Scott Hissam

Senior Member of Technical Staff

Key Responsibilities

Current responsibilities include the investigation and transition of technologies, techniques and methodologies supporting product line systems. Our project, Predictable Assembly from Certifiable Components (PACC), is currently developing various techniques to enable the building of systems from components in a manner that supports the prediction and analysis of emergent system properties.

I am pleased to announce that I have recently completed an book on open source software Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software published by MIT Press.

Also available is a book I co-wrote on Building Systems from Commercial Components published by Addison Wesley with co-authors Kurt Wallnau and Robert Seacord.

Professional Background

Mr. Hissam has 23 years of software development experience in industry, defense and research. Mr. Hissam's principal areas of expertise include component-based software engineering, distributed applications, software and systems engineering, networking protocols, and operating system internals. Prior to his current work, Mr. Hissam's research focus was on technologies, techniques and methodologies for using Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software in large system integration projects and demonstrate the ability to migrate and evolve legacy systems into a highly distributed system.

Mr. Hissam was Lead Software Engineer with Lockheed Martin's, Global Transportation Network (GTN) World-Wide Web Interface, a project sponsored by US TRANSCOM to provide access to logistics data, in real-time, to authorized users throughout the world via the World-Wide Web. Prior, he was Chief Engineer/Program Manager, for the National Software Data and Information Repository (NSDIR), a project sponsored by the US Air Force to benchmark technologies and methodologies utilized in software-intensive projects through the collection and management of software product and process metrics data. Responsible for project management of fourteen software engineers and technical oversight of project design and development for distributed, heterogeneous access to software metrics databases. Unique aspects of this project required direct and constant contact with customer for requirements definition and rapid prototyping.

Before joining Lockheed Martin Mr. Hissam was a Senior Software Engineering for Bell Atlantic Software Systems where he developed remote power monitoring system devices via common dial-up communication switched-networks from a distributed UNIX environment. There, he also lead a team of engineers in the development of a expert system shell for the Microsoft Windows environment. Prior to Bell Atlantic, Mr. Hissam worked as a computer analyst for the Department of Defense where he maintained UNIX and XENIX kernel system code including existing device drivers and applications. Additionally, he performed extensive development of TCP/IP and UDP/IP applications, highlighted via implementation of server NFS for AT&T UNIX System V and IBM XENIX. Developed IBM 3270 terminal emulator for various networking topologies.

Publications (recent or significant)

Chaki, Sagar & Hissam, Scott, Certifying the Absence of Buffer Overflows. CMU/SEI-2006-TN-030), September, 2006.
Scacchi, W., Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S., Lakhani, K., (eds.), Special Issue on Free or Open Source Software Development (F/OSSD) Projects, Software Process: Improvement and Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., DOI: 10.1002/spip.278, Volume 11, Issue 2, Pages 93-211 (March/April 2006), May 2006.
Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S., Lakhani, K., Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-06246-1, June 2005.
Kurt Wallnau, Scott Hissam, Robert Seacord, Building Systems from Commercial Components, Addison-Wesley, June 2001, ISBN: 0201700646.

Books and Book Chapters

Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S., Lakhani, K., Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-06246-1, June 2005.
Wallnau, K., Hissam, S., Seacord, R., Building Systems from Commercial Components, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0201700646, June 2001.
Seacord, R., Hissam, S., Wallnau, C., Component Web Search Engines, Appearing in Handbook of Internet Computing, CRC Press, ISBN 084930086X, June 2000.

