Publications (34)
From Voices to Validity: Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) for Textual Analysis of Policy Stakeholder Interviews
Alex Liu, Min Sun
Obtaining stakeholders' diverse experiences and opinions about current policy in a timely manner is crucial for policymakers to identify strengths and gaps in resource allocation,…
Regularized Graph Structure Learning with Semantic Knowledge for Multi-variates Time-Series Forecasting
Hongyuan Yu, Ting Li, Weichen Yu +4
Multivariate time-series forecasting is a critical task for many applications, and graph time-series network is widely studied due to its capability to capture the spatial-temporal…
Enhancing Instructional Quality: Leveraging Computer-Assisted Textual Analysis to Generate In-Depth Insights from Educational Artifacts
Zewei Tian, Min Sun, Alex Liu +2
This paper explores the transformative potential of computer-assisted textual analysis in enhancing instructional quality through in-depth insights from educational artifacts. We i…
Generative AI in K-12 Classrooms: A Midyear Implementation Report
Lief Esbenshade, Alex Liu, Michael Xiao +6
This mid-year report summarizes teacher use of Colleague AI across 12 Washington State school districts from September 1 to December 31, 2025. Produced jointly by Colleague AI and…
Hybrid Inlining: A Compositional and Context Sensitive Static Analysis Framework
Jiangchao Liu, Jierui Liu, Peng Di +4
Context sensitivity is essential for achieving the precision in inter-procedural static analysis. To be (fully) context sensitive, top-down analysis needs to fully inline all state…
AI as a Teaching Partner: Early Lessons from Classroom Codesign with Secondary Teachers
Alex Liu, Lief Esbenshade, Shawon Sarkar +6
This report presents a comprehensive account of the Colleague AI Classroom pilot, a collaborative design (co-design) study that brought generative AI technology directly into real…
Measuring and Clustering Network Attackers using Medium-Interaction Honeypots
Zain Shamsi, Daniel Zhang, Daehyun Kyoung +1
Network honeypots are often used by information security teams to measure the threat landscape in order to secure their networks. With the advancement of honeypot development, toda…
ComposableNav: Instruction-Following Navigation in Dynamic Environments via Composable Diffusion
Zichao Hu, Chen Tang, Michael J. Munje +6
This paper considers the problem of enabling robots to navigate dynamic environments while following instructions. The challenge lies in the combinatorial nature of instruction spe…
Human-LLM Collaborative Inductive Coding for Conceptualizing K-12 Educator AI Use
Alex Liu, Min Sun, Lief Esbenshade +4
Qualitative researchers increasingly encounter interaction corpora whose scale exceeds what manual coding alone can address, and large language models (LLMs) are frequently propose…
Creating and Evaluating K-12 GenAI Assessment Graders Through Context Engineering
Zewei Tian, Alex Liu, Lief Esbenshade +6
The integration of large language models (LLMs) into educational assessment represents a transformative shift in classroom grading practices. While automated scoring systems and ma…
Implementation Considerations for Automated AI Grading of Student Work
Zewei Tian, Alex Liu, Lief Esbenshade +4
This study explores the classroom implementation of an AI-powered grading platform in K-12 settings through a co-design pilot with 19 teachers. We combine platform usage logs, surv…
Online Scaling of NFV Service Chains across Geo-distributed Datacenters
Yongzheng Jia, Chuan Wu, Zongpeng Li +2
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an emerging paradigm that turns hardware-dependent implementation of network functions (i.e., middleboxes) into software modules running on…
Model Predictive Control for Aggressive Driving Over Uneven Terrain
Tyler Han, Alex Liu, Anqi Li +3
Terrain traversability in unstructured off-road autonomy has traditionally relied on semantic classification, resource-intensive dynamics models, or purely geometry-based methods t…
Secret Sharing based Secure Regressions with Applications
Chaochao Chen, Liang Li, Wenjing Fang +6
Nowadays, the utilization of the ever expanding amount of data has made a huge impact on web technologies while also causing various types of security concerns. On one hand, potent…
Dynamic Scaling of Virtualized, Distributed Service Chains: A Case Study of IMS
Jingpu Duan, Chuan Wu, Franck Le +2
The emerging paradigm of network function virtualization advocates deploying virtualized network functions (VNF) on standard virtualization platforms for significant cost reduction…
A Tale of Evil Twins: Adversarial Inputs versus Poisoned Models
Ren Pang, Hua Shen, Xinyang Zhang +5
Despite their tremendous success in a range of domains, deep learning systems are inherently susceptible to two types of manipulations: adversarial inputs -- maliciously crafted sa…
Improving the Distributional Alignment of LLMs using Supervision
Gauri Kambhatla, Sanjana Gautam, Angela Zhang +4
The ability to accurately align LLMs with diverse population groups on subjective questions would have great value. In this work, we show that adding simple supervision can more co…
RAGRank: Using PageRank to Counter Poisoning in CTI LLM Pipelines
Austin Jia, Avaneesh Ramesh, Zain Shamsi +2
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has emerged as the dominant architectural pattern to operationalize Large Language Model (LLM) usage in Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) systems…
Detection of orbital and superhump periods in Nova V2574 Ophiuchi (2004)
Tae W. Kang, Alon Retter, Alex Liu +1
We present the results of 37 nights of CCD unfiltered photometry of nova V2574 Oph (2004) from 2004 and 2005. We find two periods of 0.14164 d (~3.40 h) and 0.14773 d (~3.55 h) in…
Identity isn't everything -- how far do demographics take us towards self-identified party ID?
