Welcome!
You have reached the online home of FLAReLab, the Formal Languages and Automata Research Lab. We are a part of the Department of Computer Science at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada.
About Us
In the same way that a flare illuminates the dark sky, research in theoretical computer science sheds light on the many unknowns scattered across the rest of computer science. Theoretical research forms the foundation of the study of computing, and although the interest in and value of “hot topics” ebbs and flows, theory is a constant presence lending perpetual insight to researchers and practitioners alike.
The members of FLAReLab study fundamental problems in formal language theory and automata theory together with select applications of these theoretical notions, intersecting with areas such as algorithm analysis, bioinformatics, coding theory, and software engineering. FLAReLab research has been presented at top international conferences and published in leading computer science journals, and its members have received a number of awards and accolades.
FLAReLab is led by Taylor J. Smith, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at St. Francis Xavier University.
Our Team
Current Members
Assistant Professor &
Director of FLAReLab
Patrick Bowen
Master's Student
(with M. King)
Diego Cabrera Salamanca
Visiting Undergraduate
Research Student
(Universidad Nacional de Colombia)
Keshav Lakhan
Undergraduate Summer
Research Student
(with J.-A. Delamer and M. King)
Caelen Mattie
Master's Student
(with M. King)
Daren Roorda
Master's Student
(with D. DeWolf)
You?
Lab openings available!
Find out how to
join us.
Affiliate Members
St. Francis Xavier University
Dept. of Computer Science
St. Francis Xavier University
Dept. of Mathematics
St. Francis Xavier University
Dept. of Computer Science
Queen’s University
School of Computing
Past Members
News
- September 2, 2026: Taylor Smith published a paper in Discrete Applied Mathematics.
- August 12, 2026: Diego Cabrera Salamanca travelled to Kingston, Ontario, Canada to attend the CIAA 2026 and DCFS 2026 conferences, where Taylor Smith served as program committee chair.
- July 30, 2026: Taylor Smith travelled to Trier, Germany to present at the MCU 2026 conference.
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- July 1, 2026: Patrick Bowen and Caelen Mattie are joining the lab as master's students. They are each co-supervised by Milton King, with Patrick beginning in 2024 and Caelen beginning in 2025.
- March 17, 2026: Keshav Lakhan is joining the lab as an undergraduate summer research student, supported by an Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship through St. Francis Xavier University. He is co-supervised by Jean-Alexis Delamer and Milton King.
- February 15, 2026: Taylor Smith was elected a senior member of the IEEE.
2025
- December 12, 2025: Diego Cabrera Salamanca is joining the lab as a visiting undergraduate research student, supported by a Mitacs Globalink research award. He is visiting from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
- November 8, 2025: Taylor Smith published a paper in the Journal of Automata, Languages, and Combinatorics with Pantelis Andreou of Dalhousie University and Stavros Konstantinidis of Saint Mary’s University.
- November 6, 2025: Taylor Smith has been named a Dr. W. F. James Research Scholar in the Pure and Applied Sciences for the 2026–27 academic year.
- September 2, 2025: Daren Roorda is joining the lab as a master's student. They are co-supervised by Darien DeWolf.
- July 25, 2025: Taylor Smith travelled to Loughborough, United Kingdom to attend the NCMA 2025 and DCFS 2025 conferences.
- April 9, 2025: Taylor Smith gave an invited seminar talk for the One FLAT World seminar series.
- March 5, 2025: Devin Smith is joining the lab as an undergraduate summer research student, supported by an Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship through St. Francis Xavier University.
- January 23, 2025: NSERC has increased the value of Discovery Grants by $7 000 per year, resulting in FLAReLab now receiving a total of $160 000 in research support over the next five years.
2024
- December 9, 2024: Taylor Smith gave an invited seminar talk for the IEEE Canadian Atlantic Computer Society.
- July 22, 2024: Taylor Smith published a paper in Fundamenta Informaticae with Arto Salomaa of the University of Turku and Kai Salomaa of Queen’s University.
- May 7, 2024: Alastair May and Taylor Smith published a paper in TUGboat: The Communications of the TeX Users Group.
- April 8, 2024: Taylor Smith has been awarded a five-year NSERC Discovery Grant valued at $125 000, along with a one-year Discovery Launch Supplement valued at $12 500.
- March 4, 2024: Alastair May is returning to the lab as an undergraduate summer research student, supported by an Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship through St. Francis Xavier University.
2023
- November 14, 2023: Taylor Smith has been awarded a St. Francis Xavier University Research Council Grant valued at $7 000.
- July 29, 2023: Taylor Smith published a paper in the Journal of Automata, Languages, and Combinatorics with Kai Salomaa of Queen’s University.
