Life and Science a personal perspective Orna Grumberg Technion, Israel Verification Mentoring Workshop

Personal data Ph.d. in (non-automated) verification Postdoc in Model Checking (MC) with Ed Clarke 30 years of research in MC: same title, different contents 2

Current research: Model checking for security New compositional methods Abstraction and modularity for UML systems Automata over infinite alphabet Improving interpolation-based verification 3

Why Computed-Aided Verification? It is diverse: Logic Automata Algorithms Data structures Very efficient implementations that matters 4

Why Computed-Aided Verification? Research, development, applications are done in academia, research labs, industry A large variety of job types 5

Starting a Ph.d. Choose an advisor that suits you –Consult with other students Choose a subject that you like Enjoy what you do! 6

Don’t be afraid of dead periods where next research question or next solution do not seem to be at hand –Everyone has such periods –Keep working and they will be resolved 7

Preparing the day after Create visibility: –Networking at conferences –Get introduced to people –Make scientific collaboration visits if possible 8

Aiming for a career Decide that this is what you want to do Declare to yourself that what you do is important to you, you do it wholeheartedly, as a central activity 9

Aiming for a career Priorities set them accordingly Let relevant people in your life know it –Otherwise, traditional expectation might get in the way 10

Today it is common to see women holding high positions Women that want to make a career can do it successfully BUT Traditional expectation might get in the way You need to say loud and clear that your intentions are serious and that you are willing to work hard for that 11

Family and science Time management and delegation (at home and at work) Do your best and try to be excellent, rather than trying to be perfect Find your own balance 12

My solution Balance: Family and career: equally important –Career is as important as family Help: Always had a reliable babysitter In high-stressed periods: husband, parents and friends 13

My solution (cont.) Priorities: Cooking and cleaning are overrated So is sleeping… I guess I did something right… 14

This is my balance – yours might be different Find your own balance Update it periodically 15

Summary To have a successful career: Decide that you want to do Do it! Enjoy it! Everything else will fall into place 16

The End 17