Biography
Dr. Jingnan Xie is a theoretical computer scientist specializing in formal languages, automata theory, computational complexity, computable analysis, and algorithm analysis. He is currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Millersville University, where he continues to advance research in theoretical computer science.
Before joining Millersville, Dr. Xie was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Thiel College (2017–2020). He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University at Albany, SUNY, in 2017, advised by Dr. Harry B. Hunt, III, with Dr. Richard E. Stearns —a 1993 Turing Award laureate—serving on his dissertation committee. Collaborating with these distinguished scholars has profoundly shaped his research, which explores computational parallels among automata theory, the theory of real functions, and quantum computing.
Together with Dr. Hunt and Dr. Stearns, Dr. Xie has published in world‑leading journals such as Theoretical Computer Science, Acta Informatica, and Theory of Computing Systems, underscoring the significance and broad impact of his contributions. He also serves as a reviewer for leading journals in the field, including Natural Computing (Springer) and Information and Computation (Elsevier).
Academic Genealogy
I recently learned a term "academic genealogy" which is very interesting to me. It organizes a family tree of scholars according to their Ph.D. supervision relationships. My Ph.D. advisor was Harry B. Hunt, III, whose other students include Madhav Marathe, Sandeep Shukla, and Jonathan Stillman. Harry's Ph.D. advisor was John E. Hopcroft. Interestingly, this makes Alfred Aho an "uncle" of mine since he was also John's Ph.D. student. I never thought I have a connection with Aho like this.
The most interesting part I found from the tree is, according to the American Mathematical Society's Mathematics Genealogy Project, I am a Ph.D. descendant of the two greatest mathematicians of all time — Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss. The paths are:
- Leonhard Euler → Joseph Louis Lagrange → Simeon Poisson → Gustav Dirichlet → Rudolf Lipschitz → C. Felix Klein → C. L. Ferdinand Lindemann → Arnold Sommerfeld → Ernst Guillemin → William Linvill → Bernard Widrow → Richard Mattson → John Hopcroft → Harry B. Hunt, III → me;
- Carl Friedrich Gauss → Christian Ludwig Gerling → Julius Plücker → Felix Christian Klein → C. L. Ferdinand Lindemann → Arnold Sommerfeld → Ernst Guillemin → William Linvill → Bernard Widrow → Richard Mattson → John Hopcroft → Harry B. Hunt, III → me.
It's incredible to see how these Mathematics Giants are connected to my academic journey!
Schedule
| Course | Mon | Tue | Wed | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSCI 366 | 10:00‑10:50 | 10:00‑11:50 | 10:00‑10:50 | |
| Office Hour | 11:00‑12:00 | 12:00‑01:00 | 01:00‑03:00 | 11:00‑12:00 |
| CSCI 362 | 12:00‑12:50 | 11:00‑12:50 | 12:00‑12:50 | |
| CSCI 421 | 02:00‑02:50 | 01:05‑02:55 | 02:00‑02:50 |
Office Hours
If you find that there is no way for you to meet with me during my scheduled office hours, please email me and we can make something work out.
Contact Information
Jingnan Xie
Department of Computer Science
142 Roddy Hall
Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Millersville, PA 17551
jingnan [dot] xie [at] millersville [dot] edu
News
- 08/2025, Paper accepted in Cluster Computing (Springer):
Co‑authored by Dr. Xie, “Leveraging Intra‑ and Inter‑References in Vulnerability Detection Using Multi‑Agent Collaboration Based on LLMs” has been accepted for publication. Cluster Computing is a Q1 Springer journal in distributed and cloud computing with a 2024 Impact Factor of 4.1. - 07/2025, Dr. Xie promoted to Associate Professor effective 08/2025.
- 06/2025, Dr. Xie Invited to Review for Mathematical Reviews:
Dr. Xie Honored with Invitation to Serve as Reviewer for American Mathematical Society (AMS) Mathematical Reviews - 05/2025, Dr. Xie awarded the PASSHE 25‑26 FPDC Grant:
Project titled "Advancing Quantum Computing: Bridging Automata Theory and Quantum Models for Next Generation Computational Breakthroughs" received funding of $10,000 - 03/2025, Dr. Xie received the 2025 PACISE Best Faculty Paper Award:
Paper titled "MAKING QUANTUM COMPUTING ACCESSIBLE: A path for CS majors" - 03/2025, Emily Riley accepted to Ph.D. program:
An outstanding advisee of Dr. Xie, Emily Riley has been accepted to the Ph.D. program at NC State University with full assistantship support