High Confidence Software and Systems Conference Series
A world class community of researchers gather each year for a full week of High Confidence Software and Systems Conference activities that are structured to focus on new scientific and technological foundations that can enable entirely new generations of engineered designs that are becoming essential for effectively operating life–, safety–, security–, and mission–critical systems. The twenty-fourth annual High Confidence Software and Systems (HCSS) Conference will be held May 6-8, 2024.

About HCSS

 

The pervasive role of information technology and cyber-physical systems (CPS) in our lives forces us to rely in diverse and often unexpected ways upon the correctness and integrity of those computing systems—with our privacy, safety, security, and well-being all increasingly dependent upon them.

The High Confidence Software and Systems (HCSS) Conference, now in its third decade, was created to support the interchange of ideas among researchers, practitioners, and research managers from Government, research labs, and industry practice. HCSS provides a forum for dialogue centered upon the development of scientific foundations together with innovative and enabling software and hardware technologies for the assured engineering of complex computing systems. These systems, which include networked and cyber-physical systems, must be capable of interacting correctly, safely, and securely with humans and the physical world even while they operate in changing and possibly malicious environments with unforeseen conditions. In many cases, they must be certifiably dependable.

New foundations in science, technology, and advanced practice continue to be needed to build these systems with computing, communication, information, and control pervasively embedded at all levels. These new foundations have the potential to enable entirely new generations of engineering designs that are becoming essential for effectively operating life-, safety-, security-, and mission-critical applications, and that can enhance US competitiveness across economic and industrial sectors, while assuring the privacy, safety, and security of our Nation’s citizenry.

With a technical emphasis on mathematically-based tools and techniques, and scientific foundations supporting evidence creation and systems assurance and security, the HCSS conference pursues the goal of growing a skilled practitioner community through a program of invited speakers, panel discussions, and a relevant and compelling technical track. The conference vision is one of motivating, sustaining, and growing a community focused around the creation of dependable systems that are capable, efficient, and responsive; that can work in dangerous or inaccessible environments; that can support large-scale, distributed coordination; that augment human capabilities; that can advance the mission of national security; and that enhance quality of life, safety, and security.

Questions? Email the organizers at hcss@sos-vo.org

2024 Program Committee

Embedded Node

  P R O G R A M   C O - C H A I R S  

KRISTIN YVONNE ROZIER heads the Laboratory for Temporal Logic in Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University; previously she spent 14 years as a Research Scientist at NASA and three semesters as an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati. She earned her Ph.D. from Rice University and B.S. and M.S. degrees from The College of William and Mary. Dr. Rozier's research focuses on automated techniques for the formal specification, validation, and verification of safety critical systems. Her primary research interests include: design-time checking of system logic and system requirements; runtime system health management; and safety and security analysis.

She holds an endowed position as Building a World of Difference faculty fellow, is an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and is a Senior Member of IEEE, ACM, and SWE.

Darren Cofer is a Principal Fellow at Collins Aerospace. He earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.  His area of expertise is developing and applying advanced analysis methods and tools for verification and certification of high-integrity systems. His background includes work with formal methods for system and software analysis, the design of real-time embedded systems for safety-critical applications, and the development of nuclear propulsion systems in the U.S. Navy.

Dr. Cofer has served as principal investigator on government-sponsored research programs with NASA, NSA, AFRL, and DARPA, developing and using formal methods for verification of safety and security properties.  He served on RTCA committee SC-205 developing new certification guidance for airborne software (DO-178C) and was one of the developers of the Formal Methods Supplement (DO-333). He is a member of SAE committee G-34 for Artificial Intelligence in Aviation, the Aerospace Control and Guidance Systems Committee (ACGSC), and a senior member of the IEEE.

