I am an assistant professor in Computer Science at Rutgers University New Brunswick.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego advised by Sorin Lerner. I completed my PhD in Computer Science at UMass Amherst, where I was advised by Yuriy Brun. I received a BS in Math and Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College.

When I’m not working on research, I’m mostly watching reality TV or rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles (go birds). I also enjoy playing tennis, skiing, and cooking with my amazing husband Subendhu Rongali.

Research Interests

Overall, my research interests are quite broad: AI for SE/PL and quantitative reasoning.

I am interested in leveraging AI for theorem proving as a playground for exploring how AI can reason better, and in turn, how humans can use AI to reason better themselves in a variety of domains.

I consider myself an interdisciplinary researcher, working at the intersection of machine learning, software engineering, and programming languages. So far, I have worked on creating tools to automatically generate proofs in proof assistants, such as Coq, Isabelle/HOL, and Lean.

Working With Me

I’m always looking for self-motivated students to work with.

If you’re interested in working with me (current PhD/masters/undergrad student at Rutgers, or just wanting to collaborate) you can reach out via email, though I may be slow to respond as I’m transitioning into this new role.

For prospective PhD students, please mention my name in your application to the Rutgers CS PhD program.

Contact

emily dot first at rutgers dot edu

Please do not send emails to my ucsd or umass email addresses as they are no longer active.

Any email not from my official rutgers email address is NOT me. I have not sent a mass email offering assistantships or money of any sort. Scammers suck, stay vigilant.