NCSU SOFTMAX
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North Carolina State University

SoftMax Lab

We transform complex Software Engineering problems into actionable solutions.

Publications

  1. Pankaj Manoharlal Thakur, Kyle Thomson, Wesley Assuncao, Bowen Xu. "Backporting in Robot Operating System: Identifying Commit Purpose and Propagation Need with Large Language Models." FORGE 2026 (Full Paper). Conference
  2. Jie Gao, Yue Xue, Xiaofei Xie, SoeMin Thant, Erika Lee, Bowen Xu. "Understanding Codebase like a Professional! Human-AI Collaboration for Code Comprehension." ICPC 2026 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  3. Hua Yang, Alejandro Velasco, Thanh Le-Cong, Md Nazmul Haque, Bowen Xu, Denys Poshyvanyk. "How Do Semantically Equivalent Code Transformations Impact Membership Inference on LLMs for Code?" ICSE 2026 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  4. Zhensu Sun, Haotian Zhu, Bowen Xu, Xiaoning Du, Li Li, David Lo. "Healer: Adaptive Self-Healing of Software Systems." Communications of the ACM (CACM), 2026. Journal
  5. Mohammad Sadegh Sheikhaei, Yuan Tian, Shaowei Wang, Bowen Xu. "A Large-Scale Empirical Evaluation of LLMs for Automated Self-Admitted Technical Debt Repayment." ACM TOSEM, 2026. Journal
  6. Md Nazmul Haque, Hua Yang, Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu. "How Quantization Impacts Privacy Risk on LLMs for Code?" AIware 2025. Link. Conference
  7. Yinan Wu, Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu, Bo Wang, Bach Le, David Lo. "Learning From the Best: What Makes Popular Hugging Face Models? A Registered Report." ICSME 2025 (Registered Reports). Link. Conference
  8. Chengran Yang, Jiakun Liu, Bowen Xu, Christoph Treude, Yunbo Lyu, Junda He, Ming Li, David Lo. "APIDocBooster: An Extract-Then-Abstract Framework Leveraging Large Language Models for Augmenting API Documentation." ICSME 2025 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  9. Saima Afrin, Antonio Mastropaolo, Bowen Xu. "Quantization Is Not a Dealbreaker: Empirical Insights from Large Code Models." ICSME 2025 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  10. Bo Wang, Chong Chen, Junjie Chen, Bowen Xu, Chen Ye, Youfang Lin, Guoliang Dong, Jun Sun. "A Comprehensive Study of OOP-Related Bugs in C++ Compilers." IEEE TSE, 2025. Journal
  11. Jieke Shi, Zhou Yang, Junda He, Bowen Xu, Dongsun Kim, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Finding Safety Violations of AI-Enabled Control Systems through the Lens of Synthesized Proxy Programs." ACM TOSEM, 2025. Journal
  12. Chen Gong, Zhou Yang, Yunpeng Bai, Junda He, Jieke Shi, Kecen Li, Arunesh Sinha, Bowen Xu, Xinwen Hou, David Lo, Tianhao Wang. "BAFFLE: Backdoor Attack in Offline Reinforcement Learning Datasets." IEEE S&P 2024. Link. Conference
  13. Xin Zhou, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Better Automatic Vulnerability Repair by Broadening Input Ranges and Sources." ICSE 2024 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  14. Junda He, Zhou Yang, Jieke Shi, Chengran Yang, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, Xin Zhou, David Lo. "Curiosity-Driven Testing for Sequential Decision-Making Process." ICSE 2024 (Full Paper). Conference
  15. Jieke Shi, Zhou Yang, Hong Jin Kang, Bowen Xu, Junda He, David Lo. "Greening Large Language Models of Code." ICSE 2024 SEIS (Full Paper). Conference
  16. Junda He, Bowen Xu, Zhou Yang, DongGyun Han, Chengran Yang, Jiakun Liu, Zhipeng Zhao, David Lo. "PTM4Tag+: Tag recommendation of Stack Overflow posts with pre-trained models." Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE), 2024. Journal
  17. Zhou Yang, Jieke Shi, Hilmi Asyrofi, Bowen Xu, Xin Zhou, DongGyun Han, David Lo. "Prioritizing Speech Test Cases." ACM TOSEM, 2024. Journal
  18. Mohammad Sadegh Sheikhaei, Yuan Tian, Shaowei Wang, Bowen Xu. "An Empirical Study on the Effectiveness of Large Language Models for SATD Identification and Classification." EMSE, 2024. Journal
  19. Xin Zhou, Bowen Xu, Kisub Kim, DongGyun Han, Nguyen Huu Hung, Thanh Le-Cong, Junda He, Bach Le, David Lo. "Leveraging Large Language Model for Automatic Patch Correctness Assessment." IEEE TSE, 2024. Journal
  20. Zhou Yang, Bowen Xu, Jie M. Zhang, Hong Jin Kang, Jieke Shi, Junda He, David Lo. "Stealthy Backdoor Attack for Code Models." IEEE TSE, 2024. Journal
  21. Bowen Xu, Thanh-Dat Nguyen, Thanh Le-Cong, Thong Hoang, Jiakun Liu, Kisub Kim, Chen Gong, Changan Niu, Chenyu Wang, Bach Le, David Lo. "Are We Ready to Embrace Generative AI for Software Q&A?" ASE 2023 (NIER). Link. Conference
  22. Xin Zhou, Bowen Xu, Donggyun Han, Zhou Yang, Junda He, David Lo. "Self-Supervised Code Change Representation Learning." ICSME 2023 (Full Paper). Link. Conference
  23. Xin Zhou, Kisub Kim, Bowen Xu, DongGyun Han, Junda He, David Lo. "Generation-based Code Review Automation: How Far Are We?" ICPC 2023 (Full Paper). Conference
  24. Junda He, Xin Zhou, Bowen Xu, Ting Zhang, Kisub Kim, Zhou Yang, Ferdian Thung, Ivana Irsan, David Lo. "Representation Learning for Stack Overflow Posts: How Far Are We?" ACM TOSEM, 2023. Link. Journal
  25. Truong Giang Nguyen, Thanh Le-Cong, Hong Jin Kang, Ratnadira Widyasari, Chengran Yang, Zhipeng Zhao, Bowen Xu, Jiayuan Zhou, Xin Xia, Ahmed Hassan, Xuan-Bach Le, David Lo. "Multi-Granularity Detector for Vulnerability Fixes." IEEE TSE, 2023. Link. Journal
  26. Ting Zhang, DongGyun Han, Venkatesh Vinayakarao, Ivana Irsan, Bowen Xu, Ferdian Thung, David Lo, Lingxiao Jiang. "Duplicate Bug Report Detection: How Far Are We?" ACM TOSEM, 2023. Link. Journal