 P R O G R A M   C O M M I T T E E  

PERRY ALEXANDER, The University of Kansas         
JUNE ANDRONICK, Proofcraft         
KATHLEEN FISHER, DARPA         
JOHN HATCLIFF, Kansas State University         
JOHN LAUNCHBURY, Galois, Inc.  
PATRICK LINCOLN, SRI International         
STEPHEN MAGILL, Sonatype         
BRAD MARTIN, DARPA

 MARTIN, National Cyber Security Centre         
LEE PIKE, Amazon Web Services         
RAY RICHARDS, Leidos         
WILLIAM SCHERLIS, Carnegie Mellon University         
ERIC W. SMITH, Kestrel Institute         
SEAN WEAVER, National Security Agency         
MATT WILDING, DARPA

  O R G A N I Z E R S   

KATIE DEY (Vanderbilt University)         
ANNE DYSON (Cyber Pack Ventures)         
AMY KARNS (Vanderbilt University)         
REGAN WILLIAMS (Vanderbilt University)

 

 

Thank you to our 2023 donors!

 

_____________________________________________________________________

Platinum Level  

_____________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Diamond Level   

_______________________________________________________________________

 

 

Donor Opportunities

 

Please contact Katie Dey (hcss@sos-vo.org) for questions or other sponsorship opportunities.

Participation Levels

Diamond - $1,500

Platinum - $1,000

Gold - $500

The name of your institution and logo will be prominently displayed on the HCSS website, printed program materials, and conference signage. Please send a high-res copy of your logo to Katie: hcss@sos-vo.org

Accepted methods of payment: credit card or check.

 

 

Past Events

2023 | 2022 | 20212020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 

 

 2023 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The twenty-third annual High Confidence Software and Systems (HCSS) Conference was held May 8-10, 2023 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland.   
 Daily themes for the program were Open Source, Protocol Verification, Proof of Bugs, and Semantically Rigorous and Integrated High-Level Abstractions. The 2023 Co-Chairs were Patrick Lincoln (SRI International) and Kristin Yvonne Rozier (Iowa State University). 

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

 2022 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The twenty-second annual HCSS Conference was held May 16-19, 2022. Daily themes for the program were Autonomous IoT, Cyber Defense of the Supply Chain/Identifying and Controlling Weird Machines, and Driving Formal Methods to Practice. The 2022 Co-Chairs were Patrick Lincoln (SRI International) and Kristin Yvonne Rozier (Iowa State University). 

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

 2021 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The twenty first annual HCSS Conference was held virtually May 3-6, 2021. Daily themes for the program were Proof Robustness, Exploring Composability, and Continuous Development and Formal Methods. The 2021 Co-Chairs were June Andronick (Trustworthy Systems group, CSIRO, UNSW Sydney) and Lee Pike (Amazon Web Services). 

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

 2020 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The twentieth annual HCSS Conference was virtually held September 14-17, 2020. Daily themes for the program were Formal Methods at Scale, Architecture-level Formal Methods for New and Existing Systems, and Human/Machine Cognitive Security. The 2020 Co-Chairs are June Andronick (Trustworthy Systems group, CSIRO, UNSW Sydney) and Dr. Eric W. Smith (Kestrel Institute). 

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2019 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The nineteenth annual HCSS Conference was held at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland from April 29 - May 1, 2019. Themes of the 2019 conference were Semantics-Driven Testing, Hardware Software Coassurance, and Automated Software Certification with keynotes Dan Guido (Trail of Bits), Magnus Myreen (Chalmers University of Technology), and Ray Richards (DARPA) presenting.  Eric Smith (Kestrel Institute) and Matt Wilding (Collins Aerospace) served as the 2019 HCSS Co-Chairs.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2018 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

HCSS's eighteenth annual conference was held on May 7 - 9, 2018 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland. Discussions centered around the major conference themes selected for the 2018 year: Complex Heterogeneous Systems, Trusting Autonomy, and Blockchain Assurance. Sandeep Neema (DARPA), Peter H. Feiler (SEI), and Emin Gün Sirer (Cornell) were selected as the 2018 keynote presenters, with Perry Alexander (University of Kansas) and Matt Wilding (Rockwell Collins) serving as the 2018 Co-Chairs.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2017 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

