A Differential Testing Framework to Identify Critical AV Failures Leveraging Arbitrary Inputs
Coming Soon
CV
My legal name is Alan, which may appear in some places that show given name, e.g. ORCID; I have always gone by Trey.
Education
University of Virginia 2019-2025 (Expected)
- Ph.D. Computer Science
- Co-advised Dr. Sebastian Elbaum and Dr. Kevin Sullivan
University of Virginia 2019-2022
- M. Computer Science (MCS)
North Carolina State University 2015-2019
- B.S. in Computer Science
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering
- B.S. in Computer Engineering
- Minor in Mathematics
Honors: Graduated Valedictorian and Summa Cum Laude
Work experience
- Fall 2019-Present: Research Assistant
- LESS Lab at University of Virginia
- Co-advised by Dr. Sebastian Elbaum and Dr. Kevin Sullivan
- Spring 2018-Spring 2019: Research Assistant
- Theory in Practice Lab at North Carolina State University
- Advised by Dr. Blair D. Sullivan
- Summer 2016, Summer 2017: Software Development Internship
- Fidelity Investments, Durham, NC
- Java development, unit testing, and performance analysis
- November 2015-May 2019: Android Developer
- Bamboo Mobile Health, Raleigh, NC
- Developed and maintained the MS101.me app
Publications
My work has appeared in the following venues:
Specifying and Monitoring Safe Driving Properties with Scene Graphs
Toledo, Felipe, Trey Woodlief, Sebastian Elbaum, and Matthew B. Dwyer. "Specifying and Monitoring Safe Driving Properties with Scene Graphs." In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 15577-15584. IEEE, 2024.
S3C: Spatial Semantic Scene Coverage for Autonomous Vehicles
Trey Woodlief, Felipe Toledo, Sebastian Elbaum, and Matthew B. Dwyer. 2024. S3C: Spatial Semantic Scene Coverage for Autonomous Vehicles. In 2024 IEEE/ACM 46th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE ’24), April 14–20, 2024, Lisbon, Portugal. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3597503.3639178
Generating Realistic and Diverse Tests for LiDAR-Based Perception Systems
Garrett Christian, Trey Woodlief, and Sebastian Elbaum. 2023. Generating Realistic and Diverse Tests for LiDAR-Based Perception Systems. In 45th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE ’23), May 17–19, 2023, Melbourne, VIC, AU. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE48619.2023.00217
Semantic Image Fuzzing of AI Perception Systems
Trey Woodlief, Sebastian Elbaum, and Kevin Sullivan. 2022. Semantic Image Fuzzing of AI Perception Systems. In 44th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE ’22), May 21–29, 2022, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3510003.3510212
Preparing Software Engineers to Develop Robot Systems
Carl Hildebrandt, Meriel von Stein, Trey Woodlief, and Sebastian Elbaum. 2022. Preparing Software Engineers to Develop Robot Systems. In 44th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET ’22), May 21–29, 2022, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3510456.3514161
Fuzzing Mobile Robot Environments for Fast Automated Crash Detection
T. Woodlief, S. Elbaum and K. Sullivan, "Fuzzing Mobile Robot Environments for Fast Automated Crash Detection," 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021, pp. 5417-5423, doi: 10.1109/ICRA48506.2021.9561627.
Faster Biclique Mining in Near-Bipartite Graphs
Sullivan, Blair D., Andrew van der Poel, and Trey Woodlief. "Faster Biclique Mining in Near-Bipartite Graphs." International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms. Springer, Cham, 2019.
