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Multimodal Intelligence Lab

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MILab brings together doctoral, master’s, undergraduate, and visiting researchers across UW to advance multimodal AI, world models, and intelligent transportation.

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Lab director

Zhi-Qi Cheng

Assistant Professor, Computer Science & Systems

School of Engineering & Technology
University of Washington Tacoma

Director, Multimodal Intelligence Lab (MILab)

Graduate Faculty with Doctoral Endorsement

University of Washington Graduate School

Current members

Doctoral students

Yifei Dong

Ph.D. student

World models and visual navigation

Recent work: LCVN, UniWM, and HA-VLN 2.0.

UW Graduate School Top Scholar Award (2025)
Carwein–Andrews Ph.D. Fellowship (2025)

Bachelor’s, UESTC
M.S., Columbia University

Fengyi Wu

Ph.D. student

World models and efficient inference

Recent work: GoViG and Hierarchical Speculative Decoding.

UW Graduate School Top Scholar Award (2026)

Bachelor’s, UESTC
Ph.D., UESTC (integrated M.S.–Ph.D.)
Pursuing a second Ph.D. at UW

Qifeng Wu

Ph.D. student

Bachelor’s, UESTC
M.S., Northwestern University

Master’s students

Evo Sokoloff-Toney

CSS M.S. student

Master’s thesis · TCSS 700

Xisheng Chen

UW M.S. student

Master’s thesis · TCSS 700

Guanyu Chen

CSS M.S. student

Master’s capstone · TCSS 702

Xu Zhu

CSS M.S. student

Master’s capstone · TCSS 702

Research assistants

Zihao Han

Research assistant, UW Allen School

Bachelor’s, Iowa State University
M.S., USC

Qiyu Hu

Research assistant, UW CEE

M.S., SHU

Undergraduate researchers

Da Wei

Informatics undergraduate, UW iSchool

Independent study · TCSS 490
Computer graphics · TCSS 458

Visiting researchers

Tianyu Wang

Visiting doctoral researcher

Robotics Ph.D. student, Georgia Tech

Alumni & mentees

Former students and research mentees from Professor Cheng’s work at UW and Carnegie Mellon University.

Doctoral alumni

  • Ting-Yao HuPh.D., CMU; Machine Learning Research, Apple
  • Yuxuan ZhouRA, CMU; Ph.D., MPI; ERNIE Team, Baidu
  • Changdae OhRA, CMU; Ph.D., UW–Madison
  • Hyesu LimRA, CMU; Ph.D., KAIST-AI

Master’s alumni

  • Charles LeWarneRA, UW; Software Engineer, AT&T
  • Siyao LiRA, CMU; Applied Scientist, Microsoft
  • Joshua ChoiRA, CMU; Senior Data Scientist, BNY
  • Yuran WangRA, CMU; Motion Planning ML Engineer, Tensor Auto

Undergraduate alumni

  • Johnny GarnicaRA, UW; Bachelor’s, UW; M.S. student, Northwestern
  • Sean ChangBachelor’s, CMU; Software Engineer, Google DeepMind
  • Aike ShiRA, CMU; Bachelor’s, Georgia Tech; Software Engineer, Microsoft

High school mentees

High school students mentored by Professor Cheng, with science competition honors and subsequent college admissions.

  • Jasmine LiuISEF finalist; ACM Second Award; Robotics Fourth AwardAdmitted to MIT
  • Yishu (Aimee) YuMSEF State Fair · Third PlaceAdmitted to MIT
  • Susan WangYau Biology · U.S. Regional Gold; Global Bronze; ISEF awardAdmitted to MIT
  • Zejia ShaoCalifornia science fair · First PrizeAdmitted to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Ziyan (Eric) HuaYau Computer Science Award · Honorable MentionAdmitted to the University of Chicago
  • Qiyuan GuYau Science Award · Regional First Prize; Global FinalistAdmitted to the University of Chicago
  • Yusen HuYau Computer Science Award · Honorable MentionAdmitted to Imperial College London
  • Yulun (Alan) WuYau Computer Science Award · Bronze PrizeAdmitted to Harvey Mudd College
  • Chiyu ZhouYau Computer Science Award · Regional First PrizeAdmitted to Imperial College London