Wahab Hamou-Lhadj, PhD, ing, SMIEEE Professor & Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University Advisory Board Member, Concordia Applied AI Institute Gina Cody Research and Innovation Fellow Affiliate Researcher, NASA JPL, Caltech
My current research focuses on helping organizations improve the quality and reliability of their software ecosystems and digital infrastructures using Artificial Intelligence and Software Observability. I am interested in both the technological and governance aspects of applied AI.
My work spans across the entire DevOps stack to meet the increasing demand for reliable digital systems in the era of AI systems, digital transformation, cloud intelligence, and advanced distributed architectures.
My team employs various techniques including machine learning, LLMs, AIOps, software observability and monitoring, tracing and logging, model-driven engineering, and empirical studies. See publication list.
I have long-standing partnerships with various companies, most notably Ericsson Global AI Accelerator (GAIA), and NASA JPL, where I currently hold the position of Affiliate Researcher.
I have taught and developed courses on machine learning, AI for IT Operations (AIOps), model-driven engineering, software development, product design using Scrum, BPM, and TOGAF. I am also the content developer of OMG certification programs OCUP2 (OMG Certified UML Professional) and OCEB2 (OMG-Certified BPM).
Web presence: Google Scholar, DBLP, ORCID, Linkedin
Recent Publications
- M. Mehrabi, A. Hamou-Lhadj, H. Moosavi, "The Effectiveness of Compact Fine-Tuned LLMs for Log Parsing," in Proc. of the 40th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME'24), 2024.
- Y. Liu, A. Hamou-Lhadj, J. Li, Q. Lu, "Observability and Explainability for Software Systems Decision Making," IEEE Software 41(1): 45-49, 2024.
- I. Sedki, A. Hamou-Lhadj, O. Ait-Mohamed, "AML: An Accuracy Metric Model for Effective Evaluation of Log Parsing Techniques," Journal of Systems and Software, 2024.
- M. A. Shehab, W. Khreich, A. Hamou-Lhadj, I. Sedki, "Commit-Time Defect Prediction Using One-Class Classification," Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 208, 2024.
- M. Panahandeh, A. Hamou-Lhadj, M. Hamdaqa, and J. Miller, "ServiceAnomaly: An Anomaly Detection Approach in Microservices Using Distributed Traces and Profiling Metrics," Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 209, 2024.
- Y. Nong, R. Sharma, A. Hamou-Lhadj, X. Luo, and H. Cai, "Open Science in Software Engineering: A Study on Deep Learning-Based Vulnerability Detection," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 2023. See all publications
Recent Services
- Associate Editor, IEEE Software
- Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Reliability
- Co-chair, The 1st International Workshop on Observability and Explainability of AI Systems (OXAI'24), co-located with CASCON'24
- PC Member, The 47th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'25), Tool Demo Track
- PC Member, The 47th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'25), Software Engineering in Society Track
- PC Member, The 13th International Conference on Model-Based Software and Systems Engineering (MODELSWARD'25)
- PC Member, The 35th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE'24)
- PC Member, Cloud Intelligence / AIOps - AI/ML for Efficient and Manageable Cloud Service, co-located with ASPLOS'24
- PC Member, The 32nd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC'24)
- PC Member, The 40th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME'24)
- PC Member, The 16th System Analysis and Modelling Conference (SAM'24), co-located with MODELS'24
Projects:
- Trust-SOS: Improving trustworthiness of intelligent systems, NASA JPL, GCS
- Improving the observability of large-scale software systems, NSERC
- D2K+: Deep Learning of System Crash and Failure Reports for DevOps, Ericsson Global AI Accelerator, MITACS
- Log Analytics for Operational Intelligence, Ubisoft, MITACS
- CLEVER Project: Mining Code Commits for Enhanced Software Quality, Ubisoft, NSERC
