Faculty

Professor Zachary Tatlock’s research interests include compilers, term rewriting, numerics, formal verification, and computational fabrication. Outside of the lab, he helps organize the running club, attempts small knitting projects, and practices cooking vegan food. He can juggle and solve Rubik’s cubes, but not at the same time.

Tatlock spent six sunny years at UC San Diego working on his Ph.D. with his incredible advisor Sorin Lerner. Throughout grad school, Sorin set a stellar example of how remarkable doing research can be when you put students first, an example Tatlock strives to emulate. He also learned many invaluable lessons from the great Ranjit Jhala, especially when it comes to writing and presentation: less is more!

He graduated from Purdue University in Spring 2007 with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. As an undergraduate, he was fortunate to work with Suresh Jagannathan on the SML compiler MLton. For their Honors Project, advised by Antony Hosking, Tatlock and his good friend Bill Harris designed and implemented a domain specific language to control a giant neon sculpture over the web. He also ran the lab component of Purdue’s introductory Java programming course for three years.