Mattia Fazzini wins NSF CAREER Award

Department of Computer Science & Engineering’s (CS&E) Assistant Professor Mattia Fazzini has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support his project, “Enhancing Software Testing by Generating, Suggesting, and Maintaining Carved Tests.” 

This prestigious award provides support to early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

“It’s a very important achievement for many reasons,” Fazzini said. “It allows me to do research that builds on my career and trajectory as a professor. It is a great acknowledgement that I’m going in a good direction. Peers recognize the value of my work. It also allows me to focus on the education component of the award.”

Fazzini’s research aims to improve the overall quality of software. The central theme of his research is the development of techniques for software testing and maintenance. 

“In my lab, we write techniques that help us understand how software behaves,” Fazzini said. 

Fazzini’s CAREER project looks to generate small, focused tests using the larger existing tests, then suggest the most relevant of these generated tests and keep the tests aligned as the software evolves. 

“This project is a five-year project, and it allows me to grow PhD students at the University of Minnesota,” Fazzini said. “It’s a project that allows students to build a great research agenda on a very timely topic.” 

Fazzini said the project also provides a great opportunity for improving education in software engineering. He views the role of being a teacher as an important aspect of this project and his job. 

“I put a lot of value in students finding what I teach useful in their lives,” Fazzini said. “It’s great validation for me. Students have told me, ‘I could get this job because of the things you taught in your class.’”

Fazzini joined the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in 2019 as an assistant professor. He received his M.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012 and his Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019. 

In receiving the CAREER Award, he is grateful to his high school math teacher, PhD advisor, parents, and wife. He is also thankfu for years of mentoring by fellow Department of Computer Science and Engineering Professor Mats Heimdahl.

Learn more about Fazzini’s work at his personal website.