Dr. Salamah Salamah  

Office phone: (915)-747-6671   Email: isalamah@utep.edu

Research Interests and Publications

Formal Software Specifications

My main research interest is in the area of formal Validation and Verification (V&V) and Quality Assurance (QA) of software systems, including formal modeling and reasoning about software systems. The importance of formal V&V and QA stems from society’s reliance on computers and the need for higher dependability of the software applications running on these computers. Many of the errors found in the software development process can be traced back to faulty software requirements, architecture, or design specifications. Specifically, I am interested in tools, methods, and processes that can assist in the elicitation, formal specification, and formal V&V of systems at early stages in software development, where the cost of fixing defects is extremely low compared to later stages of software development, i.e., implementation, integration, and maintenance.

Publications in the area of Formal Software Specifications

Salamah, S., Ochoa, O., and Jacquez, Y., “Using Pairwise Testing to Verify Automatically Generated Formal Specifications” in the Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on High Assurance Systems Engineering (HASE), Daytona Beach, FL, Jan 2015.

Salamah, S., Ochoa, O., and Engsko, M., “Consistency Checks of System Properties Using LTL and Büchi Automata” in the Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, San Francisco, CA, Jul 2012.

Salamah, S., Gates, A., and Kreinovich, V., Validated Templates for Specification of Complex LTL Specifications” in the Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 85 Issue 8, Aug, 2012

Salamah, S., Gates, A., Roach, S., and Engsko, M., “Towards Support for Software Model Checking: Improving the Efficiency of Formal Specifications”, in the Journal of Advances in Software Engineering, Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 869182

Salamah, S., Del Buono, M., Baily, E., Printy, S., Ferris, D., and Christian, L., "Enhancing Property Specification Tools with Validation Techniques" in the Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE), Boston, MA, Jul 2009.

Salamah S., “From Linear to Branching Time in Software Property Specifications”, in the Proceedings of the 13th GAMM - IMACS International Symposium on Scientific Computing, Computer Arithmetic, and Verified Numerical Computations, El Paso, TX, Sep 2008.

Salamah, S., Gallegos, I., Ochoa, O., “A Novel Approach for Software Property Validation” in the Proceedings of the International Conference for Software Engineering Theory and Practice (SETP), Orlando, FL, Jul 2008.

Gallegos, I., Ochoa, O., Gates, A., Roach, S., Salamah, S., and Vela, C., “A Property Specification Tool for Generating Formal Specifications: Prospec 2.0” in the Proceedings of the Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE), San Francisco, CA, Jul 2008.

Garcia, L., Roach, S., and Salamah, S., “PROTEF: Automatic Verification of Pattern-Based LTL Templates” in the Proceedings of the Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE), San Francisco, California, San Francisco, CA Jul, 2008.

Salamah, S., Gates, A., and Roach, S., “Improving Pattern-Based LTL Formulas for Model Checking” in the Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Conference on Information Technology (ITNG), Las Vegas, NV, Apr 2008.

Salamah, S., Gates, A., Kreinovich, V., and Roach, S., “Verification of Automatically Generated Pattern-Based LTL Specifications” in the Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on High Assurance Systems Engineering (HASE), Dallas, TX, Nov 2007.

Salamah, S., Gates, A., Kreinovich, V., and Roach, S., “Using Patterns and Composite Propositions to Automate the Generation of LTL Specifications”, Lecture Notes In Computer Science (LNCS) 4762, Springer-Verlag, pp. 533-542, 2007.

Salamah, S., Kreinovich, K., and Gates, A., “Generating Linear Temporal Logic Formulas for Pattern-Based Specifications” in the Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE), Boston, MA, Jul 2007.

Salamah, S., Gates, A., Roach, S., and Mondragon, O., “Verifying Pattern Generated LTL Formulas: A Case Study”, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) Volume 3639/2005, Springer-Verlag, pp. 200-220, 2005

Engineering and Computer Science Education

Another interest of mine is in studying methods related to effective engineering and computer science education. Specifically, I am interested in conducting research on methods for effective course content delivery through case-study and project-based teaching and learning, and preparing software engineering workforce through research-based pedagogical approaches in the classroom and beyond. I am also interested in investigating the effective ways of introducing formalism early in the computer science and software engineering curricula.

Publications in the area of Engineering and Computer Science Education

Ochoa, O., Rodney, M., Towhidnejad, M., and Salamah, S., "Investigating the Benefits of Introducing Process-Oriented Life Cycle Development Models to Improve Students Appreciation for Agile Methods”, Accepted for publication and presentation at the 48th IEEE-CS Annual Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, 2018.

Ochoa, O., and Salamah, S. “An Approach to Enhance Students’ Competency in Software Verification Techniques” in Proceedings of the 45th IEEE-CS Annual Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, El Paso, TX, Oct 2015.

Salamah, S., Towhidnejad, M., and Hilburn, T, “Digital Home: A Case Study Approach to Teaching Software Engineering Concepts,” in Overcoming Challenges in Software Engineering Education: Delivering Non-Technical Knowledge and Skills, (L. Yu, ed.), IGI Global, 2014.

