Member of Technical Staff, xAI

Abstract

I received my PhD from Stanford University, and my doctoral research, advised by Prof. Benjamin Van Roy, develops a general and versatile framework to study reinforcement learning. Motivated by a passion for natural languages, I am dedicated to understanding and unleashing the power of reinforcement learning in large language models (LLMs). Prior to joining xAI, I have spent time in Google DeepMind, and the Knowledge and Language Team, Microsoft, where I had the fortune to work with Chenguang Zhu.

Beyond research, I perform in theater and am a devout fan of British history and culture.

Professional Experience

• Member of Technical Staff, xAI, 2025 – Now.
  

• Research Scientist, Google DeepMind, 2023 – 2025.
  

• Senior Researcher, Microsoft, 2022 – 2023.
  

• Research Intern, Microsoft (Office of the Chief Economist), 2021.
  

• Research Intern, DeepMind, 2020.
  

• Applied Machine Learning Intern, ByteDance Inc., 2019.
  

• Research Intern, Google, 2018.

Education

• PhD, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 2022.
  

• PhD minor, Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 2022.
  

• MS, Statistics, Stanford University, 2019.
  

• BS, Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2016.
  

• Undergraduate Exchange Program, CentraleSupélec, 2014-2015.

Invited Talks

• INFORMS 2024 Annual Meeting, October 2024.

• Peking University GSM Business Statistics Seminar, November 2022.

• University of Alberta AI Seminar, April 2022.

• Stanford Causal Science Conference, November 2021.

• INFORMS 2021 Annual Meeting, October 2021.

• Stanford ISL Colloquium, October 2021.

• Cornell Young Researchers Workshop, October 2021.

• NYU Stern MOILS seminar, March 2021.

• Conference on Learning Theory, June 2019.

Honors

• Outstanding Paper Award, Reinforcement Learning Conference (RLC), 2024.

• First place, George Nicholson Student Paper Competition, INFORMS, 2021.

• Herb and Jane Dwight Stanford Graduate Fellowship, Stanford, 2016.

• Outstanding undergraduate student, City of Beijing, 2016.

• Outstanding undergraduate student, Tsinghua University, 2016.

• Distinctions in Senior Thesis, Tsinghua University, 2016.

• National Scholarship, Tsinghua University, 2015.

• Scholarship for Comprehensive Excellence, Tsinghua University, 2013 & 2014.

Activities

• Active member, Feiyu Theater, 2016 – Now.
  

  • Actor, The Crucible (萨勒姆的女巫), November 2025.

  • Actor, The Man From Earth (这个男人来自地球), June 2025.

  • Actor, Copenhagen (哥本哈根), October 2024 (Winter Showcase).

  • Actor, “Art” (“艺术”), April 2024.

  • Running crew member, The Message (风声), September 2023.

  • Actor, A Behanding in Spokane (断手斯城), February 2023.

  • Actor, The Golden Cangue (金锁记), July 2022.

  • Stage manager, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (哗变), January 2021.

  • Director, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (车下莫根山), November 2019.

  • Actor, Bury the Dead (灵魂拒葬), May 2019.

  • Actor, Enter the Hero (主角登场), February 2019.

  • Assistant director, Dear Yelena Sergeevna (青春禁忌游戏), May 2018.

  • Producer, Gone with the Bird (鸟之殇), October 2017.

  • Assistant stage manager, The Bus Stop (车站), May 2017.

• Vice president, Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Stanford (ACSSS), 2017–2018.

Languages

• Chinese, English, French, German.

• Python (Jax & PyTorch), C/C++.