Dr. Zhe Hou

Logic and computation are fundamental in computer science, and automated reasoning was deemed a key branch of AI long ago. Nowadays, deep learning and large language models have taken over the world, but logic and automated reasoning have not reached that height. My recent research is focused on the crossover of automated reasoning and AI, software engineering and cyber security. I hope to push the popularity of logic and reasoning through their applications in other important fields of computer science. In this talk, I will cover recent developments in formal eXplainable AI, cyber security, program analysis and quantum computing, and how logic plays a role in all of these.

Biographical Profile:

Zhe Hou obtained his PhD from the Australian National University. He has developed various automated reasoning techniques and tools for separation logic — a logic for reasoning about computer programs with pointers and other mutable data structures. In 2015 he joined Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, to undertake the project “Securify”, in which he developed formal models of the SPARCv8 instruction set architecture and TSO weak memory model, and verified information-flow security for the formal models. He joined Griffith University, Australia, in 2017 on a project to develop trusted autonomous systems and advanced model checking techniques in collaboration with Australia Defense Science and Technology. He became a faculty member at Griffith University in late 2019. His latest work includes applications of automated reasoning in eXplainable AI, cyber security and quantum computing.