Research Collaboration and Mentoring
Research collaboration and student mentoring are central parts of my research leadership. I build collaborations across Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), Microsoft product teams, and university partners in Asia, the U.S., and the U.K. Student research co-supervision is one important form of this collaboration, especially in trustworthy AI and security.
Research Collaboration
My collaboration model connects university partners with Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) and Microsoft product teams. These collaborations combine academic depth with product-relevant problems in trustworthy AI, AI security, privacy-preserving computation, authentication, CAPTCHA, Web systems, and multimedia security.
- Current collaborations.
- Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA)
- Microsoft product teams
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Hong Kong Baptist University
- Princeton University, USA
- Past collaborations.
- SUNY, University at Albany, NY, USA
- Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea
- Korea University
- Newcastle University, Newcastle, U.K.
- Microsoft collaboration. Connect research ideas with Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) expertise and Microsoft product-team needs, including trustworthy AI, AI security, AI applications in security, prompt optimization, phishing and fraud detection, authentication, CAPTCHA, and Web systems.
- Research-to-impact path. Help projects move from problem framing and prototypes to rigorous evaluation, publication, product transfer, or longer-term research programs.
Co-Supervising Student Research
Student research co-supervision is a focused part of these collaborations. I work with students and their faculty advisors on research direction, technical approach, experiments, writing, publication, and career development.
- Co-supervise student research at Huazhong University of Science and Technology since 2018.
- Four students have completed their Ph.D.s.
- Three have become assistant professors at Chinese universities, including one at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
- One joined a major Chinese technology company as a researcher.
- One master student pursued further Ph.D. studies in the U.S. and now works at Google.
- Four students have completed their Ph.D.s.
- Co-supervise student research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University since 2025.
How I Mentor
My role is hands-on and continuous. I help students develop research judgment, evaluate ideas rigorously, and turn early intuition into clear, publishable work.
- Problem selection and framing. Identify high-impact, tractable problems in trustworthy AI and security, sharpen the research question, and define the contribution clearly.
- Literature and gap analysis. Read and discuss related work with students so they understand what is known, what is missing, and why the proposed direction matters.
- Method design. Shape the technical approach, threat model, assumptions, system design, and evaluation plan, while comparing alternative paths before committing.
- Experiments and evidence. Advise on datasets, baselines, metrics, ablations, and fair comparisons, then review results carefully to distinguish real progress from artifacts.
- Iteration and problem solving. Meet regularly to diagnose failures, unblock implementation and experiments, refine the idea, and keep the project moving.
- Paper writing. Coach the whole writing process: story, structure, contribution framing, figures and tables, technical precision, and repeated revision until the paper is clear.
- Submission and rebuttal. Help choose suitable venues, prepare submissions, write rebuttals, and revise the work after reviews.
- Career development. Support students as they grow into independent researchers, including presentation skills, scientific rigor, research judgment, and career planning for academia or industry.