Research
Summary
M.E. Fayad
My current areas of research and interest include System and Software Engineering, ObjectOriented Design and Programming, Object-Oriented Application Frameworks, AspectOriented Programming, Software Stability, Internet and Web Applications, Real-Time and
Embedded Systems, and Bioinformatic Applications. My qualifications to conduct research in
these areas are founded on over 15 years of experience in industry (1980-1995), plus 7 years of
practical research experience in academia (1995-2001). In my time in academia, I have been
Principal Investigator on several large research projects and Co-Principal Investigator on several
more.
My contributions to the area of Object-Oriented modeling have enriched the field’s theoretical
basis by examining the limitations of current object models and then synthesizing new models
that better encompass real-world modeling requirements. My Ph.D. thesis, “Object-Oriented
Software Engineering: Problems & Perspectives,” introduced the Object Engineering Technique
(O-ET), a perfect example of this synthesis, which combines theoretical soundness with practical
application. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and US West, among
others, are using O-ET to model their complex systems. Most recently, my work in the area of
Object-Oriented modeling has investigated and implemented a new approach to software design
called the Software Stability approach. My research staff and I have utilized this approach on
several projects, including the Philips New York Project, the Philips XML-based Internet
Appliances Project, and the Philips 2010: Internet-Based Appliances for the Future.
Object Technology provides the basis for some of my more advanced current research. Design
patterns and frameworks build upon object-oriented concepts to provide, a conceptual bases for
more complex programming constructs and reusable implementation structures for large classes
of applications. As software evolves ever more rapidly with ever more complexity, the
importance of research in developing more powerful concepts and tools becomes increasingly
vital. My expertise in these areas are shown in my definitive three-volume set of books, recently
published by Wiley and Sons, detail Object-Oriented Application Frameworks, and are widely
used by academics and practitioners all over the world, as can be seen by the comments, reviews
and acclaim shown them at the number one online bookseller, such as amazon.com
I have developed significant contributions in the emergent fields of Object-Oriented modeling
and Object Technology. As evidence of this achievement, please note my book on Transition to
Object-Oriented Software Development, published by Wiley & Sons, August 1998 and the three
recent theme issues that I have edited for the Communications of the ACM, on making the
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transition to object technology – “Object-Oriented Experiences”, Oct. 1995, “Software (Design)
Patterns”, Oct. 1996, “Object-Oriented Application Frameworks”, Oct. 1997 and an ACM
Computing Surveys Symposia, “Application Frameworks”, March 2000. Additionally, I was
editor for the September 1996 theme issue of IEEE Computer devoted to managing ObjectOriented Software Development, and I have just finished the Sept./Oct., 2000 IEEE Software
special issue, “Software Engineering in-the-small”. These published issues have become among
the most widely discussed and cited contributions to the field of Software Engineering. I am
currently working on three more theme issues: International SP&E Journal –– “Enterprise
Frameworks”, March 2002; IEEE Transaction on Robotics and Automation –– “OO Distributed
Control Architecture”, March 2002, and Annals of Software Engineering Journal –– “OO WebBased Software Engineering”, April 2002.
My long-standing relationship with industry places me in a particularly good position for the
development of academic-industrial partnerships. Evidence of this can be seen in my research
projects in collaboration with Philips Research: The Philips New York Project – a research
project concerned with large-scale distributed healthcare systems, the Philips XML-Based
Internet Appliances Project – a research project concerned with the development of client/server
based Enterprise Frameworks, and we are now negotiating the new phase of this research for the
next 3 years for a new project on Web Services.
I work effectively with other researchers and this can be clearly seen in my work as lead editor on
the Object-Oriented Application Frameworks series, on which I worked with D. Schmidt and R.
Johnson and also on a new three volume set of books, “Software Architecture”, “ComponentBased Software Development”, and “Enterprise Frameworks”, on which I am currently
collaborating with D. Garlan and W. Pree.
I have been invited to over twenty-eight countries as a university lecturer and invited speaker in
Canada, Europe, Asia, South and Central America and the Middle East for keynotes and to
present tutorials and seminars on Software Engineering, Object-Oriented Technology, ECommerce, software design, and Enterprise Application Frameworks. The tremendous number
of international paper submissions for my framework and software architecture publications is a
direct result of my worldwide acceptance as a groundbreaking innovator in Software Engineering.
Other areas in which I have considerable expertise include real-time control systems (9 years),
object-oriented distributed computing (2 years), mission-critical systems (5 years), and Internet
and Web applications (2 years), and bio-informatic applications, such as Cancer research. Within
the broad category of software engineering, I have contributed, naming just a few areas, to the
understanding of software process improvement, systems engineering, and standards
development. I have published original and visionary articles and columns (CACM – Thinking
Objectively bi-monthly column) and have appeared in some of the most prestigious computer
science journals, including Communications of ACM, IEEE Computer, ACM Computing Surveys,
International software practice and experience (SP&E) Journal, IEEE Transition on Robotics
and Automation, Annals of Software Engineering Journal, and IEEE Software.
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