Prospective Students

Current openings. I do not currently have funded RA or TA positions, and PhD admissions for the current cycle are closed. Funded openings, when available, will be posted here. The opportunities below are for academic credit or volunteer research.

My group works broadly on trustworthy AI and language models, including multi-agent systems, social computing, and high-stakes applications. Students may join an existing project or bring a related idea of their own. Active projects have access to GPU compute, shared API credits for commercial models, and the other resources needed for the work.

PhD Applicants

This page will be updated when I am recruiting for the next cycle. If you are planning ahead, the strongest applications come from people who have already engaged with the work, so an early conversation is worth more than an application-season email.

IIT Master’s Students (for credit)

I advise master’s thesis and independent study through for-credit research courses such as ITMT 597. Projects can grow into a thesis or publication. Priority is generally given to students who have taken or will take one of my courses, or whose background fits my research areas.

Tip. If you plan to do your thesis over the spring and summer, reach out in the fall so we can settle on a topic early. I teach ITMD 524 Applied AI in the spring, and its course project can often become the starting point for your thesis. You can then keep working on the same project across semesters.

Volunteer and Remote Research

I also work with IIT students and with external or remote students on volunteer research projects. These are publication-oriented, and they require consistent progress, clear communication, and real contribution to implementation, analysis, and writing.

Research Expectations

I am looking for students who are genuinely interested in the research question and want to carry a project through to a substantive result. Most projects assume basic machine learning knowledge and comfort with Python, but relevant backgrounds can be broad, including mathematics, engineering, social science, and medicine.

My mentoring style relies on regular progress and communication. While a project is active, students should expect to contribute at least ten focused hours per week and send a short weekly update. You do not need to have good results every week, but going two or more weeks without communicating is not a good fit for this group.

Contacting Me

Before contacting me, look through the Research page and read at least one recent paper related to your interests.

In your email, briefly explain what research question or direction interests you, what background you would bring, and any concrete idea you would like to explore. If you are contacting me from outside IIT and we have not worked together before, it is especially helpful to discuss a relevant paper, including a limitation, future direction, or experiment you would like to pursue.

Please include in your email:

  • your CV;
  • transcript or GPA;
  • a GitHub, project page, or writing sample, if relevant;
  • your realistic weekly availability.

Contact: yhu89 [at] illinoistech [dot] edu · subject: Research inquiry - YourName

For my research, publications, and teaching, please return to my main page.