I am an Assistant Professor of Software Engineering at McMaster University, Canada, where I lead the Sustainable Systems and Methods Lab (SSM) and work as a researcher in the McMaster Centre for Software Certification (McSCert).
My research is situated under the broader umbrella of systems engineering, with a particular interest in advanced digital technology in the overlap of model-driven engineering (MDE) and simulation, digital twins and AI.
In my lab, we work on novel reinforcement learning techniques, digital twin architectures, and modeling and simulation methods.
I received my PhD in Computer Science in 2019 from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, for my work on model consistency management in multi-paradigm settings with Prof. Hans Vangheluwe (ex-McGill, currently at University of Antwerp, Belgium). Afterwards, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Software and Sustainability group at VU Amsterdam, the Netherlands with Prof. Ivano Malavolta; and at University of Montréal, Canada, with Prof. Eugene Syriani and Prof. Houari Sahraoui. In my Master’s years, I worked on streaming model transformations by complex event processing with the VIATRA/IncQuery team at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, headed by Prof. Daniel Varro (ex-McGill, currently at Linköping University, Sweden).
I’m active outside of academia as well, mainly in innovation consulting. I served in multiple management and technical roles, most recently as the Head of Innovation for a multinational quality engineering corporation.
Top news (click for more)
- New publication at MODELS’26 on the model-driven data contracts for digital twin services
Our paper Model-Driven Data Contracts for Digital Twin Services, co-authored with Philipp Zech (University of Innsbruck, Austria) has been accepted for the New Ideas and Emerging Results track of the … - Nour Chaaben joins lab
Nour Chaaben (international research student with Mitacs Globalink) joined our lab for this Summer/Fall. Nour will work on reinforcement learning and simulation-related topics with us. Welcome on board! - Rebecca Di Filippo joins lab as a Master’s studentRebecca Di Filippo has joined our lab as a Master of Applied Science (MASc) student in Software Engineering starting from September. Rebecca brings a particularly strong software engineering skillset and …
- Sharon Liu presented her work on a reference architecture for RL at ICSA
Xiaoran (Sharon) Liu just presented her work on A Reference Architecture of Reinforcement Learning Frameworks in the main track of the CORE A-ranked International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA). In … - New publication at MODELS’26 on the model-driven development of families of reinforcement learning environments
Our paper A Model-Driven Approach for Developing Families of Reinforcement Learning Environments, co-authored with my fantastic PhD student, Xiaoran (Sharon) Liu has been accepted for the ACM/IEEE 29th International Conference … - Sharon Liu wins the Department’s poster session
Sharon Liu has won 1st Prize in the Department’s annual poster session. Sharon’s work has been recently focusing on the engineering of reinforcement learning environments through model-driven principles and genetic … - Two new MSc graduates from the lab: Baran Shajari and Feyi Adesanya
Baran Shajari and Feyi Adesanya have successfully defended their theses and graduated from our program with an MSc in Computer Science degree. Baran’s thesis “On the Need for Individual Sustainability … - ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at MODELS’25
We (with my former student) are honored to receive the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at the ACM/IEEE 28th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS) for …
Other news (click for more)
- Lisa and Chehine join labLisa-Kooner Singh (undergraduate researcher) and Chéhine Zouari (international research student with Mitacs Globalink) joined our lab for this Summer. Lisa will work on reinforcement learning and simulation-related topics; Chéhine will …
- Call for papers: 2nd International Workshop on Low Carbon Computing (LOCO2026)https://lancaster-university.github.io/loco2026 The carbon footprint of ICT is rising despite the urgent need to decarbonise society and to stay within planetary boundaries. The operational and embodied carbon emissions from ICT are …
- Call for papers: 3nd International Workshop on Sustainability and Modeling (SusMod) – co-located with MODELS’26https://sustainability-and-modeling.github.io/ Sustainability is becoming a key characteristic of modern systems. While this trend has been long recognized, rigorous formal methods for assessing sustainability, reasoning about often contradicting sustainability properties, and …
- Call for papers: International Workshop on Collaborative and Participatory Modeling – co-located with MODELS’26https://copamo.github.io/ Collaborative modeling is a key enabler to engineering complex systems. While mostly focusing on the technical and technological aspects of collaboration, the MDE community has also recognized the need …