PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Michael D. Ernst

Also known as Michael Ernst

Michael Ernst is a University of Washington computer scientist whose work on software testing now extends to large language models. A 2007 paper describes the Daikon system for dynamic detection of likely invariants. Their language work includes NL2Bash, a 2018 corpus and semantic parser for the Linux operating system. They received the inaugural John Backus Award in 2009, and they are an ACM Fellow (2014) and IEEE Fellow (2021). As of October 2026, they are the Eggers Endowed Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.

Works
327
Citations
21,741
h-index
72

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2000

    A PhD from Washington

    They earn their PhD in computer science at the University of Washington in 2000.

  2. 2007

    The Daikon system paper

    In 2007 they publish a paper on the Daikon system for dynamic detection of likely invariants.

  3. 2009

    Back to the University of Washington

    In January 2009 they return to the Pacific Northwest to join the University of Washington faculty. They also receive the inaugural John Backus Award in 2009.

  4. 2014–2021

    ACM and IEEE fellowships

    They become an ACM Fellow in 2014 and an IEEE Fellow in 2021.

  5. 2018

    NL2Bash, a semantic parser

    In 2018 they co-author NL2Bash, a corpus and semantic parser for natural language interface to the Linux operating system.

  6. 2024

    FSE and ISSTA paper awards

    In 2024 they receive an ISSTA Impact Award and the FSE Most Influential Paper Award.

  7. 2025–2026

    Language models for tests and merges

    In November 2025 they co-author an ASE paper finding that LLM-generated test oracles reach an average mutation score of 43%. In 2026 they co-author Merge-Bench, a dataset on which the best models correctly resolve less than 60% of merge conflicts.

  8. As of October 2026

    Eggers Endowed Professor

    They are the Eggers Endowed Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.

Sources and credits

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  1. Michael D. Ernst - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Michael D. Ernst | UW College of Engineering engr.washington.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Michael Ernst's bio homes.cs.washington.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. NL2Bash: A Corpus and Semantic Parser for Natural Language Interface to the Linux Operating System aclanthology.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Do LLMs Generate Useful Test Oracles? An Empirical Study with an Unbiased Dataset homes.cs.washington.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Merge-Bench: Resolve Merge Conflicts with Large Language Models homes.cs.washington.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.