Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeume

Logic and formal verification

Professor / Chair management

Room:

MC 1/65

E-Mail:

Thomas.Zeume@rub.de

Tel.:

+49 (0)234 32-19609

Office Hours:

By Arrangement

Curriculum Vitae

  • 2020 – : Professor for Logic and Formal Verification, Ruhr University Bochum
  • 2009-2020: Scientific assistant, Faculty of Computer Science, TU Dortmund

Teaching

  • Logic in computer science
  • Theoretical computer science
  • Computational complexity theory
  • Highlights of theoretical computer science

Research

Research interests

My research focuses on formal foundations of computer science, in particular on computational logic and its applications in database theory, complexity theory and formal verification. In my research, I also explore how the teaching of formal foundations of computer science  can be assisted by educational technologies.


Querying dynamic data bases

Extracting information from vast amounts of data that are frequently updated is a major challenge in many disciplines. Dynamic complexity theory studies the theoretical foundations of logical query languages for databases that are subject to frequent changes. A major goal of this area is to develop a theory for classifying queries in terms of the number of resources needed to evaluate them dynamically.

In my research, I (a) develop methods for determining the number of resources needed to update query results in this dynamic context, and (b) investigate the structure of small dynamic complexity classes and their relationship to traditional static complexity classes.


A good start to the area:


Selected articles:

Foundations of logics for specification and verification

Automated verification of software and hardware is an important task. Often intended properties of a system are specified by logical formalisms that navigate along traces of the system. Similar formalisms are the basis for query languages for extracting information from XML documents and graph databases.

In my research, I explore logical systems with respect to their applicability for such tasks. I design customlogics and explore their basic algorithmic properties for reasoning tasks as well as their expressivity. One focus has been on extensions of the two-variable fragment of predicate logic, where we obtained a classification of the computational complexity of the satisfiability problem.

Selected articles:

Educational technologies for formal foundations of computer science

Courses on formal foundations of computer science are typically among the hardest for computer science students. Improving motivation and understanding in these courses is therefore an important goal. For increasing learning outcomes in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) the National Research Council of the US advocates, among others, to “Make classrooms interactive, both to engage students and to provide dynamic feedback in situ;” and to “Leverage technologies to make the most effective use of students’ time, shifting from information delivery to sense-making and practice in class.”. This raises the question of how education of formal foundations can benefit from modern educational technologies.

I am convinced that we, as computer scientists, need to address this challenge in order to provide our students with the best learning opportunities. In our group we combine insights from formal foundations and from CS education research to built the state-of-the-art educational  support system Iltis.

Try it: Learning Formal Foundations of Computer Science with Iltis

A good start to the area:

Selected articles:

Publications

Here you can find an up-to-date list of my publications.