University: University of Technology Sydney
Academic supervisors: Yulei Sui
Industry partner: DFCRC
Academic Background and Work Experience
Pei undertook his PhD studies at UTS, earning a degree in Information Technology. For the past two years, he has been researching static analysis algorithms, specifically in Context-Free Language Reachability. His current research focuses on implementing practical static analysis tools for smart contracts. He is enthusiastic about using his knowledge in this field to help enhance the security and usability of digital finance.
Thesis Topic
Static analysis of smart contracts for exploit detection
Context-free language reachability (CFL-reachability) is a fundamental framework for implementing various static analyses. CFL-reachability utilizes context-free grammar (CFG) to extend the expressiveness of ordinary graph reachability from an unlabeled graph to an edge-labelled graph. Solving CFL-reachability requires a (sub)cubic time complexity with respect to the graph size. An approach that can effectively reduce the graph size while maintaining the reachability result is highly desirable. Most of the existing graph simplification techniques for CFL-reachability (e.g., through merging equivalent nodes/edges on graphs) only work during the preprocessing stage, i.e., before dynamic CFL-reachability solving. However, in practice, there is a large proportion of equivalence relations only appear during dynamic reachability solving, leaving significant room for improvement during on-the-fly analysis.
About DFCRC
The DFCRC brings together stakeholders in FinTech, industry, research and regulation to develop and capitalise on the huge commercial opportunities arising from the next transformation of financial markets.