Asif Samir (He/Him)
I work with machine intelligence for software engineering
Researcher and Software Engineer building and evaluating AI tools and techniques grounded in human cognition.
Hi, I am
About Me
I’m a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University. I develop AI agents grounded in theories of cognition and cognitive debugging, drawing on cognitive psychology to understand how developers reason when they hunt for a bug. My focus is software bug localization: helping agents find the code behind a reported bug.
My work has appeared at top software engineering venues such as ICPC, ASE and FSE. One of my recent works, CogniGent, received the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at ICPC 2026.
Before starting my PhD, I was a founding member of Pipilika, the first Bengali search engine, where I did research and built NLP and retrieval tools for a language with 200M+ speakers. I then spent several years teaching and advising students at SUST, and I continue to teach, mentor and took part in reviewing for venues like ASE, ISSTA, and ICSME.
Here are my research areas and technologies:- AI Agents
- Cognition
- Cognitive Debugging
- Bug Localization
- Information Retrieval
- Large Language Models
Education
PhD Student in Computer Science
Dalhousie University, Canada
2022 - Present
Supervisor: Dr. Masud Rahman
B.Sc. (Engg.) in Computer Science and Engineering
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Ruhul Amin, Fordham University
Experience
Research Assistant - Dalhousie University
Sep 2022 - present
I’m a research assistant at Dalhousie University, where I build AI agents grounded in theories of human cognition. In particular, I try to develop tools and findings grounded in cognitive psychology to tackle software bug localization, the problem of finding the code responsible for a reported bug. My work studies how developers reason when they debug, and builds agents by mimicking that reasoning, from forming hypotheses to testing them against evidence.
Teaching Assistant & Marker - Dalhousie University
Sep 2022 - present
As a Teaching Assistant and Marker at Dalhousie University, I lead lab sessions, design assignments, manage Brightspace course platforms, and coordinate grading for machine learning and software engineering courses (e.g., CSCI 3151, 6515, 6308).
Instructor - Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT), SUST
I was an instructor at the Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT), SUST, where I:
- Designed and taught undergraduate courses such as Object-Oriented Programming, Data Structures, and Operating Systems.
- Supervised research and development projects for undergraduate students.
- Held administrative roles, including serving as a student advisor to guide and support students.
Research and Development Engineer - Pipilika, the first Bengali search engine
I was part of the team behind Pipilika, the first Bengali search engine, where I:
- Researched and developed tools focused on the Bengali language.
- Contributed to the development of Pipilika’s indexing and searching modules.
Supervisor: Dr. Ruhul Amin, Fordham University
Recent Publications
Towards AI-Powered Localization of Software Bugs: From Semantic Understanding to Agentic Cognition
Asif Samir
International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE), 2026
CogniGent: Improved Bug Localization with AI Agents Leveraging Hypothesis and Dynamic Cognition
Asif Samir
,
Masud Rahman
International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC), 2026
IQLoc: Improving IR-based Bug Localization with Semantics-Driven Query Reduction
Asif Samir
,
Masud Rahman
International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE)
Journal of Systems and Software (JSS), 2026
BRaIn: Improved IR-based Bug Localization with Intelligent Relevance Feedback
Asif Samir
,
Masud Rahman
International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC), 2025
Posters and Presentations
FSE 2026 Doctoral Symposium, Montreal
Presented my doctoral proposal on cognition-driven bug localization.
Jul, 2026
SEMLA 2026, Montreal
Poster on CogniGent, our agent that localizes bugs through hypotheses.
Jun, 2026
CSER 2025
Consortium for Software Engineering Research.
May, 2025
ICSE 2025, Ottawa
BRaIn: bug localization with intelligent relevance feedback.
Apr, 2025
Honors and Awards
Best Poster Award
CSER, 2025
ACM SIGSOFT CAPS Grant
2025
Champion, National Collegiate Software Competition
2011
Skills
Research & Development
- Software Engineering
Source Code Analysis
Bug Localization
Intelligent Debugging
Prompt Engineering
Information Retrieval
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Machine Learning (ML)
- Large Language Model (LLM)
AI Agents
Transformers
Deep Learning
Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
Programming Languages
- Python
Java
C/C++
Swift
JavaScript
C#
Frameworks & Libraries (ML/NLP)
- PyTorch
Hugging Face
TensorFlow
LangGraph
LangChain
vLLM
Scikit-learn
spaCy
NLTK
Pandas
NumPy
Search & Knowledge Graphs
- Elasticsearch
Lucene
Neo4j
Vector Search
Platforms & Tools
- MacOS
Linux
AWS
Compute Canada
Docker
Git
LaTeX
Database
- MySQL
SQLite
Firebase
MongoDB
Web Frameworks
- Django
Flask
Services
Peer Review
Took part in peer review for software engineering venues such as ICSME, ASE, ISSTA and ICSE
2023–Present
Leadership and Mentoring
Undergraduate Research Mentor, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie
2026
Executive Member, Computer Science Graduate Society (CSGS)
2023–2024
Assistant General Secretary, SUST Teachers Association
2021–2022
Student Advisor, IICT, SUST
2017–2022
Treasurer, Software Engineering Society, IICT
2017–2022
Co-Convenor, SUST Tech Fest
2019
News and Events
Apr, 2025
Personal Projects
Portfolio Website
Personal portfolio website built with Hugo to showcase projects, skills, and experience.
Hugo
Javascript
HTML/CSS
Certifications
Natural Language Processing
- deeplearning.ai
TensorFlow Developer Professional Certificate
- deeplearning.ai
Introduction to Agile Development and Scrum Coursera
- Coursera
Introduction to Test and Behavior Driven Development
- deeplearning.ai
