Logical Methods in Computer Science

The doctoral college for LogiCS is a key element in our long-term strategy to establish an internationally outstanding center of excellence for logic and computation around Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna). Leveraging a multitude of existing grants, initiatives, and collaborations, the LogiCS college will match research strength with a doctoral college of strong international visibility and long-term funding attractive to excellent students, outstanding postdocs and future faculty members. Over more than two decades, TU Vienna has established a critical mass in (i) computational logic, in particular proof theory, computational complexity and automated deduction, and (ii) applications of logic to databases and articial intelligence. More recently, this expertise was complemented by a signicant growth in (iii) computer-aided verication, in particular model checking in Vienna, Graz and Linz. The structure of the LogiCS proposal re ects these three areas of strength in the curriculum for the doctoral college and in the synergies with existing grants and groups. A strong record of interdisciplinary collaboration among the LogiCS faculty members will facilitate the coherence of the program. In the next two decades, we expect verication to develop into program synthesis, and AI research to provide intelligent assistants for research tasks and ambient intelligence for everyday life. Thus, LogiCS will oer an international top program characterized by the unique combination of disciplines where logical methods impact decisively on practical computer science. The LogiCS faculty comprises 16 renowned researchers with strong records in research, teaching and advising, complemented by 11 associated members who further strengthen the research and teaching activities of the college. LogiCS is chaired by Helmut Veith and Stefan Szeider who joined TU Vienna three years ago and initiated the Vienna Center for Logic and Algorithms (VCLA). The track record of the LogiCS faculty clearly demonstrates their commitment, creativity and passion for doctoral education. The applicants have advised a large number of excellent PhD students with highly successful subsequent careers in academia and industry. On the institutional level, the most important existing predecessor activities for LogiCS are a Doctoral College on Mathematical Logic for Computer Science funded by TU Vienna until 2014, and an Austrian-wide FWF-funded National Research Network on Rigorous Systems Engineering (RiSE) with a strong emphasis on model checking and decision procedures. The LogiCS team consists of the key faculty members from these two initiatives including Roderick Bloem from TU Graz and Armin Biere from JKU Linz, and is complemented by recently hired faculty. The outstanding individual achievements of these members are re ected by major grants including two ERC grants, four Austrian grants of similar endowment and competitiveness (Wittgenstein Award, START prize, WWTF Young Research Groups), and an NSF Career grant. The large number of active grants by the LogiCS faculty will enable the LogiCS faculty to fund additional LogiCS students.