Iris Ma

About Me

I am a PhD candidate in Software Engineering at UC Irvine, working with Cristina Videira Lopes on AI for reliable software engineering. My work spans LLM memorization and hallucination detection, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), verified program synthesis with Dafny, and query-adaptive fusion methods for production search ranking.

I received a B.S. in Agronomy and Computer Science at Iowa State University. I worked as an undergraduate research assistant at Laboratory for Software Design with Hridesh Rajan and Robert Dyer on an ultra-large data mining project.

Research Interests

LLM Memorization & Hallucination Detection
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Verified Program Synthesis
Information Retrieval & Search Ranking

Education

Ph.D. in Software Engineering
University of California, Irvine · current
M.S. in Software Engineering
University of California, Irvine · 2026
B.S. in Agronomy, Computer Science
Iowa State University · 2022

Experience

Research Assistant Sep 2022 – Present · Irvine, CA

Mondego Lab, UC Irvine

Applied Scientist Intern Jun 2026 – Sep 2026 · Remote

Thomson Reuters

Applied Scientist Intern Jun 2025 – Sep 2025 · Eagan, MN

Thomson Reuters

Software Engineer Intern Jun 2023 – Sep 2023 · Johnston, IA

Corteva Agriscience

Research Assistant May 2021 – May 2022 · Ames, IA

Laboratory for Software Design, ISU

Publications

Optimal Fusion Weights Form Intervals, Not Points: A Latency-Aware Study of Query-Adaptive WRRF

Iris Ma, Zahra Shekarchi, Stuart Mcilroy, Mahtab Farrokh, Fattane Zarrinkalam, Joel Stremmel · Aug 2026 · Under Review

VeriAct: Beyond Verifiability -- Agentic Synthesis of Correct and Complete Formal Specifications

Md Rakib Hossain Misu, Iris Ma, Cristina Videira Lopes · Mar 2026 · Under Review

Memorization: A Close Look at Books

Iris Ma, Ian Domingo, Alberto Krone-Martins, Pierre Baldi, Cristina Videira Lopes · Aug 2025 · ACL L2M2 2025, Vienna, Austria

Development of a CDH-Specific Conversational Assistant Using RAG

Vanessa Klotzman, Cristina Videira Lopes, John Schomberg, Yostina S. Armanyous, Danielle Linden, Iris Ma · May 2025 · IPLDSC 2025

Integrating AI Tutors in a Programming Course

Iris Ma, Alberto Krone Martins, Cristina Videira Lopes · Jul 2024 · SIGCSE Virtual

Towards AI-Assisted Synthesis of Verified Dafny Methods

Md Rakib Hossain Misu, Cristina Videira Lopes, Iris Ma, James Noble · Feb 2024 · FSE, Porto de Galinhas, Brazil

Commit Messages in the Age of Large Language Models

Cristina Videira Lopes, Vanessa I. Klotzman, Iris Ma, Iftekar Ahmed · Jan 2024 · arXiv 2024

Improving the Quality of Commit Messages in Students’ Projects

Iris Ma, Cristina Videira Lopes · May 2023 · ICSE SEENG, Melbourne, Australia

Honors & Awards

University of California, Irvine

[2024] Beall Applied Innovation's Graduate Innovation Fellowship ($5,000)
[2024] I-Corps Program ($5,000)
[2024] Beall Applied Innovation's Proof-of-Product Grant ($48,000)
[2023] ESEC/FSE Conference Travel Fund ($2,450)
[2022] New Ph.D. Student Fellowship ($2,500)

Iowa State University

[2021] Robert and Cecile Mitchell Scholarship ($2,650)
[2021] International Incentive Scholarship ($1,500)
[2021] Global Scholars Award for Undergraduate Retention ($500)
[2020] International Incentive Scholarship ($1,500)
Dean's List Honors (10 times)

Mentoring

Shengdong Jiang

Undergraduate Student, University of Waterloo (Summer 2026 -- present)

Custo Yang

Undergraduate Student, UCI (Winter 2024 -- Spring 2025)

Derek Xu

Undergraduate Student, UCI (Winter 2024 -- Spring 2025)

Jianfeng Ma

Undergraduate Student, UCI (Winter 2024 -- Spring 2025)

Andy Anh-Huy Tonthat