      Dr. Hao Zhong



      Professor

      Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests

My research interests include empirical software engineering, software maintenance, and mining software engineering data, with emphasis on the following themes:

Software evolution
- Code synchronization and migration:
  - How to mine API mappings? ICSE 2010.
  - What are the behavioral differences of API mappings? FASE 2013.
  - How to automate the migration? ISSTA 2019, ICPC 2016, ICSE 2024.
- Commit and its analysis:
  - How to analyze code commits? ASE 2017.
  - How to recommend cochanges? ICSME 2018, JSS 2019, JSS 2021.
  - How are optimization bugs maintained in virtual reality applications? ICSE 2021.
- Issue report
  - How to generate code comment with issue reports? ASE 2021 NIER a.
  - How do issue reports become obsolete? ASE 2021 NIER b.
  - What are the key features for assigning bug reports? ASE 2021 Late Breaking Result.
  - Why and how are some bugs fixed as workarounds? ASE 2020 LBR.
  - Do bugs lead to unnaturalness of source code? ESEC/FSE 2022
- Code authors:
  - How do code authors hidden in commits? ICPC 2021.
  - How effectively does the state-of-the-art approach identify code authors? ESEC/FSE 2022 IVR.
Fault
- Program repair:
  - What are the potentials and challenges of program repair? ICSE 2015, EMSE 2018.
  - How to learn StackOverflow for program repair? SANER 2018.
  - How to reduce the complexity of program repair? JSS 2018.
- Fault localization:
  - How to locate faults with knowledge graphs? ICPC 2021.
- Oracle and bug detection:
  - Can we mine specifications from other sources such as API documents? ASE 2009, ICSE 2012.
  - Why is it so challenging to mine specifications? TSE 2018.
  - What are the characteristics of specifications from different sources? ICSE 2020.
  - How to detect real bugs with inferred bug signatures/specifications? ASE 2009, TSE 2020.
  - What are mirror bugs? TOSEM 2025a.
- Concurrency bugs:
  - Can we build a benchmark from real concurrency bugs? ASE 2015.
  - Can we detect concurrency bugs inside APIs? ASE 2016.
- Documentation errors:
  - How are documents maintained? FASE 2011.
  - How to detect bugs in software engineering documents? OOPSLA 2013.
  - How to detect outdated screenshots in software engineering documents? TOSEM 2025b.
- Exception/Crash:
  - How to detect inconsistent thrown exceptions? ICPC 2021 ERA.
  - Which exceptions shall we throw? ASE 2022b.
- Compiler bug:
  - How to enrich compiler testing with real test programs? ASE 2022a.
  - How do compiler bugs affect real development? ICSE 2025.
Code recommendation
- How to use mined specifications to assist programming? ECOOP 2009.
- How to use code synthesis to recommend code samples? ASE 2019 Tool demo.
SE for AI
- What are the characteristics of bugs in AI systems? DASFAA 2020, JSS 2021.
- To what degree are deep learning libraries tested? ICSME 2021.
- How do injected bugs affect deep learning? SANER 2022

A complete list is here.

Professional Activities and Service

I won several reviewer awards including the outstanding service award from ESEC/FSE 2022, the best reviewer award from SANER 2022 , the ICSME distinguished reviewer award, a reviewer award from JOS, and a reviewer award from JCST. In addition, I received the reviewer recognitions from TSE and EMSE, and TBD.

Associate Editor:
- IEEE Transaction on Software Engineering, since 2024
Program Committee (SE):
- ICSE 2016 SEIP, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
- ESEC/FSE 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025
- OOPSLA 2017
- ASE 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2026
- ICSME 2017, 2018, 2019, 2026
- SANER 2021, 2023
- ICPC 2022 Tool demo
- MSR 2019, 2020, 2021
- COMPSAC 2018, 2019
- ICST 2023
- TASE 2015
Program Committee (AI):
- AAAI 2021

(External) Reviewer: ICSE 2011, FSE 2015, ASE 2011, ASE 2010, ASE 2009, ASE 2008, ICSM 2011, ICSM 2009, ICSM 2006, ESEM 2011, QSIC 2009, Transaction on Software Engineering, Transaction on Software Engineering and Methodology, Software Testing Verification and Reliability, IEEE Software, Information and Software Technology, Science China Information Sciences, and Chinese Journal of Computers.

Chinese Version