PhD Researcher · Requirements Engineering
Alexander
Korn
University of Duisburg-Essen · Chair for Software Systems Engineering
I research requirements smells and prompt smells, investigating how quality issues in requirements specifications and LLM prompts affect downstream software engineering tasks.
About Me
I am a PhD researcher in Software Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen, working under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Andreas Vogelsang at the Chair for Software Systems Engineering. My doctoral research focuses on understanding and detecting quality issues in requirements specifications and LLM prompts.
My work explores the concept of "smells", patterns that indicate potential quality problems, in two related domains: traditional requirements engineering and the emerging field of prompt engineering for generative AI. I investigate how requirements smells and prompt smells affect the quality of downstream software engineering tasks, from code generation to test case creation.
Beyond my primary research, I collaborate with industry partners on practical applications of my findings. I am committed to open science and share tools and datasets developed during my research.
Chair for Software Systems Engineering
Research Areas
Requirements Smells
Identifying and categorizing linguistic and structural patterns in requirements specifications that indicate potential quality problems affecting downstream development activities.
Prompt Smells
Investigating quality issues in prompts for large language models and how these "prompt smells" impact the effectiveness and reliability of AI-generated outputs in SE tasks.
LLMs in Software Engineering
Studying how requirements and prompt quality affect downstream SE tasks performed by LLMs, including code generation, test case creation, and documentation.
Selected Publications
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Get in Touch
I'm always open to discussing new research directions, potential collaborations, or simply exchanging ideas about requirements engineering. Whether you're a fellow researcher, an industry partner exploring research collaborations, or just interested in what I'm doing — feel free to reach out.