This volume contains the revised version of papers presented at VMCAI 2002, theThirdInternationalWorkshoponVeri?cation,ModelChecking,andAbstract Interpretation, Venice (Italy), January 21-22, 2002. Themaingoaloftheworkshopwastogiveanoverviewofthemaindirections decisive for the growth and cross-fertilization of major research activities in programanalysis and veri?cation. TheVMCAIserieswasstartedin1997withtheaimofgatheringresearchers interestedininvestigatingsimilaritiesanddi?erencesamongthesethreeresearch methodologies, that may be summarized as follows: - programveri?cationaimsatprovingthatprogramsmeettheirspeci?cations, i.e., that the actual programbehavior correspondsto the desired one. - model checking is a speci?c approach to the veri?cation of temporal pr- erties of reactive and concurrentsystems, which has been very successful in the area of ?nite-state programs. - abstract interpretation is a method for designing and comparing semantics ofprogram,expressingvarioustypes ofprogramproperties;in particular,it has been successfully usedto infer run-time programproperties that canbe valuable in optimizing programs. Theprogramcommitteeselected22papersoutof41submissionsonthebasis of at least 3 reviews. The principal selection criteria were relevance, quality, and clarity. The resulting volume o?ers the reader an interesting perspective of the current research trends in the area. In particular, the papers contribute to the following topics: Security and Protocols, Timed Systems and Games, Static Analysis, Optimizations, Types and Veri?cation, and Temporal Logics and Systems. The quality of the papers, the interesting discussions at the workshop, and the friendly atmosphere enjoyed by all participants in Venice, encouraged us in the projectofmakingVMCAI anannualprivilegedforumfor researchersin the area. Specialthanksareduetotheinstitutionsthatsponsoredtheevent:theC- puter Science Department of the University Ca' Foscari, the European Asso- ation for Programming Languages and Systems (EAPLS), the MIUR Project "InterpretazioneAstratta,TypeSystemseAnalisiControl-Flow"andtheMIUR Project"MetodiFormaliperlaSicurezza-MEFISTO".Weareespeciallygra- ful to C. Braghin for her helpful support in organizingthe workshop.