I will present some thoughts about the culture of industrial research labs and the kind of research it encourages. I will also provide some suggestions for why you might consider and how you might prepare for a career in a research lab.

Bio: I’m a Researcher in the RiSE group at MSR Redmond. Earlier, I received my PhD from the University of Maryland in 2008. My work covers various topics including type systems, program logics, functional programming, program verification and interactive theorem proving. I often think about how to use these techniques to build provably secure programs, including web applications, web browsers, crypto protocol implementations, and low-level systems code. Many of my current projects connect somehow to F*, a programming language and verification tool for higher-order, effectful programs. You can learn more about F*, including trying an interactive tutorial, at https://fstar-lang.org F* is the main programming language used in the Everest expedition, a project that aims to build and deploy a verified, drop-in replacement of the HTTPS stack, a lynchpin of internet security. I co-lead Everest and the project includes researchers from MSR Redmond, MSR Cambridge, MSR India and INRIA Paris.