Zhizhuo Yang

Neural Adaptive Computing (NAC) Lab. Department of Computer Science.

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I’m Zhizhuo Yang (杨智卓 in Chinese), also known as George, currently working as an AI Research Scientist at Writer. My research focuses on advancing large language model post-training techniques, developing intelligent AI agents, and exploring cutting-edge topics in generative artificial intelligence.

I earned my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where I specialized in active inference and continual reinforcement learning under the guidance of Dr. Alexander G. Ororbia II and Dr. Reynold Bailey. My doctoral research encompassed deep learning-based eye tracking systems and generative modeling of coordinated eye and head movements. I also maintain active research interests in computer vision and computer graphics, areas that complement my core expertise in AI and machine learning.

I absolutely love playing :basketball: and :badminton:, immersing myself in music, exploring new places through travel, and conquering trails while hiking in my free time. I mastered :saxophone: at a young age and am currently excitedly learning to play :guitar:!

news

Feb 3, 2025 Today, I started my first full-time job as an AI researcher at Writer! I’ll be working on LLMs post-training, AI agents, and many more exciting topics in the generative AI field. 🚀
Jan 27, 2025 Super exited to announce that our paper SR-AIF: Solving Sparse-Reward Robotic Tasks from Pixels with Active Inference and World Models has been accepted at ICRA 2025! 🎉
Dec 16, 2024 Thrilled to announce that I successfully defended my PhD dissertation today and officially became Dr. Yang! 🎓✨
Sep 11, 2023 Today, I started my part-time work as a student researcher at Meta. I’ll continue my work on AI/ML project since summer. 🧐
Apr 25, 2023 Today, I passed my dissertation proposal defense and become a PhD candidate officially! 😃 It may feel trivial for some people, but it’s quite a milestone for me. One of the greatest minds once said “don’t forget to celebrate the small wins”. So I did by doing an intense workout in the gym that’s long overdue! This is the way.😎

latest posts

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selected publications

  1. R-AIF: Solving sparse-reward robotic tasks from pixels with active inference and world models
    Viet Dung Nguyen, Zhizhuo Yang, Christopher L Buckley, and Alexander Ororbia
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.14216, 2024
  2. A Neural Active Inference Model of Perceptual-Motor Learning
    Zhizhuo Yang, Gabriel J Diaz, Brett R Fajen, Reynold Bailey, and 1 more author
    Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 2023
  3. RIT-Eyes: Rendering of near-eye images for eye-tracking applications
    Nitinraj Nair, Rakshit Kothari, Aayush K Chaudhary, Zhizhuo Yang, and 3 more authors
    In ACM Symposium on Applied Perception 2020, 2020
  4. Gaze-in-wild: A dataset for studying eye and head coordination in everyday activities
    Rakshit Kothari, Zhizhuo Yang, Christopher Kanan, Reynold Bailey, and 2 more authors
    Scientific reports, 2020