Michael Ernst, MIT

Michael Ernst is the specification lead for JSR 308, a Java extension that will be part of Java 7 and will make it easier for programmers to specify and use custom type systems.

His research aims to make software more reliable, more secure, and easier (and more fun!) to produce. His technical interests are primarily in software engineering, including static and dynamic program analysis, testing, security, type theory, programming language design, and verification. Some of his work has been commercialized into systems that help programmers do a better job; other projects are available free, for the same purpose.

Ernst is an Associate Professor in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and is a member of MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). Ernst was previously a lecturer in the Rice University computer science department and a programmer, then researcher, at Microsoft. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington.