Chong Liu @ State University of New York at Albany

Director, MLopt Lab

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
State University of New York at Albany
UAB 426, Albany, NY 12222

chongliu.cs AT gmail.com (preferred)
cliu24 AT albany.edu (for work)

PhD in Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara, 2023

ICLR'26 AISTATS'26 Area Chair, IEEE-TNNLS Associate Editor
Erdős number: 4, Private Pilot

Open Opportunities

[CS PhD Fall 2026] I'm recruiting two Ph.D. students starting Fall 2026. Click here to read the full advertisement. Feel free to drop me an email with your research interests, CV, undergrad transcript, and a representative writing sample (paper/preprint if any). However, due to the large volumes of inquiry emails, I may not be able to reply to all - I apologize in advance.

[Research Opportunties] I occasionally have some research opportunities. Feel free to drop me an email if you are interested! If you are a UAlbany student, feel free to come to my office hours. If you are a UAlbany unergrad student, you're expected to have an A- or A in Machine Learning (CSI 436), Artificial Intelligence (CSI 435), or Data Mining (CSI 431).

Machine Learning: Bayesian optimization, bandit algorithms, quantum machine learning.

AI for Accelerated Scientific Discovery: Experimental design, drug discovery, PDE surrogates.

CSI 436/536 Machine Learning [Spring 2026 Syllabus] [Spring 2025] [Fall 2024]

Dec 2025: Paper "Multi-Objective Coverage via Constraint Active Search" is accepted by AAMAS-2026 conference! In this work, we formulate the new multi-objective coverage problem where our goal is to identify a small set of representative samples whose predicted outcomes broadly cover the feasible multiobjective space. This problem is of great importance in many critical real-world applications, e.g., drug discovery and materials design. Congrats to my PhD student Zakaria Shams Siam (UAlbany), and co-author Xuefeng Liu (UChicago)!

Dec. 2025: Happy to release a preprint "Quantum Bayesian Optimization for Quality Improvement in Fuselage Assembly"! In this paper, we use quantum Bayesian optimization to improve the quality of aircraft fuselage assembly!

Nov. 2025: Paper "Quantum Non-Linear Bandit Optimization" is accepted by AAAI-2026 conference! In this paper, we propose a new non-linear bandit algorithm that enjoys quantum speed-up! Congrats to my PhD student Zakaria Shams Siam (UAlbany), and co-author Chaowen Guan (UCincinnati)!

Oct. 2025: I'm co-organizing the "Preference Learning in Large Language Models" session together with Fan Yao (UNC) at INFORMS-2025. I'll also give a talk on our recent UAI-2025 work in the "Bayesian Optimization" session at INFORMS-2025. Look foward to meeting you in Atlanta!

Aug. 2025: Invited to serve as an Area Chair of ICLR-2026 and AISTATS-2026 conferences.

May 2025: Paper "Bayesian Optimization with Inexact Acquisition: Is Random Grid Search Sufficient?" is accepted by UAI-2025 conference! In practice, exact acquisition function maximizer can be hardly obtained in Bayesian optimization, and our paper systematically studies this problem in theory. We find a condition under which the performance of GP-UCB and GP-TS can still be no-regret even without exact acquisition function maximization. Congrats to co-authors Hwanwoo Kim (Duke) and Yuxin Chen (UChicago)!

Apr. 2025: Happy to give a talk in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo!

Apr. 2025: Flying to Chicago to co-organize the 2025 Midwest AI for Drug Discovery and Development Workshop (AI4D3-Midwest-2025). Happy to meet you in Chicago!

Mar. 2025: Happy to visit Department of Computer Science and give a talk in the Computer Science Seminar at Rutgers University!

Feb. 2025: I'll give a talk on our recent AISTATS-2025 paper "Constrained Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization through Optimistic Constraints Estimation" at the 2025 Information Theory and Applications Workshop (ITA-2025). Happy to meet you in San Diego!

Feb. 2025: Happy to visit and give a talk at Prescient Design, Genentech in New York City!

Jan. 2025: Paper "Constrained Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization through Optimistic Constraints Estimation" is accepted by AISTATS-2025 conference! Many drug discovery problems are focusing on hitting multiple target performance criteria of a certain drug. In this paper, we model it as the constrained MOBO problem and solve it via optimistic constraints estimation. Congrats to co-authors Diantong Li (CUHK), Fengxue Zhang (UChicago), and Yuxin Chen (UChicago)!

Jan. 2025: Happy to release a preprint "No-Regret Linear Bandits under Gap-Adjusted Misspecification"! This paper extends my UAI-2023 paper by proposing a new algorithm to relax a key assumption of it and providing a new gap dependent analysis.

Jan. 2025: Happy new year! Wrote a blog sharing my computer science faculty job hunting experience in 2022-2023 market. Feel free to share if you found it interesting or helpful!

Dec. 2024: Paper "Black-Box Optimization with Implicit Constraints for Public Policy" is accepted by AAAI-2025 AI for Social Impact Track for an oral presentation! In this paper, we apply Bayesian optimization help police departments make decisions on police districting. Congrats to co-authors Wenqian Xing (Stanford), Jungho Lee (CMU), and Shixiang Zhu (CMU)!

Oct. 2024: I'm co-organizing the "Generative AI for Decision Making" session with Shixiang Zhu (CMU) at INFROMS-2024! Also, I'll give an invited talk at the "Bayesian optimization" session. Happy to meet you in Seattle!

Oct. 2024: Happy to release a review preprint "Binding Affinity Prediction: From Conventional to Machine Learning-Based Approaches"!

Aug. 2024: Hello Albany, New York! I've moved from Chicago to Albany to start my faculty career!