CV
Education
- Ph.D. in Computer Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 2026
- M.S. in Computer Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 2021
- B.A. in Computer Science, William Penn University, Oskaloosa, IA, 2018
Work Experience
Industry
Experian: Machine Learning Engineer
- Developing internal LLM-based tools designed to support the Experian AI Assistant.
Research
George Mason University: Research Assistant (2022 – Present)
- Input Generation: Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate pathological inputs for performance testing and debugging to help developers identify worst-case execution scenarios.
- Complexity Analysis: Designed and implemented an algorithm to analyze worst-case running time complexity of recursive programs to help developers evaluate performance bottlenecks regardless of programming language.
University of Nebraska Lincoln: Research Assistant (2018 – 2021)
- Verification: Developing developer tools to efficiently prove numerical assertions and resource bounds often found in safety-critical systems.
- Predictive Failure Avoidance: Developed an algorithm to abstract inputs leading to program failures (e.g., assertion violations) and automatically repair them to ensure successful program execution.
- Dynamic Invariant Generation: Produced non-trivial numerical invariants from execution traces useful for verifying the absence of errors in safety-critical systems.
Purdue University: Research Assistant (Summer 2017)
- NanoCluster Evolution Prediction: Built a simulation tool to visualize and predict the size evolution of irradiation-induced nanoclusters in iron-based materials.
Teaching
George Mason University: Adjunct Professor
Courses: Formal Methods & Models
Responsibilities include:
- Designed and developed course content to align with university learning objectives.
- Create quizzes, assignments and exams tailored to reinforce key learning goals.
- Delivered weekly lectures and held office hours for students support and engagement.
- Managed a team of teaching assistants responsible for tutoring and grading.
- Conducted individual student meetings to discuss academic progress and strategies for success.
University of Nebraska Lincoln: Teaching Assistant
- Compiler Construction
- Software Testing & Verification
- Intro to Computer Science
Publications
- Ishimwe, D., (2023, November). Inferring Complexity Bounds from Recurrence Relations. Proceedings of the 31st ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering.
- Ishimwe, D., Nguyen, T., & Nguyen, K. (2022, May). Dynaplex: inferring asymptotic runtime complexity of recursive programs. Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE 44th International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings.
- Ishimwe, D., Nguyen, K., & Nguyen, T. (2021). Dynaplex: analyzing program complexity using dynamically inferred recurrence relations. Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages, 5(OOPSLA).
- Nguyen, T., Ishimwe, D., Malyshev, A., Antonopoulos, T., & Phan, Q. S. (2020, November). Using dynamically inferred invariants to analyze program runtime complexity. Proceedings of the 3rd ACM SIGSOFT International Workshop on Software Security from Design to Deployment.
Relevant Skills
- Preferred Languages: Python, C, OCaml
- Technical Skills: Git, Bash, Docker, LLMs, Machine Learning
- Leadership & Communication: Research Publication & Presentation, Technical Event (Seminar) Coordination, Academic Mentorship.
Professional Leadership
- VA-WHPC Organizing Committee: Serve as an Organizing Committee member for Virginia Women in High Performance Computing (VA-WHPC); maintain the official website and organize events to empower and advance women and allies in HPC across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Research Communication: Published and presented original research at top-tier conferences (FSE, ICSE, OOPSLA) and delivered invited seminar talks at universities.
- Academic Organization: Organized and led specialized seminars on Software Engineering topics.
- Community Building: Served as the Social Event Coordinator for the Software Engineering group at George Mason University.
Honors & Awards
- Best Paper Award at SSBSE 2025
- Student Research Competition finalist at ICSE 2023
- Graduate Research Assistantship, George Mason University
- Graduate Research Assistantship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Graduate Teaching Assistantship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Purdue Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
- Rwanda Presidential Scholar
