People

I am so fortunate to work with these talented students on algorithms and systems that challenge the status quo.

Current Members

Students under My Supervision (in order of seniority)

Suyi Li, Ph.D. Candidate, 2019 - Present

Suyi received the B.Sc. degree in Internet of Things Engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) and the M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from Yale University in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Owing to his outstanding academic performance at BUPT, he has been awarded the back-to-back National Scholarship in 2015 and 2016.

In his spare time, Suyi loves playing basketball and workout in the gym. He enjoys meeting friends in sports activities.

Lingyun Yang, Ph.D. Candidate, 2020 - Present

Lingyun received his B.Eng. degree from the School of Computer Science and Engineering at South China University of Technology in 2020. His excellent academic performance and achievements in many programming contests have earned him numerous awards, including National Scholarship. During his undergraduate, he has been working as a research intern at Microsoft Research Asia for a year.

Lingyun likes playing basketball and reading various kinds of books in the spare time. He also enjoys making friends with different cultures and backgrounds.

Peng Ye, Ph.D. Student, co-supervised with Prof. Bo Li, 2021 - Present

Peng received his B.Eng. degree from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (aka Yao Class) at Tsinghua University in 2021, majoring in Computer Science. His research interest is privacy-preserving machine learning.

In his spare time, Peng likes long-distance running, walking, and cycling. He also enjoys traveling.

Yongkang Zhang, Ph.D. Student (HKPF winner), co-supervised with Prof. Xiaowen Chu, 2021 - Present

Yongkang received his B.Eng. degree from the School of Computer Science, Wuhan University in 2021. He ranked among the top in his major and was the recipient of multiple prestigious awards, including the National Scholarship, the First Class Scholarship, and the Excellent Undergraduate Thesis Award. He is also a runner-up of the SenseTime Scholarship. In his senior year of undergraduate study, he worked at Microsoft Research Asia and Alibaba Group as a research intern.

Beyond research, Yongkang enjoys assembling military models, doing electronic DIY, and playing Lego.

Dong Chen, Ph.D. Student, co-supervised with Prof. Shuai Wang, 2022 - Present

Dong received his B.Sc. degree from the School of EECS at Peking University in 2022. He had a rewarding teaching assistant experience at Peking University. In his senior year of undergraduate study, he has been working as a research intern at Alibaba Cloud for six months. He is the recipient of HKUST RedBird Scholarship.

During his spare time, Dong plays badminton, goes hiking, and reads books.

Haoxuan Yu, Ph.D. Student, 2022 - Present

Haoxuan received his B.Eng. degree from School of the Gifted Young, University of Science and Technology of China in 2022, with the specialty of Computer Science and Technology. He is the recipient of HKUST RedBird Scholarship.

In the spare time, Haoxuan likes hiking and reading novels of different styles. He also enjoys making friends with various cultures and backgrounds.

Yuheng Zhao, Ph.D. Student, 2022 - Present

Yuheng received his B.Sc. degree from the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Fudan University in 2022. During his undergraduate study, Yuheng achieved excellent academic performance and was chosen to participate in the research program at UChicago in 2021. He also had a prompting internship at Microsoft Research Asia, and his outstanding performance in research has earned him the ‘‘Stars of the Future’’ award.

Yuheng loves football and badminton, he is a big fan of Bundesliga and FC Bayern Münich. He also likes working out in gyms in his spare time.

Yuchen Yang, Ph.D. Student, 2023 - Present

Yuchen received his B.Sc. degree in Computer Science with distinction from The University of British Columbia, Canada, in 2021. During his undergraduate studies, he received the International Student Scholarship for his outstanding academic records. After that, he obtained his M.Sc. degree in Software Systems Engineering with distinction from University College London, UK, in 2022.

Yuchen enjoys watching musical and reading books of various genres in his spare time. He also likes playing badminton with friends.

Yuchen Huang, Ph.D. Student (HKPF winner), 2023 - Present

Yuchen received his B.S. degree in Electronic Science and Technology with the highest honor (Zhejiang Outstanding Graduate) from Zhejiang University in 2023. During his undergraduate, he was awarded the back-to-back National Scholarship in 2020 and 2021. His research interests lie generally in the area of machine learning, with focus on security and privacy.

In his spare time, Yuchen loves travelling and photography. He is also an enthusiast of sports, especially basketball, and a dedicated fan of the Golden State Warriors.