Talks
Invited Talk at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC, USA Conference proceedings talk at 46th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE ’24), Lisbon, Portugal Conference proceedings talk at 45th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE ’23), Melbourne, Australia Conference proceedings talk at 44th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE ’22), Pittsburgh, PA, USA Conference proceedings talk at 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Xi'an, China (Virtually) Conference proceedings talk at 2019 International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA^2), Kalamata, Greece Show 6 Talks
Runtime Monitoring for Autonomous Driving Systems
S3C: Spatial Semantic Scene Coverage for Autonomous Vehicles
Generating Realistic and Diverse Tests for LiDAR-Based Perception Systems
Semantic Image Fuzzing of AI Perception Systems
Fuzzing Mobile Robot Environments for Fast Automated Crash Detection
Faster Biclique Mining in Near-Bipartite Graphs
Teaching
Show 4 Courses
Fall 2022 - Senior Teaching Assistant
Fall 2021 - Senior Teaching Assistant
Spring 2021 - Teaching Assistant
Fall 2020 - Teaching Assistant
Awards
Academic
- Copenhaver Charitable Trust Bicentennial Fellowship (2024-2025)
- University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Outstanding Graduate Research Award (2024)
- University of Virginia Department of Computer Science
- All-University Graduate Teaching Award (2022-2023)
- University of Virginia
- Most Promising Research Award (2022)
- University of Virginia Computer Science Research Symposium
- Best Presentation Award (2020)
- University of Virginia Computer Science Research Symposium
- Dean’s Scholar Fellowship (2019-2024)
- University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Dr. Donald L. Bitzer Creativity Award (2019)
- North Carolina State University Department of Computer Science
- University Honors Program (2019)
- North Carolina State University
- Computer Science Honors Program (2019)
- North Carolina State University Department of Computer Science
- Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (2018)
- Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society (2017)
- IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society (IEEE-HKN) (2016)
Extracurricular
- FIRST Tech Challenge Global Volunteer of the Year1, 2 (2021)
- FIRST North Carolina Guilford County District Event Volunteer Award (2019)
- Eagle Scout (2013)
Service
Mentorship
- Johann Mission, Mathushan Mathyvannan, Yili Bai, Zachariah Risheq
- Supported undergrad research on benchmarking autonomous systems; manuscript under submission
- Garrett Christian
- Master’s at UVA - Work culminated in ICSE’23 Publication
Academic
- Program Committee 2025 ICSE’25 Software Engineering for Autonomous Driving Systems Workshop (SE4ADS’25)
- Reviewer 2025 International Conference on Software Engineering Research Track Shadow Program Committee (ICSE-Shadow’25)
- Reviewer 2024 IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE)
- Reviewer 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS’24)
- Reviewer 2024 International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
- Reviewer 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA’22)
FIRST Robotics
I am an active volunteer for FIRST, a non-profit organization that provides grade-school students around the world with hands-on STEM education opportunities through robotics competitions. I am an alum of FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1533 Triple Strange, and credit my experience with FIRST as a high school student for pushing me to pursue the field of robotics and my current line of research. Since graduating, I have volunteered at every level of FIRST as a referee. I am the co-creator and developer of the FIRST Tech Challenge Scoring System, FTCLive, that provides live scoring and event management for all FIRST Tech Challenge events.
Positions Held
Years given are for the spring semester of that academic year.
- FIRST Chesapeake FIRST Tech Challenge Volunteer Advisory Committee Member (2024-Present)
- FIRST Chesapeake Alumni Ambassador (2020, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- FTCLive Scoring System Co-Creator and Developer (2019-Present)
- North Carolina FTC Planning Committee Member 2018-Present
- FRC Head Referee (2022-Present) and Referee (2016-Present)
- FTC Head Referee (2016-Present) and Referee (2016-Present)
- FLL Challenge Head Referee (2017-2019) and Referee (2016-2019)
Volunteering at FIRST Events (121 Events spanning 144 Days across 10 Seasons)
I volunteer at as many FIRST events as I can each season. I try to keep this list updated with the events I will volunteer at in the future, so come by and say hi. Events are listed under each season based on what game was played at the event; accordingly, summer and fall off season events show in the previous season.
