Project QCAT: Quantum-Classical Static and Dynamic Software Analysis and Testing Program DUIRI - Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship Term Fall 2026 Status Accepted Research Area software security, quantum computing, artificial intelligence Description Static and dynamic software analysis and testing are powerful strategies for detecting software defects, in particular security vulnerabilities. There exists a significant body of knowledge concerning static analysis (e.g., linting) and dynamic analysis (e.g., fuzzing) concerning classical (i.e., non-quantum) software systems. However, for the emerging paradigm of quantum computing and hybrid quantum-classical systems, we are still at the beginning of a very interesting and challenging roadmap. Due to the very special characteristics of quantum computers, traditional approaches require considerable updates and enhancements by quantum computing cognizant researchers and practitioners, in order to suit the requirements and needs of such systems. There exist prior research studies, such as LintQ (built on top of CodeQL) for static analysis and Q-Mon for dynamic analysis of quantum programs. However, both are very early-stage endeavors that can be enhanced enormously. Supervisor Armin Moin Mentor Aravind Kumar Machiry Type of work required Two undergraduate research assistants will work on the QCAT project. One of the student researchers will focus on static analysis, while the other one will work on dynamic analysis. After a brief period of literature review under the supervision of the mentors, they will start their research and development based on the state-of-the-art open-source tools and technologies that will be discussed. The undergraduate research assistants are expected to meet weekly with the primary mentor, provide weekly progress updates, participate in the primary mentor's research lab meetings and events, present their results and challenges periodically as requested, and produce high-quality peer-reviewed research publications in top relevant venues under the supervision of the mentors, and if applicable, present them. The students may also receive up to 3 credit hours. Websites Static analysis: https://doi.org/10.1145/3660802, https://github.com/sola-st/LintQ
Dynamic analysis: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.13422, https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.11487
Primary mentor's current website (moving to Purdue University, School of Applied and Creative Computing): https://faculty.uccs.edu/amoin/research/
Secondary mentor's website: https://machiry.github.io
Qualifications See the general eligibility criteria. Also, knowledge of the Python programming language is required. Credit Hours 3 Weekly Hours 15 (estimated)