Tianyuan Wu, Ph.D. Student, 2024 - Present

Tianyuan earned his B.Eng. in School of Information Science and Technology from ShanghaiTech University in 2021. During his undergraduate studies, he excelled academically, receiving both the Excellent Undergraduate Thesis Award and the Outstanding Undergraduate Award. From 2022 to 2023, he interned at Microsoft Research Asia, where his exceptional research performance earned him the “Stars of the Future” award.

In his free time, Tianyuan enjoys hiking, traveling, particularly exploring snow mountains on the Tibetan plateau.

Sheng Yao, Ph.D. Student, 2024 - Present

Sheng received his B.S. degree with Magna Cum Laude from College of Engineering at The Ohio State University in 2022. During his undergraduate, he received The Ganobcik Family/Genesis Endowed Scholarship. After graduation, he spent a wonderful year as a research assistant at Institute of Parallel and Distributed Systems (IPADS), Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Sheng loves wandering in the cities on foot, with no goal in mind. He is a big fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Once a Buckeye, Always a Buckeye.

Hanfeng Lu, M.Phil. Student, 2023 - Present

Hanfeng received his B.A. degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Grinnell College, Iowa, USA, in December 2022. During his undergraduate time, he worked on Representation Theory, Programming Language Theory, Reinforcement Learning, and Linux Kernel. He also served in various services in the CS department, including Teaching Assistant, peer mentor, etc.

Hanfeng likes swimming and hiking during his spare time.

Alumni

Ph.D. Graduates

Zhifeng Jiang, Ph.D. 2024

Zhifeng received his B.Eng. degree with the highest honor (Zhejiang Outstanding Graduate) from the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Zhejiang University in 2019. He received the National Scholarship and He Zhijun Scholarship in 2017, and the New Media Scholarship funded together by Zhejiang Newspaper and Alibaba in 2018 — only students with exceptional academic performance were entitled to these awards. He had a rewarding teaching assistant experience at Zhejiang University, and has done two inspiring internships at UC San Diego and Huawei Research Institute.

In his spare time, Zhifeng likes doing aerobics such as swimming and jogging. He also enjoys exploring different languages and making friends from diverse cultures. He can communicate in Mandarin, English, Cantonese, and Hakka, and is practicing Japanese.

Minchen Yu, Ph.D. 2023 (Huawei PhD Fellowship); First employment: Assistant Professor, School of Data Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

Minchen received his B.Sc. degree from the School of Software at Nanjing University in 2018. His excellent academic performance at NJU earned him numerous awards, including the National Scholarship. He is the recipient of the newly established Huawei PhD Fellowship at HKUST.

In his spare time, Minchen loves badminton and hiking. He also enjoys traveling and playing sport games with friends.

Qizhen Weng, Ph.D. 2022 (HKPF winner); First employment: Systems Researcher at the Shanghai AI Lab.

Qizhen received his B.Eng. degree with the highest honor (Shanghai Outstanding Graduate) from the School of Information Security Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2017. His first-rate academic performance in SJTU has earned him the newly installed Cyber­-Security Scholarship of China Internet Development Foundation (CIDF) in 2016. He has also been selected as an exchange student to UC Berkeley. Qizhen is the recipient of the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Award (2017–20).

Qizhen loves swimming, hiking, and playing music with friends in his leisure time. He believes that friendship is the cement that will ever hold the world together.

Huangshi Tian, Ph.D. 2022 (HKPF winner); Next stop: Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto.

Huangshi received his B.Eng. degree from Zhejiang University with the specialty of Computer Science and Technology. His outstanding academic performance at ZJU entitled him the back-to-back National Scholarship in 2014 and 2015. He is the recipient of the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Award (2017–20).

In his leisure time, Huangshi takes interest in reading books and playing badminton. He also enjoys meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Da Yan, Ph.D. 2022; First employment: Systems Researcher at Anthropic, New York City, NY, USA.

Da is a final-year Ph.D. student in HKUST. He received the B.Eng. degree in the School of Electronic Information and Communications, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in July 2016.

Da enjoys swimming, singing and traveling in his leisure time. Folk songs are his favorite.

Mingzhe Li, Ph.D. 2022 (HKUST-SUSTech Joint Ph.D. Program), co-supervised with Prof. Jin Zhang; First employment: Research Scientist at A*STAR.

Mingzhe received the B.Eng. degree from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in July 2016, and is currently a 5th-year Ph.D. student in the HKUST‐SUSTech Joint PhD Training Program.

Mingzhe loves street dance, singing and watching movies. He also likes meeting with different people and making new friends.

Luping Wang, Ph.D. 2021 (informal co-supervision with Prof. Bo Li); First employment: Senior Software Engineer (P7) in Alibaba Cloud Intelligence under the Alibaba Star (阿里星) program.

