Keynote Presentation: Formal Methods and the Defense Industrial Base

Presented as part of the 2017 HCSS conference.

ABSTRACT

Formal methods has had a steady albeit slow march towards being usable in an industrial setting. Recent successful research programs have demonstrated that formal methods can have a positive impact on the development of our critical systems. The defense industry develops very complex systems that have to operate in challenging environments and meet very stringent evaluations. Formal methods has enjoyed pockets of use in the defense industry, but its use is far from wide spread. This talk will explore what (other than technical capability) will be needed to spur broader use of formal methods in the defense industrial base.

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Dr. Raymond “Ray” Richards joined DARPA in January 2016. His research interests focus on high assurance software and systems.

Dr. Richards joined DARPA from Rockwell Collins Advanced Technology Center (ATC) where he led a research group focused on automated analysis, cyber, and information assurance. In this role he helped foster the industrial use of formal methods verification to support security accreditations.

Dr. Richards holds Master of Business Administration, Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees in electrical and computer engineering, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, all from the University of Iowa. He has nine publications in the area of formal methods/software security analysis and one patent.