Journal Papers

Scacchi, W., Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S., Lakhani, K., (eds.), Special Issue on Free or Open Source Software Development (F/OSSD) Projects, Software Process: Improvement and Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., DOI: 10.1002/spip.278, Volume 11, Issue 2, Pages 93-211 (March/April 2006), May 2006.
Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S., Lakhani, K. and Scacchi, W. ‘Open Source Application Spaces: The 5th Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering (Workshop Report)’. Software Engineering Notes.30:6. November 2005.
Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S. and Lakhani, K. ’Collaboration, Conflict and Control: The 4th Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering (Workshop Report)’. Software Engineering Notes.30:3. May 2005.
Hissam, S.A., "Predictable Assembly From Certifiable Components."; CrossTalk The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Software Technology Support Center, Utah. June 2004
Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S. and Lakhani, K. ’Taking Stock of the Bazaar: The 3rd Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering (Workshop Report)’. Software Engineering Notes.28:6. November 2003.
Hissam, S.A., Moreno, G.A., Stafford, J.A., Wallnau, K.C., "Enabling Predictable Assembly."; Journal of Systems and Software: Special Issue on Component-Based Software Engineering. Elsevier Science Inc., New York, ISSN: 0164-1212. March 2003; 65(3):185-198.
Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hecker, F., Hissam, S., Lakhani, K., and van der Hoek, A. ‘Meeting Challenges and Surviving Success: The 2nd Workshop on Open Source Software Engineering (Workshop Report)’. Software Engineering Notes27:5. pp 69-71. September 2002.
Hissam, S. Moreno, G., Stafford, J., Wallnau, K.; "Proceedings of the IFIP/ACM Working Conference on Component Deployment." Springer-Verlag, London, UK, pp. 108-124 June 2002.
Hissam, S. Plakosh, D., Weinstock, C., "Trust and Vulnerability in Open Source Software." IEE Proceedings-Software 149, 1 February, 2002:47-51
Carney, D., Hissam, S., Plakosh, D., Complex COTS-based software systems: practical steps for their maintenance, Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., December 2000; 12(6):357-376.
Hissam, S., Carney, D., Isolating faults in complex COTS-based systems, Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., March 1999; 11(3):183-199.
Seacord, R., Hissam, S.A., and Wallnau, K.C., Agora: A Search Engine for Software Components. IEEE Internet Computing, 2: 6, November/December 1998, pgs. 62-70.
Seacord, R.C. & Hissam, S.A. Browsers for distributed systems: Universal paradigm or siren's Song?, World Wide Web Journal 1, Issue 4, Baltzer Science Publishers BV, December 1998, pp. 181-191.
Card, D.N., Hissam, S.A, Rosemeier R.T., National Software Data and Information Repository, CrossTalk, February 1996 Vol 9 Number 2, Software Technology Support Center.

Conference Papers

S.A. Hissam, G.A. Moreno, J.A. Stafford, K.C. Wallnau. "Packaging and Deploying Predictable Assembly.", Appearing in Proceedings IFIP/ACM Working Conference on Component Deployment (CD2002), Berlin, Germany, June 20-21, 2002, pp. 108-124
Moreno, Gabriel; Hissam, Scott; & Wallnau, Kurt. "Statistical Models for Empirical Component Properties and Assembly-Level Property Predictions: Toward Standard Labeling." Proceedings of the 5th ICSE Workshop on Component-Based Software Engineering, Orlando, Florida, May 2002.
Wallnau, K., Stafford, J., Hissam, S., Klein, M., "On the Relationship of Software Architecture to Software Component Technology", Proceedings of the 6thInternational Workshop on Component-Oriented Programming (WCOP6), Budapest, Hungary, June, 2001.
Long, Fred, Hissam, Scott A., Seacord, Robert C., and Robert, John, Securing Internet Sessions With Sorbet, Appearing in Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 18-21, 1999, pp. 2-8
Seacord, Robert C.; Wallnau, Kurt; Robert, John; Comella-Dorda, Santiago; and Hissam, Scott A., "Custom vs. Off-the-Shelf Architecture", Proceedings of 3rd International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference, (University of Mannheim, Germany) September 27-30, 1999.
Robert C. Seacord, Kurt Wallnau, Scott Hissam, "Custom vs. Vendor-Integrated COTS Software", Proceedings of the First Workshop on Ensuring Successful COTS Development, May 22 1999.

