Prof. Songze Li at HKUST has several openings for postgraduate students (MPhil and PhD), Postdocs, and visiting students/interns. 

Prof. Li is looking for highly self-motivated students and researchers who are interested in developing and reasoning algorithms, and (or) building computer systems. Past experiences on conducting theory and system research and publishing academic papers are preferred.

• Algorithm, theory, and implementation of blockchain systems

• Machine learning systems

• Coded distributed computing

The following technical skill are highly desirable

• Strong mathematical foundations       

     -Probability and stochastic processes       

     -Background in information theory, learning theory, and optimizations       

     -Cryptography

• Strong practical computer science background       

     -Strong programming skills       

     -Experience in building distributed systems

The development of the Guangzhou campus is a key step HKUST is taking to facilitate cross-disciplinary research and education, in complementary to the well-established academic disciplines at the Clear Water Bay campus. Postgraduate students admitted in 2020/21 will be under the Guangzhou Pilot Scheme, and start their studies at the Clear Water Bay campus. For more detailed information, please see

Dr. Songze Li will be joining HKUST as an assistant professor in the IoT Thrust of the Information Hub in November 2020. Dr. Li’s research interests lie on the intersection of theory and system of designing efficient, scalable, and secure distributed computing solutions for machine learning and blockchains. Among his major contributions, he first introduced leveraging techniques from information/coding theory to design theoretically optimal distributed computing/learning algorithms. Recently, he has been working on designing and implementing efficient and scalable blockchain systems, in both permissionless and permissioned settings.

Before joining HKUST, Dr. Li was a research scientist at Stanford University. Prior to that, he spent a year as a research scientist with Applied Protocol Research working on blockchain technologies. Dr. Li received PhD degree from University of Southern California in 2018, and BSc degree from New York University in 2011, both in electrical engineering.

If you are interested in applying, please contact at songzeli@ust.hk with a copy of your transcript (for students), CV, and publication list (if any).