About me
My name is Martin and I am originally from Sofia, Bulgaria where I was born and grew up. I am a Full Professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich where I lead the Secure, Reliable, and Intelligent Systems Lab. I am also the Founder and Architect of INSAIT, the first world-class research center in computer science and artificial intelligence in Eastern Europe, created in partnership with ETH Zurich and EPFL. Prior to ETH, I was a Research Staff Member at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York, USA (2007 - 2011). I obtained my PhD from the University of Cambridge, England (2003-2008). I obtained my B.Sc. from Simon Fraser University (SFU) , Canada (1996-2001). Before that I studied at the Sofia High School of Mathematics (SMG) .
You can find a short CV here: CV.My work spans the broad intersection of artificial intelligence and programming languages, including both theoretical and system aspects. I have given a number of invited and keynote talks on these topics at various conferences and workshops (see for example 
, ). With my group we also built a number of systems, widely used in academia and industry, including the creation of the first high-level quantum programming language Silq: .
I have also co-founded three deep tech start-ups based on ground breaking research, all of which are positively impacting our world. First, I co-founded DeepCode which built a revolutionary AI system that automatically learned to detect security violations and errors in programs at a scale far beyond what was previously possible. DeepCode was initiated after my group helped shape the research area of AI for code, part of ERC Starting Grant: AI for Programming Interview for the ERC. DeepCode was acquired in 2020 by the unicorn cybersecurity giant Snyk. I also co-founded ChainSecurity which was also acquired in 2020 by PwC and which was the first to bring formal trust and mathematical securitity guarantees to decentralized systems via advanced automated reasoning. Finally, in 2020, I co-founded LatticeFlow which is creating new kinds of systems that enable development of robust, reliable and safe AI models, solving a pressing societal problem.
My research has received numerous awards and recognitions including the
ACM SIGPLAN Robin Milner
Young Researcher Award for major contributions to the area of
programming languages, Distinguished Paper Awards (ACM CCS 2022, RV, OOPSLA), SIGPLAN
Research Highlight, CACM Research Highlight, ERC Starting Grant, ERC
Consolidator Grant, Google and Facebook Faculty Research Awards, Outstanding
Artifact Award (OOPSLA), IBM Research Division Award, IBM Extraordinary
Accomplishment Award (awarded by John Kelly, IBM Senior Vice President and
Director of IBM Research), IBM Research Outstanding Project Award, John
Atanasoff Award, awarded by the President of Bulgaria (Photo, National TV:
), IBM Invention and Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards,
University Scholarships (SFU, Cambridge), and others.
I was the Program Chair for ACM PLDI'17, a top conference in programming languages and systems, and served on the SIGPLAN steering committee, SIGPLAN research highlights committee and the SIGPLAN Doctoral Dissertation Award committee.
I have also spoken on topics related to artificial intelligence, democratizing science, research and innovation at various events including the European Parliament and the launch of Horizon Europe (a 90+ billion euro program):