Email: cdstanford  •  ucdavis  •  edu

Website: web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~cdstanford

Primary Research Areas: Programming Languages, Systems, Formal Methods

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Education

• University of Pennsylvania

  PhD, computer science, 2022. Advisor: Rajeev Alur.

• Brown University

  ScB, mathematics and computer science, 2016. Capstone Advisor: Tim Nelson.

Employment

• UC Davis

  Assistant professor, computer science, 2023–present.

• UC San Diego

  Postdoctoral researcher, 2022–2023. Advisors: Deian Stefan and Ranjit Jhala.

• Microsoft, Research in Software Engineering Group (RiSE).

  Research intern, Summer 2020. Advisors: Margus Veanes and Nikolaj Bjørner.

• Amazon Web Services, Automated Reasoning Group (ARG).

  Research intern, Summer 2019. Primary Advisor: Pauline Bolignano.

Publications

^*equal contribution ^†authors in alphabetical order

1. Stream Types. Joseph W. Cutler, Christopher Watson, Emeka Nkurumeh, Phillip Hilliard, Harrison Goldstein, Caleb Stanford, and Benjamin Pierce. Conditionally accepted for Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), June 2024.

2. Incremental Dead State Detection in Logarithmic Time. Caleb Stanford and Margus Veanes. Computer-Aided Verification (CAV), July 2023.

3. A Robust Theory of Series-Parallel Graphs.^† Rajeev Alur, Caleb Stanford, and Christopher Watson. Principles of Programming Languages (POPL), January 2023.

4. Stream Processing with Dependency-Guided Synchronization. Konstantinos Kallas,^* Filip Niksic,^* Caleb Stanford,^* and Rajeev Alur. Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming (PPoPP), February 2022.

5. Correctness in Stream Processing: Challenges and Opportunities. Caleb Stanford, Konstantinos Kallas, and Rajeev Alur. Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR), January 2022.

6. Symbolic Boolean Derivatives for Efficiently Solving Extended Regular Expression Constraints. Caleb Stanford, Margus Veanes, and Nikolaj Bjørner. Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), June 2021.

7. DiffStream: Differential Output Testing for Stream Processing Programs. Konstantinos Kallas,^* Filip Niksic,^* Caleb Stanford,^* and Rajeev Alur. Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA), November 2020.

8. Streamable Regular Transductions.^† Rajeev Alur, Dana Fisman, Konstantinos Mamouras, Mukund Raghothaman, and Caleb Stanford. Theoretical Computer Science (TCS), February 2020.

9. Data-Trace Types for Distributed Stream Processing Systems. Konstantinos Mamouras, Caleb Stanford, Rajeev Alur, Zachary Ives, and Val Tannen. Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), June 2019.

10. Modular Quantitative Monitoring.^† Rajeev Alur, Konstantinos Mamouras, and Caleb Stanford. Principles of Programming Languages (POPL), January 2019.

11. Automata-Based Stream Processing.^† Rajeev Alur, Konstantinos Mamouras, and Caleb Stanford. International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP), July 2017.

Funding Awarded

1. NSF CCF #2327338, 2023-2027. Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Refine the Gap: Establishing Safety for Modern Foreign Function Interfaces. $1,200,000 (total), $300,000 (UC Davis), $16,000 (REU Supplement).

2. NSF CCF #2403762, 2024-2026. EAGER: Proof-Carrying Code Completions. $300,000 (UC Davis).

Drafts

1. Auditing Rust Crates Effectively. David Thien, Lydia Zoghbi, Ranjit Jhala, Deian Stefan, and Caleb Stanford. Draft under review.

2. FP4: Line-Rate, Holistic, Greybox Fuzz Testing for P4 Programs. Nofel Yaseen, Liangcheng Yu, Caleb Stanford, Ryan Beckett, and Vincent Liu. Draft under review.

Books

1. Puzzle and Proof: A Decade of Problems from the Utah Math Olympiad.^† Samuel Dittmer, Hiram Golze, Grant Molnar, and Caleb Stanford. To appear in 2024. CRC Press.

Dissertation

1. Safe Programming over Distributed Streams. Caleb Stanford. PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, July 2022.

Other Contributions

1. Zero-Cost Capabilities: Retrofitting Effect Safety in Rust. George Berdovskiy. Mentorship on student project for the POPL Student Research Competition (POPL-SRC).

2. Synchronization Schemas.^† Rajeev Alur, Phillip Hilliard, Zachary Ives, Konstantinos Kallas, Konstantinos Mamouras, Filip Niksic, Caleb Stanford, Val Tannen, and Anton Xue. Invited contribution to Principles of Database Systems (PODS-Invited), June 2021.

3. Mathematical Muffin Morsels: Nobody Wants A Small Piece. William Gasarch, Erik Metz, Jacob Prinz, and Daniel Smolyak. Book contribution, World Scientific, 2020.

4. Interfaces for Stream Processing Systems.^† Rajeev Alur, Konstantinos Mamouras, Caleb Stanford, and Val Tannen. Invited contribution to Principles of Modeling: Festschrift Symposium in honor of Edward A. Lee, October 2017.

5. Context-Directed Reversals of Signed Permutations.^† Hannah Li, Jack Ramsey, Marion Scheepers, Haley Schilling, and Caleb Stanford. Outstanding presentation award for poster at the Joint Math Meetings (JMM), January 2016.

Teaching

• Software Correctness (ECS 189C, Special Topics in Computer Science, UC Davis, Spring 2024).

• Seminar in Programming Languages (ECS 289C, Special Topics in Programming Languages and Compilers, UC Davis, Spring 2024).

