Thomas Zimmermann

Thomas Zimmermann

Sr. Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research. Co-Editor In Chief of the Empirical Software Engineering Journal. Chair of ACM SIGSOFT. ACM Fellow. IEEE Fellow.

Publications: DBLP | Google Scholar. Pre‑prints: ArXiv.org

Orcid: 0000-0003-4905-1469

SIGSOFT Election 2021

I’m excited to run for re-election as SIGSOFT Chair. The past years have been both an important privilege and responsibility that I took very seriously. I launched several efforts to increase the openness and impact of the SE community, for example, initiatives related to diversity and inclusion, empirical standards, and open science.

If elected, my focus will be on improving SIGSOFT activities by in the following areas:

  1. Diversity and Inclusion. For any SIGSOFT activity, the focus should be on creating an inclusive, diverse, and supportive environment that helps EVERYONE involved in computing to achieve their goals and that allows us as a community to advance the role of science in society. As Chair of SIGSOFT, I have launched an initiative to improve diversity and inclusion activities in software engineering (SE) conferences. As General Chair of ASE 2019, I introduced the role of Diversity and Inclusion Chair, which has now been adopted by all major SE conferences. I’ve pushed several SE conferences to consider self-nominations for program committees. We can further promote diversity in software engineering, for example, through mentorship programs and dedicated support for affinity groups.

  2. Next Generation of Conferences. Due to the pandemic, SIGSOFT is at a position where it can fundamentally rethink how conferences are run. This is a unique opportunity to broaden participation and increase the impact of SE research. Travelling to conferences is expensive and bad for climate change. Adding a virtual component to physical meetings is an opportunity to increase visibility and to include people who cannot afford to travel, due to finances, lack of time, or other reasons. I have experience in running both virtual (ESEC/FSE 2020) and physical conferences (e.g., ASE 2019, FSE 2016). For ICSE 2022, SIGSOFT piloted a new virtual CAPS program that offers free registrations to any SIGSOFT member but also students or members of the SE community who cannot afford the registration fee.

  3. Advancing science. Meaningful work and openness are key values of the upcoming generation of computer scientists. While SE conferences have been at the forefront of artifact badging, we still can do more, for example, accelerate open access for papers and experiment with registered reports and open reviews. In my role as Co-EIC of the EMSE journal, I have piloted some of these efforts together with several SE conferences. I have also co-organized several ROSE festivals which recognize and reward open science at SE conferences. At Microsoft, I’ve recently contributed to research on open source for social good projects.

  4. Supporting the professional needs of SIGSOFT members from industry and helping promote computing as a profession. I will continue to focus on the professional needs of SIGSOFT members from industry and how we can promote computing as a profession. Thanks to my position at Microsoft and the empirical nature of my work, I have unique connections to and insights into the needs of practicing computing professionals. Having a strong professional program will help SIGSOFT to increase its attractiveness to students looking for professional and technical career development.

Other focus areas will be to modernize SIGSOFT awards (new awards to recognize outstanding SE contributions of SIGSOFT members) and SIGSOFT infrastructure (webpages, social media, member communication).

With my background, I’m in a unique position to contribute to the success of these efforts. My priority is, and always will be, the members of SIGSOFT.

Professional Experience

  • Sr. Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA, 2008 – present
  • Affiliate Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, 2011 – 2020
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, 2008 – 2020
  • Assistant Professor, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, 2007 – 2008

Areas of Professional Interest

Empirical Software Engineering; Mining Software Repositories; Data Science; Software Productivity; Digital Games

ACM Activities

  • Chair, ACM SIGSOFT, 2018 – present
  • Program Co-Chair, ACM Joint ESEC and FSE Conference (ESEC/FSE), 2020
  • General Chair, IEEE/ACM Intl. Conf. on Automated Software Engineering (ASE), 2019
  • General Chair, ACM Intl. Conf. on Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE), 2016
  • SEIP Track Co-Chair, ACM/IEEE Intl. Conf. on Software Engineering (ICSE SEIP), 2015
  • General Chair, IEEE/ACM Intl. Conf. on Mining Software Repositories (MSR), 2013
  • Program Co-Chair, IEEE/ACM Intl. Conf. on Mining Software Repositories (MSR), 2011
  • Program Co-Chair, IEEE/ACM Intl. Conf. on Mining Software Repositories (MSR), 2010
  • Co-Editor-in Chief, Empirical Software Engineering Journal (EMSE), 2014 – present
  • Program Co-Chair, IEEE Intl. Conf. on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME), China, 2017
  • Steering Committee Chair, ACM/IEEE Intl Conference on Mining Software Repositories (MSR), 2014 – present

Awards Received:

  • IEEE Fellow, 2021
  • IEEE TCSE New Directions Award, 2020
  • IEEE TCSE Distinguished Service Award, 2018
  • ACM Distinguished Member, 2017
  • ACM ESEC/FSE Test of Time Award, 2019
  • ICSME Most Influential Paper Award, 2018
  • IEEE/ACM ICSE Most Influential Paper Award, 2014
  • MSR Most Influential Paper Award, 2014, 2015, 2017