Amal Ahmed

(she/her/hers)

Professor

Amal Ahmed
  • Programming languages
  • Correct and secure compilation
  • Gradual typing
  • Safe language interoperability
  • PhD in Computer Science, Princeton University
  • MS in Computer Science, Stanford University
  • BA in Computer Science and Economics, Brown University

Amal Ahmed is a professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston.

Ahmed's research involves programming languages and compiler verification with a focus on type systems, semantics, secure compilation, gradual typing, and software contracts. Her work scaling the logical relations proof method to realistic languages with various features was widely used for the correctness of compiler transformations, soundness of advanced type systems, and verification of fine-grained concurrent data structures. Ahmed also developed the first proof architecture for verifying multi-pass compilers in the presence of inter-language linking of compiled code.

Ahmed has served on numerous program committees in her field of programming languages, including ACM SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming, IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science, and the European Symposium on Programming. She has been a regular invited lecturer at the annual Oregon Programming Languages Summer School and twice served as co-organizer. She is a member of IFIP WG 2.8 (Working Group on Functional Programming) and has served on the steering committees of ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming, Programming Languages Mentoring Workshop, and ACM SIGPLAN Workshop on Types in Language Design and Implementation. Her earned honors include an NSF Career Award, a Google Faculty Research Award, and a George Van Ness Lothrop Fellowship.

Before joining Northeastern, Ahmed was an assistant professor at Indiana University for three years, a research assistant professor at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago for three years, and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University for two years.

  • A Nominal Approach to Probabilistic Separation Logic

    Citation: John M. Li, Jon Aytac, Philip Johnson-Freyd, Amal Ahmed , Steven Holtzen. (2024). A Nominal Approach to Probabilistic Separation Logic LICS, 55:1-55:14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3661814.3662135

  • Gradually Typed Languages Should Be Vigilant!

    Citation: Olek Gierczak, Lucy Menon, Christos Dimoulas, Amal Ahmed . (2024). Gradually Typed Languages Should Be Vigilant! Proc. ACM Program. Lang., 8, 864-892. https://doi.org/10.1145/3649842

  • Semantic Encapsulation using Linking Types

    Citation: Daniel Patterson , Andrew Wagner, Amal Ahmed . (2023). Semantic Encapsulation using Linking Types TyDe@ICFP, 14-28. https://doi.org/10.1145/3609027.3609405

  • ANF preserves dependent types up to extensional equality

    Citation: Paulette Koronkevich, Ramon Rakow, Amal Ahmed , William J. Bowman. (2022). ANF preserves dependent types up to extensional equality J. Funct. Program., 32, e12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956796822000090

  • Semantic soundness for language interoperability

    Citation: Daniel Patterson , Noble Mushtak, Andrew Wagner, Amal Ahmed . (2022). Semantic soundness for language interoperability PLDI, 609-624. https://doi.org/10.1145/3519939.3523703

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Current PhD students

Previous PhD students

  • William J. Bowman

    PhD Student

  • Max New

    PhD Student

  • Daniel Patterson

    PhD Student