Junfeng Yang

Junfeng Yang

Professor of Computer Science

Junfeng Yang is Professor of Computer Science, Member of the Data Science Institute, and co-Director of the Software Systems Lab at Columbia University.

Yang’s research centers on building reliable, secure, and fast software systems. Today’s software systems are large, complex, and plagued with errors, some of which have caused critical system failures, breaches, and performance degradation. Yang has invented techniques, algorithms, and tools to analyze, test, debug, monitor, and optimize real-world software, including Android, Linux, production systems at Microsoft, machine learning systems, and self-driving platforms, benefiting hundreds of millions of users. His research has resulted in numerous vulnerability patches to real-world systems, practical adoption at the largest technology companies, and press coverage at Scientific American, The Atlantic, The Register, Communications of ACM, and other news outlets.

Yang received BS in Computer Science from Tsinghua University and MS and PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. He won the Sloan Research Fellowship and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award, both in 2012; the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2011; the inaugural Rock Star Award of the Association of Chinese Scholars in Computing in 2019; and Best Paper Awards at the USENIX Symposium on Operating System Design and Implementation in 2004 and 2022, the ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles in 2017, the USENIX Annual Technical Conference in 2021, and the annual Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR) in 2024.

Research Areas

  • Security and Privacy
  • Software Systems
  • Networks and Distributed Systems
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
  • Networked and Distributed Systems
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • Trustworthy Computing
  • Cybersecurity

Additional Information

  • Professional Experience
    • Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University, 2021–
    • Associate Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University, 2013–2021
    • EMC-Endowed Chair Professor Group (Adjunct), Tsinghua University, 2013–2016
    • Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University, 2008–2013
    • Technical Consultant, Microsoft Research Silicon Valley, 2008-2012
  • Professional Affiliations
    • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
    • Advanced Computing Systems Association (USENIX)
    • Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
  • Honors & Awards
    • SEAS-KFAI Generative AI and Public Discourse Research Award, 2024
    • Best Paper Award of the Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR), 2024
    • Google Cyber NYC Faculty Research Award (three awards), 2023
    • Best Paper Award of the Sixteenth USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI), 2022
    • Columbia Center of Artificial Intelligence Technology (CAIT) Award (with Amazon), 2022
    • Best Paper Award of the USENIX Annual Technical Conference, 2021
    • IEEE Young Experts in Services Computing (YESC) Student Paper Award, 2020
    • Facebook Faculty Research Award, 2020
    • CACM Research Highlight, 2019
    • Rock Star Award, Association of Chinese Scholars in Computing, 2019
    • J.P. Morgan Faculty Research Award, 2019
    • DiDi Faculty Research Award, 2019
    • Cybersecurity Awareness Worldwide Applied Research US-Canada Competition, 2nd place for DeepXplore, 2018
    • Best Paper Award of the 26th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP), 2017
    • Google Faculty Research Award, 2014
    • Sloan Research Fellowship, 2012
    • Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program (AFSOR YIP) Award, 2012
    • National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career (NSF CAREER) Award, 2011
    • Best Paper Award of the Sixth USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI), 2004
  • Education
    • PhD, Computer Science, Stanford University
    • MS, Computer Science, Stanford University
    • BS, Computer Science, Tsinghua University