2015-2016 Season (16 Events; 23 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/12/2015 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 12/5/2015 | FLL-C | Central Carolina Community College FLL Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 12/12/2015 | FLL-C | Triangle Math and Science FLL Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 1/16/2016 | FTC | Cardinal Gibbons HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 1/30/2016 | FTC | TSDCH FTC Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 2/6/2016 | FTC | Southern Guilford HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 2/7/2016 | FLL-C | FIRST LEGO League State Championship (Bracket B) | Referee |
| 2/13/2016 | FTC | Northern Guilford HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 2/20/2016 | FTC | FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship | Robot Inspector, Referee |
| 3/4/2016 - 3/6/2016 | FRC | NC District - Guilford County Event | Referee |
| 3/9/2016 - 3/11/2016 | FTC | FTC South Super Regional Championship | Referee |
| 3/18/2016 - 3/20/2016 | FRC | NC District - UNC Asheville Event | Referee |
| 4/1/2016 - 4/3/2016 | FRC | NC District - Campbell University/Johnston Community College Event | Referee |
| 4/8/2016 - 4/10/2016 | FRC | NC FIRST Robotics State Championship | Referee |
| 4/27/2016 - 4/30/2016 | FRC | FIRST Championship | Referee |
| 9/24/2016 | FRC | THOR | Referee |
2016-2017 Season (16 Events; 23 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/10/2016 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 11/12/2016 | FLL-C | Dudley High School FLL Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 11/19/2016 | FLL-C | Triangle Math and Science FLL Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 12/3/2016 | FLL-C | Flat Rock MS FLL Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 1/14/2017 | FTC | Cardinal Gibbons HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee, Referee |
| 1/15/2017 | FLL-C | North Carolina FIRST LEGO League State Championship Tournament (Bracket B) | Referee |
| 1/28/2017 | FTC | Trinity School of Durham & Chapel Hill FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 2/4/2017 | FTC | Northern Guilford HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 2/18/2017 | FTC | North Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge Championship | Referee |
| 3/3/2017 - 3/5/2017 | FRC | NC District - Pitt County Event | Referee |
| 3/9/2017 - 3/11/2017 | FRC | NC District - Greensboro Event | Field Assembly, Referee, Field Disassembly |
| 3/17/2017 - 3/19/2017 | FRC | NC District - UNC Asheville Event | Referee |
| 3/23/2017 - 3/25/2017 | FRC | NC District - Raleigh Event | Referee |
| 3/31/2017 - 4/2/2017 | FRC | FIRST North Carolina State Championship | Field Assembly, Referee |
| 4/19/2017 - 4/22/2017 | FRC | FIRST Championship - Houston | Referee |
| 10/28/2017 | FRC | THOR | Head Referee |
2017-2018 Season (14 Events; 18 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/9/2017 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 12/2/2017 | FLL-C | Neal Magnet MS FLL Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 12/16/2017 | FLL-C | Triangle Math and Science FLL Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 1/13/2018 | FTC | Cardinal Gibbons HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 1/20/2018 | FTC | AG Cox MS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 1/21/2018 | FLL-C | North Carolina FIRST LEGO League State Championship Tournament (Bracket B) | Referee |
| 1/27/2018 | FTC | Southern Guilford HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 2/3/2018 | FTC | Northern Guilford HS FTC Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 2/10/2018 | FTC | 2017-2018 NC FTC State Championship | Referee |
| 3/8/2018 - 3/10/2018 | FTC | FIRST Tech Challenge South Super Regional | Scoring System Development |
| 3/16/2018 - 3/18/2018 | FRC | NC District UNC Pembroke Event | Field Assembly, Referee, Field Disassembly |
| 3/23/2018 - 3/25/2018 | FRC | NC District UNC Asheville Event | Referee |
| 4/6/2018 - 4/8/2018 | FRC | FIRST North Carolina State Championship | Field Assembly, Referee, Field Disassembly |
| 9/29/2018 | FRC | THOR | Head Referee |
2018-2019 Season (14 Events; 18 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/8/2018 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 1/12/2019 | FLL-C | Carver Middle School FLL Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 1/26/2019 | FTC | Farmville MS Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee, Robot Inspector, Referee, Field Inspector |
| 2/2/2019 | FTC | Northern Guilford HS Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 2/9/2019 | FTC | Southern Guilford HS Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 2/16/2019 | FTC | Triangle Math and Science Academy Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 3/2/2019 | FTC | North Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge Championship Tournament | Head Referee |
| 3/8/2019 - 3/10/2019 | FRC | FNC District Wake County Event | Field Assembly, Referee, Field Disassembly |
| 3/15/2019 - 3/17/2019 | FRC | FNC District Guilford County Event | Field Assembly, Referee, Field Disassembly |
| 3/29/2019 - 3/31/2019 | FRC | FNC District UNC Pembroke Event | Field Assembly, Referee, Field Disassembly |
