Profiles

Robert Yacobellis

About

Dr. Yacobellis joined our department as an Instructor of Computer Science in 2009 after teaching Managerial Statistics in the Loyola Quinlan School of Business during the summer of that year. Dr. Yacobellis received his PhD in Information Sciences at the University of Chicago in 1973 under the direction of Professor Joseph Goguen, specializing in applications of Category Theory to computer science. He subsequently earned an Executive MBA at the University of Chicago in 1983 (XP50).

Dr. Yacobellis has had over 40 years of industry experience in software at AT&T Bell Laboratories (before it became Lucent and was acquired by Alcatel) and at Motorola, ranging from telecom, operating system, and software lifecycle tool development to software quality assurance, process improvement, and metrics, including applications of Six Sigma® to software. He has worked extensively with both industry and academic leaders in software, including Professors Victor Basili (UMd), Professor Janos Sztipanovits (Vanderbilt), Professor Barry Boehm (USC), and Professor CV Ramamoorthy (UC Berkeley). During his career Dr. Yacobellis has advised universities on industry-based changes to software curricula, and designed, developed, and taught several industry courses on subjects ranging from software engineering to quality and process improvement.

Research Interests

Dr. Yacobellis’ research interests include data-driven software improvement; software process specification and enactment; principles of effective organization culture change; advanced software quality practices and technologies; software metrics theory, design, implementation, and improvement; cycle time reduction via Agile and Lean methods; mathematical and cognitive techniques for improving software user experience; and measurement and improvement of software complexity and productivity.