Spotlight on Marta Kwiatkowska

Abstract

Marta Kwiatkowska is a Professor of Computing Systems and a Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford. Before joining the University of Oxford, she was Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, Lecturer at the University of Leicester and Assistant Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. She holds a BSc/MSc in Computer Science from the Jagiellonian University, an MA from Oxford and a PhD from the University of Leicester. In 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and she became an ACM Fellow in 2016. Marta Kwiatkowska has been a pioneer in the development of model checking for probabilistic and quantitative systems. She was one the proposers of the use of multiterminal binary decision diagrams for the symbolic analysis of probabilistic systems and has done fundamental work on many of the models of quantitative systems that have been studied in the literature, such as continuous time Markov chains, Markov decision processes and stochastic games, amongst others. A hallmark of Marta Kwiatkowska's research career has been the synthesis of innovative and rigorous theoretical work with significant real-world applications. In addition, she has the ability to forge successful research connections with scientists from other sciences. She has led the development of the highly influential PRISM model checker 1 , recognised through the HVC 2016 Award, and has identified applications of quantitative verification to a wide range of areas, including security protocols, nanotechnology designs, power management, planning, and systems biology. In the past few years she has focused on applying quantitative techniques to the verification of pervasive and ubiquitous computing through her ERC Advanced Grant VERIWARE "From software verification to everyware verification" In addition to her outstanding research achievements, Marta Kwiatkowska has served the theoretical computer science community by sitting on prestigious award committees, organizing conferences and workshops and, perhaps even more importantly, by acting as an inspiring mentor for young researchers and as a role model for female researchers in computer science, to whom she has provided support and guidance. To wit, Marta Kwiatkowska has been the Senior Member of OxWoCS (Oxford Women in Computer Science Society) since its foundation in 2013 and has been a source of continued support and encouragement for that student-led society, providing its leadership with advice and suggestions for events as well as mentoring OxWoCS Committee members. Another interesting initiative for women with which she was involved is Suffrage Science 2 , which deserves to be advertised more broadly (not least because it involves jewellery designs). In addition to being named as ACM Fellow for "contributions to the theory and practice of probabilistic verification", Marta Kwiatkowska is a member of Academia Europea and a Fellow of the British Computer Society. She is a true stalwart of the Logic in Computer Science research community and a great example for young researchers. It is therefore fitting to spotlight her contribution in this column of ACM SIGLOG News.