--- title: "Kevin Ellis · Cornell University — author profile and papers" description: "Kevin Ellis, Cornell University: 3 papers on Elamur Research (2019–2024), h-index 17 — affiliations, topics, co-authors and who cites them in…" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [authors](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/) / Kevin Ellis # Kevin Ellis Kevin Ellis has 3 papers in our library, in 2019–2024, most of them on [Code & programming languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/code-and-programming/); often with [Armando Solar-Lezama](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/armando-solar-lezama/), [Joshua B. Tenenbaum](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/joshua-b-tenenbaum/), [Maxwell Nye](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/maxwell-nye/). 3 papers in our library · 2019–2024 [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/A5009201646) · [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6586-0632) · [**h-index 17**](https://openalex.org/authors/A5009201646) · [53 works](https://openalex.org/works?filter=author.id:A5009201646) · [1,047 citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=author.id:A5009201646&sort=cited_by_count:desc) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 [📄 3 works in our library](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/#papers) · [🔗 Cited 76 times in our library](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/cited-by/) · [1 more in our library without a page yet](#also) · [⭐ Paper Stars ranking: #7616](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/paper-stars/page/77/#star-7616) The profile is the library's match of the name; two people with one name are not always told apart. Elsewhere: [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=search_authors&mauthors=Kevin+Ellis) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?q=Kevin+Ellis) · [dblp](https://dblp.org/search?q=Kevin+Ellis) · [ACL Anthology](https://aclanthology.org/search/?q=Kevin+Ellis) ## Affiliations [🎓**Cornell University** Ithaca · United States 2021–2026 · 33 papers*current*](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/cornell-university/) · [🎓**Massachusetts Institute of Technology** Cambridge · United States 2014–2022 · 14 papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/massachusetts-institute-of-technology/) From the bylines of their papers (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14), ORCID and Wikidata; institutions on papers are matched by machine. ## Fields, topics and concepts Of its works in our library, with the number of works on each. 📚 Shelves 4 The field of science this work belongs to (OpenAlex fields).[Computer Science · 3 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/) · [Artificial Intelligence · 2 works](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/artificial-intelligence/) · [Computer Science Applications · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/computer-science-applications/) · [Information Systems · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/computer-science/information-systems/) 🧭 Topics 1 Research subjects and languages the work is about.[Code & programming languages · 1 work](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/code-and-programming/) ## Works by year ### 2020s [**2024** 1 paper](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/year/2024/) · [**2020** 1 paper](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/year/2020/) ### 2010s [**2019** 1 paper](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/year/2019/) ## Papers The most cited first (OpenAlex and our library). 1. **[Write, Execute, Assess: Program Synthesis with a REPL](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ellis-2019-write-execute-assess-program-synthesis/)** *(2019 · 86 citations)* Program synthesis is difficult because a small syntactic edit can drastically change what a program does, and neural networks struggle to learn this mapping. 2. **[WorldCoder, a Model-Based LLM Agent: Building World Models by Writing Code and Interacting with the Environment](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/tang-2024-worldcoder-model-based-llm/)** *(2024 · 32 citations)* The paper asks how an AI agent could learn how an unfamiliar environment works from only a few interactions, then reuse that knowledge for new goals. 3. **[DreamCoder: Growing generalizable, interpretable knowledge with wake-sleep Bayesian program learning](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ellis-2020-dreamcoder-growing-generalizable-interpretable-knowledge/)** *(2020 · 22 citations)* Program induction treats learning a task as finding a program that produces the desired behavior. It generalizes well from a few examples and yields knowledge humans can read. In practice, though, it has relied on hand-crafted domain-specific languages (DSLs) and search procedures tuned to them. DreamCoder learns… ## All works 4 works of theirs in our library, the most cited first; 3 with a page here, the others link their original until we summarise them. 1. [**Write, Execute, Assess: Program Synthesis with a REPL arXiv:1906.04604**Kevin Ellis, Maxwell Nye, Yewen Pu, et al.*2019 · 86 citations*](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ellis-2019-write-execute-assess-program-synthesis/) 2. **[WorldCoder, a Model-Based LLM Agent: Building World Models by Writing Code and Interacting with the Environment](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/tang-2024-worldcoder-model-based-llm/) [Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/neural-information-processing-systems/)**Hao Tang, Darren Key, Kevin Ellis*2024 · 32 citations* 3. [**DreamCoder: Growing generalizable, interpretable knowledge with wake-sleep Bayesian program learning arXiv:2006.08381**Kevin Ellis, Catherine Wong, Maxwell Nye, et al.*2020 · 22 citations*](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ellis-2020-dreamcoder-growing-generalizable-interpretable-knowledge/) 4. **[Challenges and Paths Towards AI for Software Engineering ↗](https://doi.org/10.32388/vv1661) Qeios · no summary yet**Alex Gu et al.*2025 · 12 citations* ## Co-authors here 8 co-authors with a page, the most papers together first. - [Armando Solar-Lezama](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/armando-solar-lezama/) ×2 - [Joshua B. Tenenbaum](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/joshua-b-tenenbaum/) ×2 - [Maxwell Nye](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/maxwell-nye/) ×2 - [Catherine Wong](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/catherine-wong/) - [Hao Tang](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/hao-tang/) - [Luke Hewitt](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/luke-hewitt/) - [Mathias Sable-Meyer](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/mathias-sable-meyer/) - [Yewen Pu](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/yewen-pu/) ## Venues Where their works here were published, the most works first, with the editions of those that have a page. - [Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/neural-information-processing-systems/): [NeurIPS 2024](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/neural-information-processing-systems/2024/) - Qeios ## Cited by Papers of our library cite their works 76 times (of the 149,439 papers whose bibliographies we read); [25 citing papers with a page here →](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/kevin-ellis/cited-by/). Updated 3 November 2026