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Graduate opportunities
We recruit Ph.D. and master’s students primarily through UW’s Computer Science & Systems (CSS) programs. Our research connects multimodal AI and world models with visual navigation, human–AI interaction, and intelligent transportation.
Ph.D. applicants
Pursue doctoral research with Professor Zhi-Qi Cheng. Prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss research fit with the lab and follow the CSS admissions process.
CSS Ph.D. programMaster’s applicants
Explore a master’s thesis, research capstone, or independent study with MILab. Prospective, admitted, and current CSS students are welcome to discuss projects that match their interests and preparation.
CSS M.S. programStudents across UW
Students in CSE, ECE, and other UW graduate programs can also work with Professor Cheng through research supervision or co-advising. We welcome prospective and current students interested in master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, and collaborative research projects.
Professor Cheng is a UW Graduate Faculty member with doctoral endorsement. He can supervise or co-supervise graduate research and chair, co-chair, or serve on graduate supervisory committees under UW Graduate School policy and program requirements.
Undergraduate research
Undergraduates across UW are welcome to join research in model development, navigation, 3D reconstruction, datasets, and evaluation.
Research can begin with a focused project that builds on your coursework, programming experience, and interests. Independent study and research credit can be discussed with Professor Cheng.
Postdoctoral research
We welcome inquiries from researchers interested in developing new work in multimodal AI, world models, or intelligent transportation.
Inquiries should outline how your research could extend the lab’s work and identify opportunities for collaboration.
Student achievements
Our Ph.D. students Yifei Dong and Fengyi Wu contribute to world models, visual navigation, multimodal reasoning, and efficient inference.
Research highlights
Recent work includes oral papers at NeurIPS 2026 and ICLR 2026, UniWM at ECCV 2026, HA-VLN 2.0 at IROS 2026, and GoViG in Findings of ACL 2026.
Explore our publicationsFellowships & awards
Yifei Dong (2025) and Fengyi Wu (2026) received UW Graduate School Top Scholar Awards. Yifei also received the Carwein–Andrews Ph.D. Fellowship (2025).
Student achievements and newsGet in touch
Email zhiqics@uw.edu with a brief introduction and:
- Your background: a CV and relevant coursework, projects, or publications.
- Your research interests: what you want to explore with MILab.
- Your program and timing: your current or intended program or position and preferred start date.
A brief, specific introduction is enough to begin; a finished research proposal is not required.
You can also introduce yourself through our research interest form.