PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Roland Yap

Also known as Yap Roland, Roland H. C. Yap, Roland Yap Hock Chuan

Roland Yap is an Associate Professor of computer science at the National University of Singapore whose research on constraints, search and solvers belongs to artificial intelligence. He studied computer science at Monash University in Melbourne, received the Best 1995 Australian Computer Science PhD Prize in 1996, and coauthored the 1992 paper on the CLP(R) language and system. In 2000, he was general chair of the CP 2000 constraint programming conference in Singapore, and in 2005 he coauthored an optimal coarse-grained arc consistency algorithm in the journal Artificial Intelligence. His later work includes the EffectiveSan memory-error detector, published at PLDI in 2018, and a 2025 AAAI paper with Ruiwei Wang on tractable negation for constraint representations. At the NUS AI Lab, his listed interests are constraints, knowledge representation and solvers.

Timeline

  1. 1985–1996

    Monash degrees and a PhD prize

    He receives the Praxa Computer Prize for achievements in theoretical aspects of computing in 1985. At Monash University in Melbourne he earns a B.Sc. (Honours), an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in computer science, and in 1996 he receives the Best 1995 Australian Computer Science PhD Prize.

  2. 1992

    The CLP(R) language and system

    In 1992, he coauthors "The CLP(R) Language and System" in ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems with J. Jaffar, S. Michaylov and P.J. Stuckey. The CLP(R) system is influential in the development of the field of constraint programming.

  3. By 2000

    Joining NUS, chairing CP 2000

    After serving as a visiting scientist at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York and as an Australian Research Council research fellow at the University of Melbourne, he joins the National University of Singapore. In 2000, he is general chair of CP2000, the Sixth International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, held in Singapore in September 2000. He coauthors two papers in its program: one on instruction scheduling with Hui Wu, Joxan Jaffar and Krishna Palem, and one on arc consistency with Yuanlin Zhang.

  4. 2005

    Optimal coarse-grained arc consistency

    In 2005, he coauthors "An optimal coarse-grained arc consistency algorithm" with Bessiere, Regin and Zhang, published in the journal Artificial Intelligence.

  5. 2016–2018

    Constraint solving at IJCAI and AAAI

    At IJCAI in 2016, he coauthors "Optimizing Simple Tabular Reduction with a Bitwise Representation" with R. Wang, W. Xia and Z. Li. At AAAI in 2018, he coauthors "Learning Robust Search Strategies Using a Bandit-Based Approach" with W. Xia.

  6. 2018

    EffectiveSan at PLDI 2018

    In 2018, he and Gregory J. Duck publish EffectiveSan at PLDI, a tool that checks the effective type of each object at run time to detect type and memory errors in C and C++ programs. They evaluate the Effective Type Sanitizer on the SPEC2006 benchmark suite and the Firefox web browser, where it detects several new errors.

  7. 2025

    AAAI-25 paper and USENIX award

    In 2025, he and Ruiwei Wang publish "On the Modelling of Constraints with Tractable Logical Operators" at AAAI-25, a framework that gives constraint representations a tractable negation operator. A second 2025 result comes from FlowFusion, which finds long-hidden vulnerabilities in PHP's core; he is one of three professors guiding PhD candidate Jiang Yuancheng's work, and it wins a Distinguished Paper Award at the 34th USENIX Security Symposium.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate Professor at NUS

    He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, at the National University of Singapore, and a faculty member of the NUS AI Lab, where his listed interests are constraints, knowledge representation and solvers. His research interests also include security, programming languages and social networks.

Career

  1. NowNational University of SingaporeAssociate Professor of Computer Science
  2. IBM ResearchVisiting Scientist
  3. University of MelbourneAustralian Research Council Research Fellow

Education

  1. Monash UniversityB.Sc. (Honours)

From the biography.

  1. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes National University of Singapore. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes National University of Singapore. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes National University of Singapore. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes National University of Singapore. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Sources and credits

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  1. Roland YAP Hock Chuan - NUS Computing comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Dr. Roland Yap comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. CFP: CP2000, 18-22 September, 2000, Singapore people.csail.mit.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. EffectiveSan: Type and Memory Error Detection using Dynamically Typed C/C++ arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. EffectiveSan: Type and Memory Error Detection using Dynamically Typed C/C++ - PLDI 2018 pldi18.sigplan.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. On the Modelling of Constraints with Tractable Logical Operators | Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence ojs.aaai.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Distinguished Paper Award at the 34th USENIX Security Symposium in Seattle - NUS Computing comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. People - NUS AI Lab nusail.comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 22 October 2026.