- D2K: From Data To Knowledge for Better System Maintenance, Ericsson, MITACS
- OpenSim: An Open Architecture for Aircraft Simulation Integration and Monitoring Methods Using the HLA Standard, Marinvent, NSERC
- Tools and Infrastructure for OpenSim, Marinvent, CRIAQ, Aero-Connect, NSERC
- Advanced Host-level Surveillance, DRDC, NSERC
- Integrated Anomaly Detection Models and Techniques, DRDC, NSERC
- Improving Software Maintenance through Advanced Trace Abstraction Techniques, NSERC
- Kernel Tracing Techniques for Anomaly Detection in the Context of Redundancy and Diversity, DRDC, NSERC
- Program Comprehension through Dynamic Analysis, NSERC
- The Analysis of Execution Traces for Program Comprehension, FQRNT
- Online Surveillance of Critical Computer Systems through Advanced Host-based Detection, Ericsson, DRDC, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, University of Toronto, ETS
- Cyber Surveillance of Information Systems, DRDC
- AVIO 508-Diagnostics for Real Time Distributed Multi-core Architecture in Avionics, CAE, OPAL-RT, NSERC, CRIAQ, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
- Tracing and Monitoring Tools for Distributed Multi-Core Systems, Ericsson, DRDC, NSERC, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, University of Ottawa
- Building a Linux Kernel-Based Attack Taxonomy, DRDC
Media Coverage
- Concordia researchers working wih Ericsson’s Global Artificial Intelligence Accelerator
- The Globe and Mail
- The Financial Post
- Ottawa Citizen
- CTV News
- Penticton Herald
- Wired
- Bloomberg
- Futurism
- gamesindustry.biz
- Concordia University News
- L'Actualite
- Concordia professors bring their research to the 87th Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir
- Award for Dr. Hamou-Lhadj and his group at IBM Center of Advanced Studies Conference
LATEST NEWS
February 2024. A new paper in ICSE'25: Execution Trace Reconstruction Using
Diffusion-Based Generative Models,"
July 2024. A new paper in JSS: AML: An Accuracy Metric Model for Effective Evaluation of Log
Parsing Techniques,"
May 2024. I joined the program committee of the 13th International Conference on Model-Based Software and Systems Engineering (MODELSWARD'25).
May 2024. Our paper on "The Effectiveness of Compact Fine-Tuned LLMs for Log Parsing," is accepted at ICSME'24. Congrats to the whole team!
March 2024. Congratulations to Mohammed Shehab for successfully defending his PhD thesis. The topic of the thesis is "Techniques to Enhance Just-In-Time Software Defect Prediction Models." Well done!
March 2024. Two new papers in ICPE'24: "Efficient Unsupervised Latency Culprit Ranking in Distributed Traces with GNN and Critical Path Analysis," and "Context-aware Root Cause Localization in Distributed Traces Using Social Network Analysis."
March 2024. I joined the program committee of the 35th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE'24).
January 2024. I joined the program committee of the AIOps workshop, co-located with ASPLOS.
January 2024. A new ICSE'24 NIER Track paper on "XAIport: A Service Framework for the Early Adoption of XAI in AI Model Development."
January 2024. A new ICSE'24 Posters paper on "Decoding Log Parsing Challenges: A Comprehensive Taxonomy for Actionable Solutions."
January 2024. IEEE Software paper on "Observability and Explainability for Software Systems Decision Making."
October 2023. A new JSS paper: "ServiceAnomaly: An Anomaly Detection Approach in Microservices Using Distributed Traces and Profiling Metrics."
October 2023. A new paper in QRS'23 "JITBoost: Boosting Just-In-Time Defect Prediction Using Boolean Combination of Classifiers."
October 2023. A new paper in MODELS/SAM'23 "openCAESAR: Balancing Agility and Rigor in Model-Based Systems Engineering."
December 2023. Congratulations to PhD candidate Issam Sedki for winning the FSE'23 Student Research Competition Award.
November 2023. I gave an invited talk to UCLA software students on large language models in software engineering.
August 2023. Congratulations to MASc student Heba Aburish for successfully defending her thesis and for joining PwC as a data scientist and LLM developer.