- February 27, 2023: Alastair May is returning to the lab as an undergraduate summer research student, supported by an Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship through St. Francis Xavier University.
- February 27, 2023: Liam Johnston is joining the lab as an undergraduate summer research student, supported by an Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship through St. Francis Xavier University. He is co-supervised by Milton King.
- February 21, 2023: Taylor Smith gave a seminar talk for the St. Francis Xavier University Department of Computer Science.
2022
- October 15, 2022: Alastair May travelled to Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada to present at the Science Atlantic MSCS 2022 conference, and won the Computer Science Communication Award for his talk.
- September 1, 2022: Taylor Smith travelled to Debrecen, Hungary to present at the NCMA 2022 conference and to attend the DCFS 2022 conference.
- July 2, 2022: Taylor Smith travelled to Rouen, France to attend the CIAA 2022 conference.
- June 14, 2022: Alastair May received additional research support through the Canada Summer Jobs program.
- March 2, 2022: Alastair May is joining the lab as an undergraduate summer research student, supported by an Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship through St. Francis Xavier University.
2021
- September 2, 2021: Taylor Smith has been named an Alley Heaps Associate in the Department of Computer Science and will receive research support over the next three years valued at $15 000.
- August 1, 2021: Hello world! Taylor Smith started as an assistant professor at St. Francis Xavier University.
November 19, 2024 –
StFX University News
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with StFX that our campus is filled with highly engaged students, educators, researchers, and leaders. Academic X’cellence shines a spotlight on members of our educational community to find out more about their unique experiences—both inside and outside of the classroom.
September 11, 2026 –
StFX University News
Can experienced programmers really tell when code was written by AI? Does sounding confident after a hockey game actually mean a team played well? And how can machine learning help in medical research? These are questions three StFX computer science students spent their summer exploring, thanks to the Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship.
August 26, 2026 –
StFX University News
This summer, an undergraduate research internship at StFX, made possible through the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship program, has led to the resolution of a mathematical conjecture that had remained unanswered for over a decade.
See More
- August 21, 2026: Queen’s Hosts CIAA and DCFS 2026, Queen’s School of Computing News
- August 21, 2026: StFX computer science professor organizes two international conferences in automata theory, StFX University News
- February 25, 2026: StFX computer science professor elected a Senior Member of IEEE, StFX University News
- September 2, 2025: StFX students describe Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship as rewarding and transformative, StFX University News
- October 1, 2024: Alley Heaps Student Internship Helps Shape Academic Journey, Contribute to Impactful Research, StFX University News
- September 12, 2023: StFX Computer Science Students Advance Research Through Alley Heaps Internship, StFX University News
- November 15, 2022: StFX Computer Science Students Win Awards at Science Atlantic Conference, StFX University News
- September 19, 2022: StFX Computer Science Students Gaining Skills, Confidence and Looking at the Future in a New Way Through Alley Heaps Undergraduate Research Internship, StFX University News
Please contact us directly with any media inquiries.
Projects
Two-Dimensional Formal Languages and Automata Theory
A major interest of FLAReLab lies in the study of formal languages and automata theory in two dimensions. Although going from strings to arrays may not seem like a big change, adding another dimension increases the computational power of a finite automaton drastically. FLAReLab members study fundamental properties of the two-dimensional automaton model together with applications to other areas of computer science, such as data storage and image recognition.
Visual Representations of Automata
Building on the
Grail software package, members of FLAReLab created a
software tool that takes Grail output and generates a visual representation of a finite automaton in
LaTeX/TikZ code. The generated figure can then be added to research papers or educational materials, saving authors considerable time versus producing the figure manually. This work received the Computer Science Communication Award at the
Science Atlantic MSCS 2022 conference.
Bio-Inspired Language Operations
Certain biological and genomic operations, such as insertion, deletion, splicing, and mutagenesis, can be modelled formally using language operations. In a collaboration with researchers from South Korea, members of FLAReLab studied these bio-inspired language operations and proved a number of decidability and algorithmic results that, taken together, establish the power of this modelling technique. Combining formal languages with bioinformatics may help future researchers uncover new findings without the need for a wet lab.
Support
FLAReLab and its members graciously acknowledge funding support from the following sources:
Join Us
If you are an undergraduate or graduate student who has an interest in formal languages, automata, or applications of theoretical computer science, feel free to get in touch! FLAReLab has openings for undergraduate summer research students, undergraduate honours thesis students, and graduate students applying to the Master of Science program.
Please read the information sheet for prospective students, and contact us if you have any questions about the application process or funding opportunities.
