On December 15, 2023, the Faculty of Informatics will honor the memory of Helmut Veith, a distinguished computer scientist, by celebrating his contributions to logic in computer science, computer-aided verification, software engineering, and computer security.

For remote attendees, we will provide a live stream of the event. Access the live stream via this link.

Program:

14:00 - 14:20 Welcome addresses: Gerti Kappel, Dean of TU Wien Informatics, and Wolfgang Kastner, Vice Rector Digitalisation and Infrastructure

14:20 - 14:30 Georg Gottlob (Helmut Veiths’ PhD advisor)

14:30 - 14:45 Somesh Jha “Fearless Research or What I Learned from Helmut”, (virtuell)

14:45 - 15:15 Stefan Katzenbeisser “Safety and Security in Critical Infrastructures”

15:15 - 15:45 Johannes Kinder “CEGAR for Regular Expression Semantics in JavaScript”

15:45 - 16:00 Moshe Vardi “Model Checking Strategies from Synthesis over Finite Traces”, (virtuell)

16:00 - 16:30 Memory about Helmut Veith: Florian Zuleger, Orna Grumberg, Roderick Bloem, Anna Prianichnikova, Christian Fermüller, Igor Konnov

16:30 Celebration Buffet

About Helmut Veith

Born in Vienna, Helmut Veith began his career as a university assistant at TU Wien, rising to associate professor in 2001 and full professor in 2010. His academic tenure included impactful roles at TUM and TU Darmstadt. Veith’s profound contributions to computer science, spanning finite model theory, database theory, complexity theory, fuzzy logic, and model checking, are exemplified by his more than 150 published papers, five co-authored books, and significant recognition with more than 10,825 citations on Google Scholar. His most cited paper “Counterexample-Guided Abstraction Refinement” alone has been cited 2520 times, reflecting his monumental impact on the field.

Veith’s career has been marked by numerous awards, including the International Programming Award in 1989, the Austrian Presidential Dissertation Award in 1999, a Max Kade Fellowship, the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, and a posthumous ERC Advanced Grant in 2016. His roles at prestigious institutions such as Carnegie Mellon, TUM, and TU Darmstadt, and his pivotal contributions upon returning to Vienna, particularly in strengthening Austrian research in computer-aided verification, underscore his impact. Veith was instrumental in high-profile projects and conferences, such as the Vienna Summer of Logic 2014 and the founding of the Vienna Center for Logic and Algorithms.

He was also a dedicated full member of the Wolfgang Pauli Institute. The WPI participates in the “Helmut Veith scholarships” for female masters students in informatics organized by VCLA and co-funded by TU Wien.

Veith’s passion for education was unparalleled, evident in his creation of new programs, influencing curricula, and his commitment to mentoring, especially the promotion of young talent and women in computer science. As a member of several academic committees, he played a key role in fostering international collaborations. Veith’s collaborative nature and dedication to improving academic standards made significant contributions to his field and left a lasting legacy in the academic community at large.

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