Krzysztof Czarnecki, PEng
Professor, University Research Chair, Associate Director of WatCAR
Email: k2czarne@uwaterloo.ca
Location: E7 5428
Phone: 519-888-4567 x40249
Biography
Dr. Krzysztof Czarnecki is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, with a cross-appointment to the School of Computer Science. He is the leader of the Waterloo Intelligent Systems Engineering Lab.
Dr. Czarnecki’s research focuses on generative software development. His expertise encompasses model-driven software engineering, including software product lines, variability modeling, consistency management, bi-directional transformations, and example-driven modeling.
He previously held the NSERC Bank of Nova Scotia Industrial Research Chair in Requirements Engineering for Service-Oriented Software Systems. Dr. Czarnecki is also the co-author of the book Generative Programming (Addison-Wesley, 2000), which explores automating software component assembly using domain-specific languages.
Throughout his career, Dr. Czarnecki has received several prestigious awards, including the Premier’s Research Excellence Award in 2004 and the British Computing Society’s Upper Canada Award for Outstanding Contributions to the IT Industry in 2008. In 2023, he was honored with a University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Czarnecki’s research focuses on generative software development. His expertise encompasses model-driven software engineering, including software product lines, variability modeling, consistency management, bi-directional transformations, and example-driven modeling.
He previously held the NSERC Bank of Nova Scotia Industrial Research Chair in Requirements Engineering for Service-Oriented Software Systems. Dr. Czarnecki is also the co-author of the book Generative Programming (Addison-Wesley, 2000), which explores automating software component assembly using domain-specific languages.
Throughout his career, Dr. Czarnecki has received several prestigious awards, including the Premier’s Research Excellence Award in 2004 and the British Computing Society’s Upper Canada Award for Outstanding Contributions to the IT Industry in 2008. In 2023, he was honored with a University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo.
Research Interests
- Generative programming
- Model-based development
- Software system families and product lines
- Software design
- Computer Engineering
- Software Engineering
- Autonomous and connected cars
- Automotive
- Cybersecurity
- Infrastructure integrity
Education
- 1999, Doctorate Computer Science, Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany
- 1995, Master of Science Computer Science, Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany
- 1994, Bachelor of Science (BS) Computer Science (Diplom-Inf), California State University, United States
Teaching*
- ECE 493 - Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Taught in 2020
- ECE 495 - Autonomous Vehicles
- Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- ECE 651 - Foundations of Software Engineering
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- SE 390 - Design Project Planning
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.
Selected/Recent Publications
- Salay R., Czarnecki K., Kuwajima H., Yasuoka H., Abdelzad V., Huang C., Kahn M., Nguyen V.D., and Nakae T., The Missing Link: Developing a Safety Case for Perception Components in Automated Driving, SAE Technical Papers, Canada, 2022.
- Pitropov M., Huang C., Abdelzad V., Czarnecki K., and Waslander S., LiDAR-MIMO: Efficient Uncertainty Estimation for LiDAR-based 3D Object Detection, IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, Proceedings, Volume 127, 813-820, Canada, 2022.
- Hu B.C., Marsso L., Czarnecki K., Salay R., Shen H., and Chechik M., If a Human Can See It, So Should Your System: Reliability Requirements for Machine Vision Components, Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering, Volume 127, 1145-1156, Canada, 2022.
- Larter S., Queiroz R., Sedwards S., Sarkar A., and Czarnecki K., A Hierarchical Pedestrian Behavior Model to Generate Realistic Human Behavior in Traffic Simulation, IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, Proceedings, Volume 127, 533-541, Canada, 2022.
- Bouchard F., Sedwards S., and Czarnecki K., A Rule-Based Behaviour Planner for Autonomous Driving, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), Volume 127, 263-279, Canada, 2022.
- Hu B.C., Marsso L., Czarnecki K., and Chechik M., What to Check: Systematic Selection of Transformations for Analyzing Reliability of Machine Vision Components, Proceedings - International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering, ISSRE, Volume 127, 49-56, Canada, 2022.
- Sarkar A., Larson K., and Czarnecki K., Generalized Dynamic Cognitive Hierarchy Models for Strategic Driving Behavior, Proceedings of the 36th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI 2022, Volume 36, 5173-5182, Canada, 2022.
- Pitropov M., Garcia D.E., Rebello J., Smart M., Wang C., Czarnecki K., and Waslander S., Canadian Adverse Driving Conditions dataset, International Journal of Robotics Research, Volume 40, 681-690, Canada, 2021.
- Passos L., Queiroz R., Mukelabai M., Berger T., Apel S., Czarnecki K., and Padilla J.A., A Study of Feature Scattering in the Linux Kernel, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Volume 47, 146-164, Canada, 2021.
- Kobayashi T., Salay R., Hasuo I., Czarnecki K., Ishikawa F., and Katsumata S.-Y., Robustifying Controller Specifications of Cyber-Physical Systems Against Perceptual Uncertainty, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), Volume 127, 198-213, Japan, 2021.
In The News
Graduate studies
- Currently considering applications from graduate students. A completed online application is required for admission; start the application process now.