Prof. Luke Ong
Biography
Professor Ong holds a B.A. in Mathematics (1984, Triple First), a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science (1985, Distinction) from Trinity College, University of Cambridge; and a PhD in Computer Science (1988) from Imperial College, University of London. He joined NTU as a Distinguished University Professor in August 2022 and was appointed Vice President (Research) in January 2023. Prior to joining NTU, he was Lecturer then Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford (1994-2022); Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (1994- 2022); and Prize Research Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge (1988-1994).
Professor Ong’s research is broad, ranging across semantics of computation, programming languages, verification, logic and algorithms. Professor Ong is one of the leading figures and inventors of game semantics and its applications. His solution (with Hyland) to the PCF Full Abstraction Problem opened up the field of game semantics; and their constructions, known as Hyland-Ong games, have become standard notions in the semantics of programming languages. Professor Ong is also known for his pioneering contribution in the field of verification: his LICS 2006 paper co-initiated higher-order model checking, a new branch of algorithmic verification that combines ideas and methods from semantics with automata-theoretic and allied techniques in automatic verification, with applications to the verification of higher-order programs. His current research interests include computer and cyber security, higher-order logic and satisfiability modulo theories, and probabilistic programming.
Professor Ong was General Chair (2013-2015) of the ACM / IEEE Logic in Computer Science (LiCS), and Founding Vice Chair (2014-2019) of the ACM Special Interest Group in Logic and Computation. He is the joint winner of the ACM / EATCS Alonzo Church Award 2017 for Outstanding Contributions to Logic and Computation. He is a recipient of the President of the Republic of Singapore Scholarship in 1981.