Computer Science Colloquium Series
Dr. Manar Alalfi
Assistant Professor, Ryerson University
Date: Monday, March 11th, 2019
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Lambton Tower, Room 3105
Abstract: As the acceptance and use of model-driven engineering continues to grow and the number of models in use rises, the need for a better understanding of the similarities and relationships between different models increases. If we are to have continued sustainable growth in the number, size and complexity of models, we will require a better understanding of the common patterns and structures of model use. In this talk I will present, SIMONE, a framework and tool for automatically identifying and classifying submodel patterns in Simulink models, using near-miss clone detection to find similarities. SIMONE was developed as part of Queen’s NECSIS1 Model Patterns Engineering project, where we aimed at building a taxonomy of generic sub-model patterns inferred from practice in one particular domain, automotive systems. The inferred taxonomy provides a covering set of patterns into which all models in our target domain can be partitioned, yielding a higher-level understanding of the modeling process for the domain. In this project, our use case is the analysis and reengineering of thousands of automotive models (such as Simulink, Rhapsody, etc.) as part of ongoing maintenance of a production automotive product line. In the longer term, we hope to leverage what we learn to help provide a more solid formal foundation for understanding, identifying and expressing model patterns in many domains.
Bio: Dr. Alalfi is an Assistant Professor at Ryerson’s Computer Science Department, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queen’s School of Computing, Software Technology Lab, Canada. She received her Ph.D. from Queen’s in 2010 where she was honored with the Queen’s School of Computing research achievement award for her PhD thesis work on "A verification framework for access control in web applications". Her PhD work was awarded the Google Community award in 2008. Dr. Alalfi is specialized in software engineering and its synergy with diverse research areas including: Data Analytics, Model Driven Engineering (MDE) for Web applications Security Analysis, MDE for Automotive Systems, Scientific Software Engineering, and Mining Software Repositories. She has published her research results in highly reputed international journals and conferences, and served as a reviewer for multiple premier conferences and journals in software engineering. Dr. Alalfi has around 10 years teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels and taught several courses at Queen’s University, KAUST, Alfaisal University, and the Hashemite University. She has more than 10 years research and software development experience in leading roles at Queen’s University, KAUST, Alfaisal University and the University of Alberta. Prior to joining RU, she was an Assistant Professor in Software Engineering at Alfaisal university, before that, she was a senior research scientist for the Network on Engineering Complex Software Intensive Systems for Automotive Systems (NECSIS), a $16.6 million Canadian research network. The project is partnered with General Motors, IBM, Malina Software and led by eight world-leading software engineering research institutions in North America. Dr. Alalfi is a professional member of the ACM and IEEE Computer Society.