 Professor Leveson started a new area of research, software safety, which is  concerned with the problems of building software for real-time systems  where failures can result in loss of life or property.  One advantage of  this topic is that nobody questions its goals, except for a few misanthropes (who don't matter anyway).  She and her students have recently produced a formal requirements specification for TCAS II, a real collision-avoidance  system required on all commercial aircraft in U.S. airspace.  One of the  lessons she has learned from this project is never to do anything like it  again.  The FAA seems pleased with it though and has adopted it as their official specification.  She and her students are currently working on  doing a safety analysis of the specified behavior of TCAS.  She claims that you should not read anything into the fact that she has been taking the train  a lot lately.   The <a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/projects/safety/www">Safety Research Project</a> is now also working on modeling and analysis of  automated highways, automobiles, and various aerospace systems.  Subtopics in this research area include  modeling and analysis of safety, specification, safe software design,  software fault tolerance, and verification and validation of safety. <P>
