UM-Dearborn professor Marouane Kessentini founded Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) research lab five years ago with the goal of innovative software development. Now, through a partnership with software company Sema, Kessentini is seeing the impact the SBSE lab is making for the university, in students’ lives, and in the software industry. Through the partnership, the U-M Office of Technology Transfer licensed four of the lab’s projects; Sema also has given funding for the lab to continue research and development efforts.
The lab’s research—which is related to refactoring, testing, migration, and technical debt—enables industry programmers to focus on building better software because the time they spend performing software maintenance is reduced. Sema CEO Matthew Van Itallie said he searched the globe for experts in efficient software maintenance, and Kessentini’s name frequently appeared in publications. “We could not be more excited to work with Kessentini, UM-Dearborn, and the entire Michigan community to make it happen,” Van Itallie said.
Sema CEO Matthew Van Itallie gives updates about the SBSE lab/Sema partnership while visiting campus. (UM-Dearborn)
