemas de Informação
Local do Estágio
SSE-CISUC
Enquadramento
Software defects, as a primary threat to the reliability and safety of computer systems, are a central concern in many domains such as aerospace, energy systems, and medical devices. Finding and fixing defects were estimated to cost the world over 5 trillion dollars in 2018, and yet the defects remaining are still causing accidents and threatening human lives. For instance, a single defect led to a disastrous explosion of Ariane 5 rocket costing $370 M, and a defect recently took 157 people’s lives in the Boeing 737 crash. It is urgent to understand the root cause of defects, so we can proactively prevent them. Human errors, as a significant cause of software defects, are largely unexplored.
Objetivo
The proposed project aims to develop the first knowledge base in human errors in software engineering, which will a fundamental asset for the SE community to prevent human errors in software development.
Through the proposed project, the candidate will have the opportunity to learn the frontier knowledge in the interdisciplinary area of “human errors in software engineering”, practice his/her software development skills, and build connections with our industrial collaborators for collecting data.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 1
T1.[Month 1] Learning human error modes and relevant methods developed by the advisers.
T2. [M2] The requirement analysis and architecture design with the advisors, and Write the Dissertation Plan
T3. [M3] Data base Implementation (for the human error component)
T4. [M4] Data base Implementation (for the human error analysis component)
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 2
T5. [M1] Data base Implementation (for the defect-examples component)
T6. [M2-3] Data collection, interacting with our industrial collaborators
T7. [M4] Write the thesis.
Condições
The candidate will be co-advised by Dr. Fuqun Huang and Prof. Henrique Madeira. The proposed work will be funded by a 6-months internal grant. The work is to be executed at the laboratories of the CISUC’s Software and Systems Engineering Group. A work place will be provided as well as the required computational resources. The candidate should read, write and speak English well.
Observações
The work is part of the contribution of “Human Errors in Software Engineering” Interdisciplinary Research Group of the University of Coimbra. Co-authorizing a scientific paper with the supervisors is highly likely.
About the adviser Dr. Fuqun Huang:
Fuqun Huang is currently a FCT Researcher and Invited Assistant Professor at Centre for Informatics and Systems of University of Coimbra, where she leads the research group on “Human Errors in Software Engineering” (HESE) and gives the first university course in HESE to master students in the University of Coimbra. Dr. Huang is the Founder for Institute of Interdisciplinary Scientists, a U.S. Federal 501(c)(3) non-profit research institute located at Seattle, where she initiated the “Software Engineering & Psychology” Interdisciplinary Research Program (since 2016), dedicated to defend against software defects through a deep understanding of the psychological mechanisms of how software practitioners commit human errors. She received her PhD (in 2013)on Systems Engineering and B.S.E (2006) on Aerospace Systems Engineering from Beihang University, a top research university located in Beijing, China, known for Science and Engineering programs. Dr. Huang was a Postdoctoral Researcher with The Ohio State University from 2014 to 2016, working on software dependability assessment and robust software design funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Dr. Huang has regularly served as a reviewer for journals such as Reliability Engineering and Systems Safety, IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, and U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. She is a member of IEEE Standards, Program Committee for conferences such as the Annual conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2022, CORE A), the IEEE International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security (QRS 2021, CORE B) and IEEE International Workshop on Software Certification (2015-2021). Dr. Huang is the founder of the interdisciplinary area “Human Errors in Software Engineering”. She was included in "Marquis Who's Who in America" for Leadership in Science.
Selected relevant publications:
1. F. Huang* and L. Strigini. “HEDF: A New Method for Early Forecasting Software Defects based on Human Error Mechanisms.” arXiv:2110.06758, to appear in IEEE Access 2022 (CORE A Journal) (*Corresponding author)
2. F. Huang and H. Madeira, "Targeted Code Inspection based on Human Errors,” The 32nd International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE 2021) (CORE A in SE)
3. F. Huang* and B. Liu. “Software Defect Prevention based on Human Error Theories.” Chinese Journal of Aeronautics 30, no.3 (2017):1054-1070 (Top Q1 journal, 6/20 top publications in Aerospace by Google)
4. F. Huang* and C. Smidts. “Causal Mechanism Graph: a New Notation System to Capture Cause-effect Knowledge in Software Dependability.” Reliability Engineering & System Safety 158 (2017): 196-212. (Top Q1 journal, 6/1080 Scimago, 2/20 Top Publications by Google Scholar)
5. F. Huang*, B. Liu, Y. Song, and S. Keyal. "The links between human error diversity and software diversity: Implications for fault diversity seeking." Science of Computer Programming 89 (2014): 350-373. (CORE A journal)
Orientador
Fuqun Huang
huangfuqun@dei.uc.pt 📩