Luping received B.E. degree from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University in 2016. He is currently a final-year Ph.D. student under supervision of Prof. Bo Li. His thesis research focuses on applying modern machine learning techniques to practical large-scale system operation and optimization problems that cannot be efficiently solved using human-generated heuristics.

Chengliang Zhang, Ph.D. 2021 (HKPF winner); First employment: Data Scientist at Seleya Technologies (a FinTech Startup in HK).

Chengliang is a final-year Ph.D. student in HKUST. He received his B.Eng. degree from the School of Software, Harbin Institute of Technology, in July 2016. He is the recipient of the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Award (2016–19).

During his undergraduate studies, Chengliang has achieved excellent academic performance and was the recipient of many highly competitive scholarships, including the National Scholarship and the Fuji Xerox Scholarship. He has also participated in many social activities and enjoyed working with different people.

In his spare time, Chengliang is a huge movie buff and comedy addict, he would also love to explore the world with his friends.

Yinghao Yu, Ph.D. 2019 (HKPF winner, co-supervised with Prof. Khaled B. Letaief); First employment: Senior Software Engineer (P7) in Alibaba Cloud Intelligence under the Alibaba Star (阿里星) program.

Yinghao received his B.Sc. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Fudan University, Shanghai in July 2015. In his undergraduate years, he has been selected as an exchange student studying at UCLA, where he had a joyful and rewarding term. He is the recipient of the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Award (2015–18).

Yinghao's current research interest focuses on resource management in big data systems. In his spare time, he enjoys jogging and swimming. Hiking and traveling are his favorites.

Chen Chen, Ph.D. 2018 (co-supervised with Prof. Bo Li); First employment: Research Scientist at Huawei Research Lab, Hong Kong; then an Associate Professor, John Hopcroft Center for Computer Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Chen joined HKUST in 2014 and graduated with a Ph.D in 2018. He received his B.Eng. degree in 2014 from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University. In the summer of 2013, he visited University of California, Santa Barbara, working as a research assistant.

Chen's main research interests are in distributed computer systems and software-defined networking, with a particular emphasis on resource scheduling. He has also worked in projects of flow pattern recognition and reverse engineering.

In his spare time, Chen enjoys singing, reading and traveling. He loves exploring new places, meeting diverse people and experiencing a different life. He is a logic lover, who believes that critical thinking is the key to addressing personal and social problems.

M.Phil. Graduates

Yunchuan Zheng, M.Phil. 2023

Yunchuan received his B.Eng. degree in Computer Science and Engineering at Southeast University in 2019. His outstanding academic performance earned him the National Scholarship in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017. He was the recipient of the Huawei PhD Fellowship at HKUST.

During his spare time, Yunchuan plays badmintons and does bodybuilding. He also enjoys latin dances.

Xiandong Qi, M.Phil. 2019 (co-supervised with Prof. Jin Zhang at SUSTech); First employment: Software Engineer at AQUMON, Hong Kong.

Xiandong received his B.Eng. degree from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in 2016. In his undergraduate studies, he has worked as a research assistant in the University of Hong Kong.

Xiandong is a basketball lover and a big NBA fan. He plays the shooting guard position on court.

Research Interns & Undergrad Alumni

Shiqi He (Research Intern: 06/2023 – 08/2023)
BSc HK PolyU (2020); MASc UBC (2023) -> PhD CS@UMich

Zhuohao Li (UG Intern: 02/2023 – 06/2023)
BSc SJTU (2023) -> PhD CS@UCLA

Tingjia Cao (Research Intern: 04/2021 – 08/2021)
BSc Fudan (2020); PhD CS@UW-Madison

Tingjia is a PhD student in Computer Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a research intern at HKUST, working on high-performance serverless computing systems. She received B.Sc in Computer Science and Technology from Fudan University in 2020.

Tingjia likes swimming and playing basketball during her spare time.

Junzhe Xia (UG Intern: 2019 – 2021)
BSc HKUST (2021) -> MS CS@Stanford

Baichen Yang (UG Intern: 2018 – 2021)
BSc HKUST (2021) -> PhD CSE@HKUST

Huancheng Puyang (UG Intern: 2019 – 2021)
BSc HKUST (2021) -> PhD CSE@CUHK

Xiaohe Cheng (UG Intern: 2018 – 2019)
BSc HKUST (2020) -> Google

Shengkai Zhang (Research Intern: 10/2015 – 07/2016)
MPhil HKUST -> PhD EIC@HUST

A-Long Jin (Research Intern: 01/2016 – 06/2016)
MSc New Brunswick -> PhD ECE@Waterloo