For Prospective Students: I welcome students and researchers interested in reasoning and learning in language models and AI agents, as well as AI for scientific discovery. I’m happy to explore related research ideas, including interpretability and agent self-improvement. Remote research internships and collaborations across institutions are welcome, with the goal of developing a strong research paper.
I would like to hear about a project you know well, the contribution you made, and a question you would be excited to explore next. A paper, implementation, careful replication, or technical analysis can give us a concrete starting point for that conversation. I value the ability to investigate a problem, explain your decisions, and follow through on an idea.
If this sounds like a good fit, please complete the Research Opportunity Interest Form with your CV, relevant work, and availability. I appreciate the time you put into sharing your work. I may not be able to respond to individual emails from prospective students, so the form is the best way to express your interest.
If you are also considering a PhD with me, I invite you to read Why Pursue a PhD in the Age of AI? It explains my perspective on research training and working with students. You are welcome to share your PhD interests and longer-term plans in the form.
Principal Investigator
Members & Mentees
Past Mentees
- Lingbo MoPhD student at OSU → Research Scientist at Amazon
- Yufan ZhouPhD student at KU Leuven
- Xinyuan WangM.S. student at UCSD → PhD student at HKU
- Somanshu SinglaM.S. student at UCSD → AI Research at Essential → Microsoft AI (MAI)
- Enze MaM.S. student at UCSD → PhD student at UIC
- Janvijay SinghM.S. student at GaTech → PhD student at UIUC
- Jinzhou TangM.S. student at UCSD
- Jieyuan LiuM.S. student at UCSD
- Xinle YuM.S. student at UCSD
- Abdullah AshfaqM.S. student at UCSD
- Abhay AnandM.S. student at UCSD
- Adyasha PatraM.S. student at UCSD
- Chengjun WuM.S. student at UCSD
- Yanbin YinUndergraduate at Renmin University of China → PhD student at GaTech
- Ana JojicUndergraduate at UW → PhD student at UIUC
- Yiming GaoUndergraduate at UCSD → PhD student at TAMU
- Chenxi LiUndergraduate at UCSD → M.S. student at UChicago
- Zhongyan LuoUndergraduate at UCSD → CMU MSML
- Jefferson ChenUndergraduate at UCSD → PhD student at UCLA
- Zixuan WangUndergraduate at Tsinghua University
- Adam WoodUndergraduate at UMich
- Michael K. ChenUndergraduate at UCSD
- Zhaoxiang FengUndergraduate at UCSD → M.S. student at UT Austin
- Hsin-Yuan LeeUndergraduate at UCSD → M.S. student at UCLA
Support
My group is supported by UTA's RISE 100 initiative and the UT System STARs Award. We also receive computing support on Lonestar6 at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Previously, I was fortunate to have my research supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellowship, an OpenAI Research Grant, an Amazon Alexa Prize award, and the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) through the UC-LEAP project.