• Rust Programming (CIS 198, UPenn, Spring 2021). Course evaluations (0=Poor, 1=Fair, 2=Good, 3=Very Good, 4=Excellent): Quality of instructor (3.2), quality of course (2.9), accessibility of instructor (3.0), ability to stimulate interest (3.0), amount learned (3.1).

• Teaching Certificate from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), UPenn. Completed Spring 2021.

• TA: Graduate Theory of Computation (CIS 511, UPenn, 2018); Graduate Software Foundations (CIS 500, UPenn, 2017); various courses (Art of Problem Solving, 2016); Discrete Structures and Probability (CS 22, Brown, 2016); Models of Computation (CS 51, Brown, 2015); Real Analysis (Math 101, Brown, 2015); Functional Analysis (Math 127, Brown, 2014).

• Other instruction: LaTeX workshops (Brown Science Center, 2014 – 2016); Math Resource Center (Brown, 2014 – 2015); Calculus Recitation Sessions (Math 90, Brown, 2014); MathPath Courses (2013 – 2014); BYU Math Circle (2012 – 2013).

Students Mentored

• Enzuo Zhu, PhD, Joining in Fall 2024.

• Anish Ahuja, Undergraduate, 2024.

• Tiching Kao, Undergraduate, 2024.

• Parnian Kamran, PhD, 2023–present.

• George Berdovskiy, Undergraduate, 2023–present.

• Muhammad Hassnain, PhD, 2023–present.

• Jake Roggenbuck, Undergraduate, 2023–present.

• Zeerak Babar, Masters, Fall 2023.

• Nicholas Pilotti, Undergraduate, Spring 2022. Co-mentored with Li-yao Xia. Thesis: Completeness of Theories of Arithmetic in Lean.

Leadership

• Vice president, Computing Connections Fellowship. 2022 – Present.

• Representative, Doctoral Advisory Board. UPenn School of Engineering, 2021 – 2022.

• Co-chair, CIS Doctoral Association. Student association leader and PhD student-faculty representative, UPenn CIS, 2018 – 2021.

• Co-founder and problem-writer, Utah Math Olympiad. Annual high school mathematics contest, 2013 – present.

Open-Source Software

• Cargo Scan: lightweight static analysis for the Rust supply chain.

• Guided incremental digraphs: incremental live and dead state detection with applications to SMT.

• Pystate: CRC-32 based state tracking for fuzzing Python objects.

• FP4: a stateful hardware fuzzer for P4 switches.

• dZ3: Z3’s derivative-based regex SMT solver.

• DiffStream: differential testing for Apache Flink programs.

• Flumina: a predictable programming model for parallel stream processing.

• Data transducers: quantitative monitoring for data streams with performance guarantees.

Invited Talks

• Safe Programming over Distributed Streams. National University of Singapore, August 2023.

• Session Preview: Logic and Decidability II. POPL, January 2023.

• Trustworthy Programming for Online Data Processing. UMass Amherst, April 2022.

• Trustworthy Programming for Online Data Processing. UC Riverside, March 2022.

• Trustworthy Programming for Online Data Processing. Oregon State University, March 2022.

• Trustworthy Programming for Online Data Processing. UC Davis, February 2022.

• Trustworthy Programming for Online Data Processing. Georgia Tech, February 2022.

• Trustworthy Systems for Online Data Processing. Portland State University, February 2022.

Invited Seminars

• FM+SE Vision 2030: Impact of Foundation/Large Models (FM) on Software Engineering. November 2023, Mexico City.

• Dagstuhl Seminar 23441: Ensuring the Reliability and Robustness of Database Management Systems. October–November 2023, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany.

• Dagstuhl Seminar 19071: Specification formalisms for modern cyber-physical systems. February 2019, Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany.

• Heidelberg Laureate Forum: Recipients of the most prestigious awards in mathematics and computer science meet the next generation. Selected with funding (all except travel), September 22–27, 2019, Heidelberg, Germany.

Service

• Co-chair, POPL Artifact Evaluation Committee (POPL AEC), 2025

• Review panel, NSF SaTC 2024 (6 reviews)

• Program committee, PLDI 2024 (11 reviews)

• Co-chair, POPL Artifact Evaluation Committee (POPL AEC), 2024 (57 submissions)

• Review committee, SPLASH Student Research Competition (SPLASH SRC), 2023 (3 reviews)

• Review committee, PLDI Student Research Competition (PLDI SRC), 2023 (4 reviews)

• Reviewer, ESOP 2023

• Review committee, SPLASH Student Research Competition (SPLASH SRC), 2022 (6 reviews)

• Reviewer, Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems (TCPS), 2021

• Reviewer, Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS), 2021

• Reviewer, CAV 2021

• Artifact evaluation committee, POPL 2021 (2 reviews)

• Artifact evaluation committee, CAV 2019 (6 reviews)

• Reviewer, Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR), 2018

Outreach

• Judge for the ENVISION research competition by WiSTEM. Spring 2022.

• Instructor for AP Computer Science, Steppingstone Scholars high school outreach program. Fall 2021.

• Volunteer, SIGPLAN-M Mentoring Program, 2021 – 2022.

• Volunteer, UPenn Applicant-Support Program, Fall 2020.

Languages

• Expert: Rust, Python, Alloy, LaTeX

• Comfortable: C, C++, Coq, Dafny, Erlang, Java, MATLAB, OCaml, x86 Assembly

• Libraries and tools: Git, Timely, Apache Flink

Miscellaneous

• Putnam math exam: National rank 163.5 (2015), 150 (2014), 136 (2013), and 319 (2012) out of 4000+ participants. Scores of 30, 40, 40, and 30, respectively.