Lizhi Liao

Assistant Professor of Computer Science
St. John's, NL, Canada

Hi there! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). Prior to joining MUN, I received my Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, under the supervision of Dr. Weiyi Shang.

My general research area is Software Engineering. In particular, my main research focuses on improving (AI) software performance and developing fast and efficient software in fast-paced development and release practices (e.g., DevOps). My detailed research interests include software performance engineering, web GUI testing, and AI software system quality.

I am currently seeking highly self-motivated Ph.D., Master's, and Undergraduate research students to work with me. If you are interested, please submit your application here.

Publications

    Lizhi Liao, Simon Eismann, Heng Li, Cor-Paul Bezemer, Diego Elias Costa, André van Hoorn, and Weiyi Shang. "Early Detection of Performance Regressions by Bridging Local Performance Data and Architectural Models." The 47th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2025). LINK PDF
    🏆 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award

    Haonan Zhang, Lizhi Liao, Zishuo Ding, Weiyi Shang, Nidhi Narula, Catalin Sporea, Andrei Toma, and Sarah Sajedi. "Towards a Robust Waiting Strategy for Web GUI Testing for an Industrial Software System." The 39th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE 2024), Industry Track. LINK PDF

    Yuanjie Xia, Lizhi Liao, Jinfu Chen, Heng Li, and Weiyi Shang. "Reducing the Length of Field-Replay Based Load Testing." IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE 2024). LINK PDF

    Lizhi Liao, Heng Li, Weiyi Shang, Catalin Sporea, Andrei Toma, and Sarah Sajedi. "Adapting Performance Analytic Techniques in a Real-World Database-Centric System: An Industrial Experience Report." The 31st ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE 2023), Industry Track. LINK PDF

    Lizhi Liao. "Addressing Performance Regressions in DevOps: Can We Escape from System Performance Testing?" The 45th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2023), Doctoral Symposium. LINK PDF

    Simon Eismann, Diego Elias Costa, Lizhi Liao, Cor-Paul Bezemer, Weiyi Shang, André van Hoorn, and Samuel Kounev. "A Case Study on the Stability of Performance Tests for Serverless Applications." Journal of Systems and Software (JSS 2022). LINK PDF

    Lizhi Liao, Heng Li, Weiyi Shang, and Lei Ma. "An Empirical Study of the Impact of Hyperparameter Tuning and Model Optimization on the Performance Properties of Deep Neural Networks." ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM 2022). LINK PDF

    Lizhi Liao, Jinfu Chen, Heng Li, Yi Zeng, Weiyi Shang, Catalin Sporea, Andrei Toma, and Sarah Sajedi. "Locating Performance Regression Root Causes in the Field Operations of Web-based Systems: An Experience Report." IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE 2021). LINK PDF

    Lizhi Liao, Jinfu Chen, Heng Li, Yi Zeng, Weiyi Shang, Jianmei Guo, Catalin Sporea, Andrei Toma, and Sarah Sajedi. "Using Black-Box Performance Models to Detect Performance Regressions under Varying Workloads: An Empirical Study." Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE 2020). LINK PDF

Teaching

Instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland

    COMP 6905: Software Engineering (2025 Fall)

    AI 6001: Topics in Artificial Intelligence (2025 Winter)

    AI 6002: Capstone for Artificial Intelligence (2024 Fall)

Guest Lecturer at the University of Waterloo

    SE 464: Software Design and Architectures (2024 Fall)
    Topic: Software Architectural Models

    ECE 453: Software Testing, Quality Assurance, and Maintenance (2024 Winter)
    Topic: Software Load Testing

About

Academic Services

Industrial Experiences

    Research Intern (May 2019 – Aug. 2024)
    ERA Environmental Management Solutions, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Software Developer Intern (Jan. 2019 - May 2019)
    Nakisa, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Awards

    ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for "Early Detection of Performance Regressions by Bridging Local Performance Data and Architectural Models" at ICSE 2025, Ottawa, Canada

    International Doctoral Student Award, University of Waterloo, 2023, 2024

    University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo, 2024

    Electrical & Computer Engineering International Doctoral Student Award, University of Waterloo, 2023, 2024

    Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award, University of Waterloo, 2023

    ACM SIGSOFT CAPS Travel Award, ACM SIGSOFT, 2021, 2022, 2023

    Concordia University Conference and Exposition Award, Concordia University, 2022, 2023

    Concordia GSA Conference Award, Concordia University, 2022, 2023

    Concordia International Tuition Award of Excellence, Concordia University, 2019

Hobbies

    I love snowboarding, playing the guitar, and taking long-distance road trips (I once drove across Canada).

Contact

You can reach me via:

    E-mail: lizhi {DOTs} liao {ATs} mun {DOTs} ca

    Location: EN 2011, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada, A1C 5S7