| 4/5/2019 - 4/7/2019 | FRC | FIRST North Carolina State Championship | Field Assembly, Referee |
| 10/5/2019 | FRC | Blue Ridge Brawl FIRST Robotics Competition Off-Season Competition | Head Referee |
| 10/26/2019 | FRC | IROC (ILITE Robotics Offseason Challenge) | Referee |
| 11/2/2019 | FRC | Rumble in the Roads FIRST Robotics Competition Off-Season Competition | Referee |
2019-2020 Season (12 Events; 13 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/7/2019 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 9/21/2019 | FTC | FIRST Chesapeake FTC Workshop | Referee |
| 11/24/2019 | FTC | Oakton Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 12/7/2019 | FTC | Richmond Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 12/14/2019 | FTC | Newport News Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 12/15/2019 | FTC | Centreville Qualifier | Referee |
| 1/4/2020 | FTC | Charlottesville Qualifying Tournament | Head Referee |
| 1/11/2020 | FTC | Salem Qualifying Tournament | Referee |
| 1/18/2020 | FTC | Cardinal Gibbons High School QT | Referee |
| 2/22/2020 | FTC | Virginia State Championship sponsored by Capital One | Head Referee |
| 2/29/2020 | FTC | North Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship Tournament | Referee |
| 3/6/2020 - 3/8/2020 | FRC | CHS District Richmond VA Event sponsored by Dominion Energy | Referee |
2020-2021 Season (2 Events; 2 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7/24/2021 | FRC | CHSy Champs | Referee |
| 8/14/2021 | FTC | LOKI | Referee |
2021-2022 Season (11 Events; 14 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/18/2021 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 12/11/2021 | FTC | VA Glen Allen Qualifier 1 | Referee |
| 12/18/2021 | FTC | NC Scrimmage | Referee |
| 1/29/2022 - 1/30/2022 | FTC | MD Middle River Qualifier 1 | Scorekeeper |
| 2/5/2022 - 2/6/2022 | FTC | VA Norfolk Qualifier 1 | Scorekeeper |
| 3/5/2022 - 3/6/2022 | FRC | CHS District Greater Richmond Series #1 | Referee |
| 3/19/2022 - 3/20/2022 | FRC | CHS District Greater Richmond Series #2 | Head Referee |
| 3/25/2022 - 3/27/2022 | FRC | FNC District Guilford County Event | Referee |
| 4/20/2022 - 4/23/2022 | FRC | FIRST Championship - FIRST Robotics Competition | Referee |
| 10/8/2022 | FRC | Blue Ridge Brawl | Head Referee |
| 10/22/2022 | FRC | CHSy Champs | Referee |
2022-2023 Season (16 Events; 20 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/10/2022 | FTC | NC FTC Kickoff | Referee |
| 12/3/2022 | FTC | CHS-VA Christiansburg Qualifier | Head Referee |
| 12/4/2022 | FTC | CHS-VA Mechanicsville Qualifier 2 | Referee |
| 12/10/2022 | FTC | CHS-VA Orange Qualifier | Referee |
| 12/11/2022 | FTC | CHS-VA Glen Allen Qualifier | Referee |
| 1/21/2023 | FTC | CHS-VA Harrisonburg Qualifier 1 | Head Referee |
| 1/22/2023 | FTC | CHS-VA Harrisonburg Qualifier 2 | Head Referee |
| 1/28/2023 | FTC | NC FTC Western MS | Head Referee |
| 2/5/2023 | FTC | CHS-MD Potomac Qualifier | Head Referee |
| 2/11/2023 | FTC | Chesapeake FTC Championship | Head Referee |
| 2/18/2023 | FTC | North Carolina FTC State Championship | Referee |
| 3/3/2023 - 3/5/2023 | FRC | CHS District Blacksburg VA Event | Referee |
| 3/17/2023 - 3/19/2023 | FRC | CHS District Portsmouth VA Event | Referee |
| 3/24/2023 - 3/26/2023 | FRC | CHS District Glen Allen VA Event | Referee |
| 3/31/2023 - 4/2/2023 | FRC | FIRST North Carolina District State Championship | Referee |
| 7/22/2023 | FTC | LOKI | Referee |
2023-2024 Season (12 Events; 13 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/9/2023 | FTC | CHS-VA SWVA Kick Off | Head Referee, Head Referee |
| 10/28/2023 | FTC | CHS-VA FTC Pre-season SWVA Scrimmage | Head Referee |
| 12/2/2023 | FTC | CHS-VA Christiansburg Qualifier | Head Referee |
| 1/14/2024 | FTC | CHS-VA Charlottesville Qualifier Stage Left | Head Referee, Robot Inspector, Field Inspector |
| 1/20/2024 | FTC | CHS-VA Harrisonburg 1 Qualifier Stage Right | Head Referee |
| 1/21/2024 | FTC | CHS-VA Harrisonburg 2 Qualifier Stage Right | Head Referee |
| 1/27/2024 | FTC | NC FTC Salem Academy (Sat) | Head Referee, Lead Robot Inspector |
| 1/28/2024 | FTC | NC FTC Salem Academy (Sun) | Head Referee, Lead Robot Inspector, Scorekeeper |
| 2/3/2024 | FTC | Chesapeake FTC Championship | Head Referee |
| 2/6/2024 | FTC | NC FTC Dean's List Interview Only 2023-2024 | Dean's List Interviewer |
| 2/24/2024 | FTC | NC FTC Championship | Referee |
| 3/1/2024 - 3/3/2024 | FRC | CHS District Blacksburg VA Event | Head Referee |
2024-2025 Season (8 Events; 0 Days)
| Event Date | Program | Event | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/23/2024 | FTC | Charlottesville VA Qualifier | Head Referee |
| 11/24/2024 | FTC | DCI #2 Qualifier | Referee |
| 12/8/2024 | FTC | Gaithersburg MD Qualifier | Referee |
| 12/15/2024 | FTC | Glen Allen VA #2 Qualifier | Referee |
| 1/25/2025 | FTC | Moorefield WV Qualifier | Lead Scorekeeper, Referee |
| 1/26/2025 | FTC | Bassett VA Qualifier | Head Referee |
| 2/8/2025 | FTC | Chesapeake Championship | Head Referee |
| 3/21/2025 - 3/23/2025 | FRC | CHS District Blacksburg VA Event presented by Volvo | Head Referee |