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Zhihui Zhu
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We are seeking Ph.D. students in Machine Learning (particularly analyses and practical techniques for deep learning, generative models, and LLMs), Signal Processing, and Quantum Information and Computing. Welcome candidates from any background, e.g., EECS, math, physics.
Call for papers: Conference on the Mathematical Theory of Deep Neural Networks, November 6-7, 2025 at Universtiy of Michigan in Ann Arbor
Recent Selected Publications:
Representation and Interpretability
X. Zhu, M. Mahdi, Z. Zhu, ‘‘AbsTopK: Rethinking Sparse Autoencoders For Bidirectional Features", International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2026.
J. Jiang, J. Zhou, Z. Zhu, ‘‘Tracing Representation Progression: Analyzing and Enhancing Layer-Wise Similarity," International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2025.
J. Jiang*, J. Zhou*, P. Wang, Q. Qu, D. Mixon, C. You, and Z. Zhu, ‘‘Generalized neural collapse for a large number of classes," International Conference in Machine Learning (ICML), 2024.
In-context Learning
Z. Qin, J. Jiang, Z. Zhu, ‘‘Learning to Adapt: In-Context Learning Beyond Stationarity", International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2026.
Y. Dong, J. Jiang, Z. Zhu, Xia Ning, ‘‘Understanding Task Vectors in In-Context Learning: Emergence, Functionality, and Limitations," International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2025.
J. Jiang, Y. Dong, J. Zhou, and Z. Zhu ‘‘From Compression to Expression: A Layerwise Analysis of In-Context Learning," 2025.
Quantum Information
Z. Qin, J. M. Lukens, B. T. Kirby, and Z. Zhu, ‘‘Enhancing Quantum State Reconstruction with Structured Classical Shadows," npj Quantum Information, 2025.
Z. Qin, C. Jameson, Z. Gong, M. B. Wakin, and Z. Zhu, ‘‘Quantum State Tomography for Matrix Product Density Operators," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 70, pp. 5030 - 5056, 2024.
Z. Zhu, J. Lukens, and B. Kirby, ‘‘On the connection between least squares, regularization, and classical shadows," Quantum, vol. 8, 2024.
News:
[Jan 2026] 3 papers at ICLR 2026 on interpretability and in-context learning, 1 paper at CPAL 2026 on model collapse, 1 paper at AISTAS 2026 on faithfully evaluating machine unlearning through internal representation, and journal papers at IEEE TQE and Physical Review A on quantum information.
[Nov 2025] Congratulations to Alina Liu and Chris Hill (high school interns from Columbus Academy) and Jiachen Jiang for receiving the Best Paper Award at ICDM UGHS Symposium 2025 for the work ‘‘Can Reasoning LLMs Eliminate Conformity in Multi-Agent Systems?".
[Oct 2025] Gave a tutorial lecture on “Emergence of Low-dimensional Representations in Deep Models” at ICCV 2025 and a ECE seminar on ‘‘Efficiently Probing Quantum Systems with Compressive Measurements" at University of Hawaii at Manoa.
[Aug 2025] Zhen defended his PhD thesis and will join University of Michigan as MICDE Postdoctoral Fellow. His PhD work received graduate research award from CSE of OSU.
[June 2024] Gave a tutorial on “Learning Deep Low-dimensional Models from High-Dimensional Data: From Theory to Practice” at CVPR 2024.
[May 2024] Thrilled to receive the ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award.
[April 2024] Tutorial on “Understanding Deep Representation Learning via Neural Collapse” at ICASSP’24 with Prof. Laura Balzano, Dr. Peng Wang, and Prof. Qing Qu. Slides: Lecture-1, Lecture-2
[Jun 2023] Gave a short course on ‘‘Learning Nonlinear and Deep Low-Dimensional Representations from High-Dimensional Data: From Theory to Practice" at ICASSP 2023.
[Jan 2023] Co-organized and gave a tutorail at the 3rd SLowDNN Workshop at MBZUAI, Abu Dhabi, MBZUAI.
[Dec 2022] Received CQISE Partnership Seed Award (PSA) and will collaborate with Brian Kirby (ARL) on quantum network.
[May 2022] Gave a 10-hours short course (with Sam Buchanan, Yi Ma, Qing Qu, John Wright, and Yuqian Zhang) on ‘‘Low-Dimensional Models for High-Dimensional Data: From Linear to Nonlinear, Convex to Nonconvex, and Shallow to Deep" at IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP).
[Nov 2021] Co-organizing the 2nd workshop on ‘‘Seeking Low-dimensionality in Deep Neural Networks (SLowDNN)’’, Nov. 22nd – Nov. 23rd, 2021.
[Nov 2020] Co-organizing IEEE workshop on ‘‘Seeking Low-dimensionality in Deep Neural Networks (SLowDNN)’’, Nov. 23rd – Nov. 24th, 2020.
