Westley Weimer earns U-M Faculty Recognition Award

Prof. Westley Weimer has been named a recipient of the 2021 University of Michigan Faculty Recognition Award. These awards are intended for mid-career faculty members who have demonstrated remarkable contributions to the university through achievements in scholarly research or creative endeavors; excellence as a teacher, adviser and mentor; and distinguished participation in service activities of the university and elsewhere. Eligible candidates include full professors with no more than four years in rank, as well as tenured associate professors. Weimer is one of five recipients for this academic year.

Weimer is renowned for his leadership in software verification and other advances in computer engineering, including development of an automated method to find and fix defects in software programs. He employs machine learning and optimization techniques to explore such topics as graphics, security and wireless sensor networks. Additionally, he uses medical imaging to investigate the brain activity of software engineers when engaged in programming.

He currently is researching consciousness, time and ways to advance software quality through static and dynamic programming languages. His work has led to numerous honors, including four Association for Computing Machinery influential paper awards recognizing the significance of a paper 10 or more years after publication. 

Weimer, a U-M faculty member since 2017, is known for his lively and clear lectures. In 2019, he received the Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award from the Computing Research Association. U-M computer science and engineering students named him the Eta Kappa Nu Professor of the Year in 2020.

As chair of the CSE diversity, equity and inclusion committee, he has successfully expanded departmental efforts to recruit and retain students from underrepresented groups.