Gates, A., Villa, E., and Salamah, S, “Developing Communities of Practice to Prepare Software Engineers with Effective Team Skills,” in Overcoming Challenges in Software Engineering Education: Delivering Non-Technical Knowledge and Skills, (L. Yu, ed.), IGI Global, 2014.

Hilburn, T., Towhidnejad, M., and Salamah, S.,“A life-Cycle Engineering Case Study”, Special Issue on Case Studies and Methodologies of the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics (JSCI), 2014.

Towhidnejad, M., Hilburn, T., and Salamah, S., “Transforming Engineering and Science Education Through Active Learning” in the Proceedings of the 44th IEEE-CS Annual Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, Madrid, Spain, Oct 2014.

Towhidnejad, M., Hilburn, T. B., & Salamah, S. “Using the Case Method to Transform Engineering Education” in the Proceedings: Vol. 2014, World Congress on Engineering Education.

Stansbury, R., Barott, W., and Salamah, S., “Using Mini-Projects to Foster Student Collaboration in Multi-Disciplinary Capstone Design Course”in the Proceedings of the 2012 ASEE Conference and Exposition, San Antonio, TX, Jun 2012.

Fletcher, J., Fountain, C., Kerley, C., Torres, J., Barott, W., Salamah, S., and Stansbury, R., “Immersive Audio-Visual System for an Unmanned Robotic Vehicle in a Senior Design Project” in the proceedings of the 2012 IEEE SouthEastCon Conference, Orlando, FL, Mar 2012.

Stansbury, R.S., Towhidnejad, M., Salamah, S., and Barott, W. C., “Developing an Air/Ground Robots for Disaster Response as a Project for a Senior Capstone Design Course”, AIAA Infotech@Aerospace 2012, Garden Grove, CA, Jun 2012.

Towhidnejad, M., Salamah, S., and Hilburn, T., “Introducing Case Study-Based Teaching in Computing Curricula” (pre-conference workshop description), in the Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, Volume 26 Issue 6, Jun 2011.

Salamah, S., Towhidnejad, M., and Hilburn, T., “Developing Case Modules for Teaching Software Engineering and Computer Science Concepts” in the Proceedings of the 41st IEEE Frontiers in Educations Conference (FIE), Rapid City, SD, Oct 2011.

Hilburn, T., Towhidnejad, M., and Salamah, S., “Read Before You Write" in the Proceedings of the 24th IEEE conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEET), Honolulu, HI, May 2011.

Towhidnejad, M., Hilburn, T., and Salamah, S., “Reporting on the Use of Software Development Case Study in Computing Curricula” in the Proceedings of the 118th Annual Conference for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Vancouver, Canada, Jun 2011.

Salamah, S., Ochoa, O., Gates, A., “A Comparative Study of a Tool-Based Approach to Teaching Formal Specifications” in the Proceedings of the 39th Annual Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, Washington, DC, Oct 2010.

Salamah, S., Roach, S., Ochoa, O., Medina, V., and Gates, A., “Experiment to Evaluate an Approach to Teaching Formal Specifications Using Model Checking” in the Proceedings of the 116th Annual Conference for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Austin, TX, Jun 2009.

Salamah, S., and Gates, A., “Using Specification Patterns to Teach Black-Box Testing” in the Proceedings of the 115th Annual Conference for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Pittsburgh, PA, Jun 2008.

Salamah, S., and Gates, A., “A Technique for Using Model Checkers to Teach Formal Specifications” in the Proceedings of the 21st IEEE-CS International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEET), Charleston, SC, Apr 2008.

Hilburn, T., Towhidnejad, M., and Salamah, S., “The Digital-Home Case Study Material” in the Proceedings of the 21st IEEE-CS International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEET), Charleston, SC, Apr 2008.

Cybersecurity Research at the CyWAR Lab

In recent years, I developed research interest in the area of Software Vulnerabilities and Secure Software Architecture. I direct the Cybersecurity through Workshops, Analysis, and Research (CyWAR> lab at UTEP. My students and I investigate current software vulnerabilities and develop training material to assist in discovering, exposing, and mitigating such vulnerabilities at the software level. The training material is used to design and deliver hands-on cybersecurity workshops for students and cybersecurity professionals in the El Paso area and beyond. This research and workshop development is a collaborative effort with the Army Research Lab’s Center for Cyber Analysis & Assessment (CCAA).

Publications in the area of Cybersecurity

Acosta, J., Salamah, S., Padilla, E., Akbar, M., and Fielder, A., "A Collaboration Pipeline for Cybersecurity Research, Analytics, and Tools," in Cyber Security and Information Systems Information Analysis Center (CSIAC) Journal, 2018.

Acosta, J., McKee, J., Fiedler, A., and Salamah, S. “A Platform for Evaluator-Centric Cybersecurity Training and Data Acquisition” in the Proceedings of the 2017 Milcom Conference, Baltimore, MD, Oct 2017.

Acosta, J, and Salamah, S. “An Analysis Platform for Execution-based Model Generation” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on High Assurance Systems Engineering (HASE), Orlando, FL, Jan 2016.