Technical Reports

Chaki, Sagar & Hissam, Scott, Certifying the Absence of Buffer Overflows. CMU/SEI-2006-TN-030), September, 2006
Hissam, Scott A.; Moreno, Gabriel A.; & Wallnau Kurt C., Using Containers to Enforce Smart Constraints for Performance in Industrial Systems. CMU/SEI-2005-TN-040), August, 2005
Hissam, Scott; Ivers, James; Plakosh, Daniel; Wallnau, Kurt. Pin Component Technology (V1.0) and Its C Interface. (CMU/SEI-2005-TN-001), April 2005.
Hissam, Scott; Klein, Mark; Lehoczky, John; Merson, Paulo; Moreno, Gabriel; & Wallnau, Kurt. Performance Property Theories for Predictable Assembly from Certifiable Components (PACC), CMU/SEI-2004-TR-017, September 2004.
Hissam, S., Klein, M.; A Model Problem for an Open Robotics Controller, CMU/SEI-2004-TN-030, July 2004.
Hissam, S., Hudak, J., Ivers, J., Klein, M., Larsson, M., Moreno, G., Northrop, L., Plakosh, D., Stafford, J., Wallnau, K., Wood, W., Predictable Assembly of Substation Automation Systems: An Experiment Report, Second Edition, CMU/SEI-2002-TR-031, September 2003.
Stafford, J., Hissam, S.; The Software Engineering Institute's Second Workshop on Predictable Assembly: Landscape of Compositional Predictability, CMU/SEI-2003-TN-029, June 2003.
Hissam, S., Ivers, J., Prediction-Enabled Component Technology (PECT) Infrastructure: A Rough Sketch, CMU/SEI-2002-TN-033, December 2002.
Cross, S., Forrester, E., Hissam, S., Kazman, R., Levine, L., Linger, R., Longstaff, T., Monarch, I., Smith, D., Wallnau, K., SEI Independent Research and Development Projects, CMU/SEI-2002-TR-023, October 2002.
Hissam, S.A., Moreno, G.A., Stafford, J., and Wallnau, K.C., Packaging Predictable Assembly with Prediction-Enabled Component Technology, CMU/SEI-2001-TR-024, November 2001.
Hissam, S.; Weinstock,C.; Plakosh, D.; & Asundi, J., Perspectives on Open Source Software, CMU/SEI-2001-TR-019, November 2001.
Seacord, Robert C.; Wallnau, Kurt; Robert, John; Comella-Dorda, Santiago; and Hissam, Scott A., Custom vs. Off-the-Shelf Architecture, CMU/SEI-99-TN-006, July 1999.
Long, F.; Hissam, S.; Seacord, R.; Robert, J., Securing Internet Sessions with Sorbet, CMU/SEI-99-TN-002, July 1999.
Hissam, S.A., Plakosh, D., COTS in the Real World: A Case Study in Risk Discovery and Repair, CMU/SEI-99-TN-003, June 1999.
Plakosh, D., Hissam, S.A., Wallnau, K.C., Into the Black Box: A Case Study in Obtaining Visibility into Commercial Software, CMU/SEI-99-TN-010, March 1999.
Hissam, S.A., Carney, D.J., Plakosh, D., Monograph Series - DoD Security Needs and COTS-Based Systems, September 1998.
Seacord, R., Hissam, S., Wallnau, K., Agora: A Search Engine for Software Components, CMU/SEI-98-TR-011, August 1998.
Seacord, R., Hissam, S., Browsers for Distributed Systems: Universal Paradigm or Siren's Song?, CMU/SEI-98-TR-010, July 1998.
Hissam, S.A., Carney, D.J., Monograph Series - Isolating Faults in Complex COTS-Based Systems., February1998.
Hissam, S.A., Monograph Series - Case Study: Correcting System Failure in a COTS Information System, October 1997.

Presentations and Tutorials

Merson, Paulo & Hissam, Scott. "Predictability by Construction." Conference on Object Oriented Programming Systems Languages and Applications, San Diego, CA, October 2005.
Presenter, "Predictable Assembly from Certifiable Components", Systems & Software Technology Conference, Hissam, S.A.; Salt Lake City, Utah, April 2004.
Presenter, "Packaging Predictable Assembly", First International IFIP/ACM Working Conference on Component Deployment (CD 2002),Hissam, S.A., Moreno, G.A., Stafford, J.A., Wallnau, K.C., Berlin, Germany, June2002.
Presenter, "Building Systems from Commercial Components" (tutorial), 24th International Conference on Software Engineering, Hissam, S.A., Seacord, R.C., Lewis, Orlando, FL, May 2002.
Presenter, "Peering into the Black Box: It Takes a Thief" (tutorial), Proceedings of the 1999 Software Engineering Symposium, Hissam, S.A., Plakosh, D., Seacord, R.C., Pittsburgh, PA., August, 1999.
Presenter, "Internet Browsers: Inhibitors or Obstacles in Distributed System Design" Proceedings of the 1998 Software Engineering Symposium, Hissam, S.A., Pittsburgh, PA., September 1998.
Author, "Agora: Components for the Open Marketplace", Proceedings of the 1998 Software Engineering Symposium, Wallnau, K., Hissam, S., and Seacord, R., Pittsburgh, PA, September 1998.
Presenter, "Integration Fantasia: Half Day Tutorial on Integration Issues With Distributed Object Technology", Polze, A., Hissam, S., Plakosk, D., Seacord, R., and Wallnau,K., Proceedings of the 1997 Software Engineering Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, September 1997.
Presenter, "Practical Approaches to Integrating Off-The-Shelf Components: Concepts and Demonstrations Using Distributed Object Technology", Proceedings of the 1997 Software Engineering Symposium, Hissam, S.A., Plakosh, D., Polze, A., Seacord, R.C., Wallnau, K.C., Pittsburgh, PA., August 1997.
Presenter, "Objective CBS Insight", Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Assessment of Software Tools, Hissam, S.A., June 1997.
Presenter, "Experiences with Software Metrics Collection and Analysis with Potential Applications to Verification and Validation", Proceedings of the 7th Annual Software Technology Conference, Hissam, S.A., April1995.