Researchers in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Mathematics and Computational Research Division (AMCR), Xiaoye (Sherry) Li and James Demmel, were honored with a Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Symposium on Computer Arithmetic (ARITH 2025) for their paper, “EXCVATE: Spoofing Exceptions and Solving Constraints to Test Exception Handling in Numerical Libraries.” They share the award with co-authors Jackson Vanover and Cindy Rubio-Gonzalez of UC Davis.

“It’s truly an honor to be recognized by our peers at ARITH 2025,” said Li, who leads the Scalable Solvers Group in AMCR. “This award highlights the importance of ensuring reliability in scientific computing, and I’m proud of our team’s work advancing tools that make complex software more robust.”

EXCVATE is the team’s new mathematical software tool for testing the reliability of scientific computing programs, which are essential in everything from advanced manufacturing to artificial intelligence. Scientific software often relies on complex numerical libraries, where rare or unexpected calculation errors can lead to subtle bugs or incorrect results if not managed properly. EXCVATE addresses this challenge by automatically generating test cases that trigger and expose hidden problems in exception handling, enabling developers to identify and fix vulnerabilities before they impact real-world research. By strengthening the dependability of critical computational tools, EXCVATE helps protect the integrity of scientific and engineering discovery across a wide range of disciplines.

Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, ARITH is the premier international conference for researchers to present cutting-edge work and drive innovation in computer arithmetic, fueling progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. This year’s conference was held from May 4 to 7 in El Paso, Texas.