In its seventeenth year, the HCSS Conference was once more held at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland on May 8 - 10, 2017. Conversations for the year centered around four chosen themes: Privacy, Assurance for AI, Industrialization of Formal Methods, and Technology and Model Cross-over. The keynotes for the 2017 year were Ray Richards (DARPA), Naomi Lefkovitz (NIST), John Launchbury (DARPA), Aaron Roth (UPenn), and Evan Fortunato (Apogee Research). Perry Alexander (University of Kansas) and Stephen Magill (Galois, Inc.) served as Co-Chairs for the conference.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2016 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The sixteenth annual HCSS Conference was held May 10 - 12, 2016 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland. Sagar Chaki (CMU-SEI), Fred B. Schneider (Cornell), Kathryn McKinley (Microsoft Research), and Robert Bonneau (OSD) were that year's keynotes and spoke on a variety of topics surrounding the 2016 conference themes of Measuring Security, Proofs that Cross IP Boundaries, Programming and Reasoning With Uncertainty, and Verification of Autonomous and Adaptive Systems. Acting Co-Chairs were Kathleen Fisher (Tufts University) and Stephen Magill (Galois). 

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2015 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

In it's fifteenth year, the annual HCSS Conference focused its sites on addressing three key conference themes. Those themes were Proof Engineering, Sustainable Integrity, and Privacy. Gerwin Klein (NICTA), Tim Fraser (DARPA), and Shantanu Rane (PARC) were chosen to give keynote presentations, and Kathleen Fisher (Tufts University) and John Hatcliff (Kansas State University) were chosen as 2015's HCSS Conference Co-Chairs. The 2015 HCSS Conference was held at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland from May 5-7, 2015.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2014 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The fourteenth annual HCSS Conference was held from May 6 - 8, 2014 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland. Travis Breaux (CMU), Neal Ziring (NSA) and Geoffrey Ling (DARPA) were asked to give keynote presentations on the chosen conference themes of Requirements and Specifications, Reasoning about Control, and Mobility. Byron Cook (Microsoft Research) and John Hatcliff (Kansas State University) served as the 2014 Co-Chairs.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2013 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The thirteenth annual HCSS Conference was held May 7 - 10, 2013 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland. Automatic theorem proving and SMT, Javascript, and Boundary between Hardware and Software were the central conference themes. The year saw a multitude of keynote speakers: Nikhil Swamy (Microsoft Research), Susan Alexander (IARPA), Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown University), Nikolaj Bjørner (Microsoft Research), Dan Kaufman, (DARPA), Greg Morrisett (Harvard University), and Joseph C. Opacki (FBI). Byron Cook (Microsoft Research) and Ray Richards (Rockwell Collins) were designated as the conference Co-Chairs.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2012 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

NSA's twelfth annual HCSS Conference was held from May 6-11, 2012 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland. Themes for the year were Technology Transfer, Formal Synthesis, and Compositional Reasoning. John Launchbury (Galois) and Ray Richards (Rockwell Collins) served as the 2012 Co-Chairs. Dawn Meyerriecks (ODNI), Markus Püschel (ETH Zurich), Byron Cook (Microsoft Research), Jules Villard (University College London), William Sanders (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Bill Scherlis (Carnegie Mellon University) were selected to give keynote presentations.

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  2011 HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 

The eleventh annual HCSS Conference took place from May 2 - 6, 2011 at the Historic Inns of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland. Xavier Leroy (INRIA), Edward A. Lee (UC Berkeley) George Pappas (University of Pennsylvania), Bill Sanders (UIUC), Marc Dacier (Symantec Research Labs - Europe), and Jeff Williams (Aspect Security) were the 2011 keynote presenters. The themes for the 2011 conference were Evidence, Cyber-Physical Systems, Science of Security, and HCSS/CAS Tools and Technologies. The conference Co-Chairs were John Launchbury (Galois) and Bill Scherlis (CMU). 

PROGRAM AGENDA | CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS | PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  HIGH CONFIDENCE SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS CONFERENCE 2001 - 2010 

2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010