Hazel Torek

About

Update: I’ll be applying to Ph.D. programs in the 2026 – 2027 cycle!

I’m a fourth-year honors student in computer science and math at Clemson University, advised by Dr. Paige Rodeghero and Dr. Jonathan Aldrich.

I also co-direct CUhackit, the student organization hosting Clemson’s annual hackathons. Check out our three upcoming events!

Research

I’m interested in making it easier for developers to build safe software and specify program behavior with types, using techniques from programming languages and software engineering.

Information Borrowing

Summer 2026 to Present

I’m currently working with Hemant Gouni and Jonathan Aldrich on designing approaches for elegantly handling mutable state in information flow type systems.

• Poster from the REUSE 2026 poster session.

Gradual Verification

Summer 2025 to Summer 2026

Gradual verification is a technique for program verification that decreases the specification burden and enables incremental development of specifications by allowing developers to write explicitly partial specifications that are backed by run-time checks.

During Summer 2025, I worked with Long Tien Nguyen and Jonathan Aldrich on expanding the practicality of gradual verification by formalizing and proving the soundness of unfolding expressions and pure functions.

• Preprint. Gradually Verifying Unfolding Expressions & Pure Functions. Hazel Torek, Long Tien Nguyen, Priyam Gupta, Jenna DiVincenzo, and Jonathan Aldrich. [arXiv]
• IWACO 2025. Unfolding Expressions for Gradual Verification. Hazel Torek, Long Tien Nguyen, and Jonathan Aldrich. [Slides] [Video]
• Poster from the REUSE 2025 poster session.

Metric Dimension of Infinite Graphs

Spring 2024 to Spring 2025

Metric dimension is a graph invariant describing the minimum number of vertices needed in a “resolving set” to uniquely identify all other vertices based on their shortest distances from those in the resolving set. Strong metric dimension strengthens this property so that non-isomorphic graphs have distinct resolving sets.

Starting in Spring 2024, I worked with Beth Novick and Csaba Biro to characterize classes of infinite graphs that have finite metric dimension and finite strong metric dimension.

• Preprint. Infinite Graphs with Finite Metric Dimension. Csaba Biró, Caroline E. Boone, Beth Novick, and Hazel Torek. [arXiv]
• AMS Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting 2025. Strong Metric Dimension of Infinite Graphs. Hazel Torek, Beth Novick, and Csaba Biró. [Slides]
• Poster from the Clemson University Honors College Research Symposium in November 2024.

Teaching

• Fall 2026: Lead Undergraduate TA for Academic Instruction in the School of Computing, supervised by Dr. Chris Plaue.
  • Co-Instructor for CPSC 1900: Teaching Assistant Fundamentals.
  • Maintainer for the School of Computing autograder framework.
• Spring 2026: Head TA for CPSC 1070: Programming Methodology with Prof. Cathy Kittelstad.
• Fall 2025: Head TA for CPSC 1070: Programming Methodology with Prof. Cathy Kittelstad.
• Spring 2025: Head TA for CPSC 1070: Programming Methodology with Dr. Chris Plaue.
• Fall 2024: TA for CPSC 1070: Programming Methodology with Dr. Chris Plaue.
• Spring 2024: TA for CPSC 1070: Programming Methodology with Dr. Alex Adkins.

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