Nick Feng

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About

Nick Feng is a rising authority in the engineering of socially responsible software, with a focused research program on **normative non-functional requirements (N-NFRs)** and the formal analysis of **SLEEC (Social, Legal, Ethical, Empathetic, and Cultural) norms**. His work addresses a critical gap: how to rigorously specify, debug, and verify the value-laden constraints that autonomous systems—from assistive robots to healthcare chatbots—must obey. Feng’s major contribution is the development of automated reasoning techniques that treat normative requirements as first-class citizens. His most impactful work, “Analyzing and Debugging Normative Requirements via Satisfiability Checking” (2024, 13 citations), pioneers the use of SAT solvers to detect conflicts and gaps in these specifications, moving their validation from subjective review to formal logic. He also created the **LEGOS-SLEEC tool** (2025), a practical platform that allows engineers to formalize and analyze these complex requirements. Though early in his career, Feng’s work is foundational for the emerging field of value-sensitive software engineering, providing the computational backbone needed to ensure that future autonomous systems are not just functional, but also ethically aligned.