Hello! I am Sahar Kokaly

I am a Researcher at General Motors and a Research Assistant and PhD Candidate in the Department of Computing and Software at McMaster University . I am co-supervised by Tom Maibaum (McMaster Centre for Software Certification) and Marsha Chechik (University of Toronto). .

Previously, I was a Research Engineer on NECSIS (Network for the Engineering of Complex Software Intensive Systems), a joint collaboration between IBM, GM, Malina Software and numerous Canadian universities. I am also a former IBMer and an advocate for increasing female participation in STEM.

Research

My current research is in the areas of Model-Driven Engineering and Software Safety Assurance. I focus on the topics of model management, heterogenous megamodeling, and applications of model driven engineering in industry, most recently in the context of ISO 26262 automotive system safety compliance.

Publications

Papers

Safety Case Impact Assessment in Heterogeneous Model-Based Software Systems.
Sahar Kokaly, Rick Salay, Marsha Chechik, Tom Maibaum
Journal paper (in progress)

User Experience for Model-Driven Engineering: Challenges and Future Directions.
Silvia Abrahão, Francis Bordeleau, Betty Cheng, Sahar Kokaly, Richard F. Paige, Harald Störrle, Jon Whittle
MODELS'17 Foundations Track (28% accept. rate) (slides)

Managing Heterogeneous Collections of Related Models.
Rick Salay, Sahar Kokaly, Alessio Di Sandro, Marsha Chechik, Tom Maibaum
Journal paper (in progress)

Safety Case Impact Assessment in Automotive Software Systems: An Improved Model-Based Approach.
Sahar Kokaly, Rick Salay, Marsha Chechik, Mark Lawford, Tom Maibaum
SafeComp'17 (33.8% accept. rate) (slides)

Managing Assurance Cases in Model Based Software Systems.
Sahar Kokaly
ICSE'17 Doctoral Symposium (26.9% accept. rate). (slides)

Heterogenous Megamodel Slicing for Model Evolution.
Rick Salay, Sahar Kokaly, Marsha Chechik, Tom Maibaum
ME'16 at MODELS'16 . (slides)

A Model Management Approach for Assurance Case Reuse due to System Evolution.
Sahar Kokaly, Rick Salay, Valentin Cassano, Tom Maibaum, Marsha Chechik
MODELS'16 Foundations Track (23.7% accept. rate) (slides)

Model Management for Regulatory Compliance: a position paper.
Sahar Kokaly, Rick Salay, Mehrdad Sabetzadeh, Marsha Chechik, Tom Maibaum
MiSE'16 at ICSE'16. (slides)

Enriching Megamodel Management with Collection-Based Operators.
Rick Salay, Sahar Kokaly, Alessio Di Sandro, Marsha Chechik
MODELS'15 (26.5% accept. rate) (slides)

Elementary Model Management Patterns.
Sahar Kokaly, Zinovy Diskin, Tom Maibaum, Hamid Gholizadeh
PAME'15 at STAF'15

Analysis of Source-to-Target Model Transformations in QueST.
Hamid Gholizadeh, Zinovy Diskin, Sahar Kokaly, Tom Maibaum
AMT'15 at MODELS'15

MMINT: A Graphical Tool for Interactive Model Management.
Alessio Di Sandro, Rick Salay, Michalis Famelis, Sahar Kokaly, Marsha Chechik
MODELS'15 Demo track (video)

Towards a Structured Workflow Language for Model Management.
Sahar Kokaly
Doctoral Symposium at MODELS'14

Mapping-Aware Megamodeling: Design Patterns and Laws.
Zinovy Diskin, Sahar Kokaly, Tom Maibaum
SLE'13 (34% accept. rate)

Posters

Towards a Structured Workflow Language for Model Management.
Sahar Kokaly, Zinovy Diskin, Tom Maibaum, Richard Paige
DSM-TP'14

Mapping-Aware Megamodeling: Design Patterns and Laws.
Zinovy Diskin, Sahar Kokaly, Tom Maibaum
McMaster University Industry Open House - March 2014

Tool Demos

Heterogeneous Megamodel Management with MMINT.
Alessio Di Sandro, Nick Fung, Ioanna Stavropoulou, Sahar Kokaly, Rick Salay, Marsha Chechik
MiSE'17

Theses

Design and Implementation of a Vibration Analysis Tool.
Sahar (Abughannam) Kokaly
Masters Thesis, McMaster University, Sep 2008.

Professional Activities

  • Workshops Selection Committee member, MODELS'18 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • Tools and Demonstrations Co-Chair, MODELS'18 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • Organizer and Program Committee chair, MiSE@ICSE'18 (Gothenburg, Sweden)
  • Workshops Co-Chair, MODELS'17 (Austin, Texas)
  • Invited Panelist, Doctoral Symposium, MODELS'17 (Austin, Texas)
  • Judging Committee member, Student Research Competition, MODELS'17 (Austin, Texas)
  • Program Committee Member, Grand Challenges in Modeling 2017 Workshop, co-located with the STAF'17 (Marburg, Germany)
  • Industry Session Co-Chair, Grand Challenges of Traceability 2017 (Slade, Kentucky)
  • Invited talk "Trace Links and Their Use in Automotive Software Safety Assessment", Grand Challenges of Traceability 2017 (Slade, Kentucky)
  • Panelist "User Experience for Model Based Software Engineering" Panel. MODELS'16 (Saint Malo, France)
  • Advisory Board Member for McMaster University Computing and Software Outreach Program
  • Social Media Co-Chair, MODELS'15 (Ottawa, Canada)
  • Organizer and Program Committee chair, AMT 2015 at MODELS'15 (Ottawa, Canada)
  • Organizer and Program Committee chair, MPM 2015 at MODELS'15 (Ottawa, Canada)
  • Organizer and Program Committee chair, MPM 2014 at MODELS'14 (Valencia, Spain)
  • Program Committee Member, Doctoral Symposium at MODELS'15 (Ottawa, Canada)
  • Reviewer for: Empirical Software Engineering Journal, Software & Systems Modeling Journal, IEEE Software
  • Sub-reviewer for MODELS’14, SLE’15, ASE'16, FSE'17
  • Member of Departmental Chair hiring committee, McMaster University, Department of Computing and Software 2006
  • Member of MARC Joint Health and Safety Committee 2014-2016
  • Student Representative, Graduate Council, Faculty of Engineering. September 2006/2007
  • Volunteer for Gr8 Designs for Gr8 Girls program at McMaster University- May 2010 (while at IBM)

Education

2012 - 2018 (expected): Ph.D. Software Engineering, McMaster University, Canada
2006 - 2008: M.A.Sc. Software Engineering, McMaster University, Canada
2002 - 2006: B.Eng. Software Engineering, McMaster University, Canada

Graduate Level Courses Completed

  • CAS 701: Logic and Discrete Mathematics
  • CAS 702: Data Structures and Algorithms
  • CAS 753: Specifying, Implementing and Verifying Timing Behaviours for Hard Real-Time Systems
  • CAS 704: Real-Time Software Systems
  • CAS 781: Advanced Topics - Category Theory
  • CAS 780: Reading Course: Introduction to Model Driven Engineering
  • CAS 764: Advanced Topics in Data Management
  • CAS 703: Software Design

Courses Taught

CAS 756: Advanced Topics in Formal Methods and Software Architecture
Co-instructors: Dr. Tom Maibaum and Dr. Zinovy Diskin - Winter 2015.

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