Sabina Tomkins, David Rothschild, Alex Liu +1
How well do demographics explain party identification? Demographics are related to party identification in political polls, news articles, and academic publications. Yet, there is…
Online VNF Scaling in Datacenters
Xiaoke Wang, Chuan Wu, Franck Le +3
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a promising technology that promises to significantly reduce the operational costs of network services by deploying virtualized network fun…
Nova V4743 Sagittarii 2002: An Intermediate Polar Candidate
Tae W. Kang, Alon Retter, Alex Liu +1
We present the results of 11 nights of CCD unfiltered photometry of V4743 Sgr (Nova Sgr 2002 # 3) from 2003 and 2005. We find two periods of 0.2799 d ~ 6.7 h and 0.01642 d ~ 24 min…
Agreement Is Not Quality: Blind Expert Verification of Human and LLM Qualitative Coding When Human Consensus Is Not Ground Truth
Alex Liu, Lief Esbenshade, Michael Xiao +4
Evaluations of LLM-assisted qualitative coding almost universally measure model performance as agreement with human coders, a practice that presumes human coding is the standard to…
V4745 Sgr -- a nova above the period gap and an intermediate polar candidate
Andrej Dobrotka, Alon Retter, Alex Liu
A period analysis of CCD unfiltered photometry of V4745 Sgr (Nova Sgr 2003 #1) performed during 23 nights in the years 2003 - 2005 is presented. The photometric data are modulated…
How K-12 Educators Use AI: LLM-Assisted Qualitative Analysis at Scale
Alex Liu, Lief Esbenshade, Shawon Sarkar +4
This study investigates how K-12 educators use generative AI tools in real-world instructional contexts and how large language models (LLMs) can support scalable qualitative analys…
Connecting Feedback to Choice: Understanding Educator Preferences in GenAI vs. Human-Created Lesson Plans in K-12 Education -- A Comparative Analysis
Shawon Sarkar, Min Sun, Alex Liu +4
As generative AI (GenAI) models are increasingly explored for educational applications, understanding educator preferences for AI-generated lesson plans is critical for their effec…
Ultra-Low Temperature Li/CFx Batteries Enabled by Fast-transport and Anion-pairing Liquefied Gas Electrolytes
Yijie Yin, John Holoubek, Alex Liu +11
Lithium fluorinated carbon is one of the most promising chemistries for high-energy-density primary energy storage systems in applications where rechargeability is not required. Th…
Two new accreting, pulsating white dwarfs: SDSS J1457+51 and BW Sculptoris
Helena Uthas, Joseph Patterson, Jonathan Kemp +8
We report the discovery of rapid periodic signals in the light curves of two cataclysmic variables with prominent white-dwarf components in their spectra, SDSS J1457+51 and BW Scul…
Adapting to Educate: Conversational AI's Role in Mathematics Education Across Different Educational Contexts
Alex Liu, Lief Esbenshade, Min Sun +4
As educational settings increasingly integrate artificial intelligence (AI), understanding how AI tools identify -- and adapt their responses to -- varied educational contexts beco…
Sparse deep computer-generated holography for optical microscopy
Alex Liu, Yi Xue, Laura Waller
Computer-generated holography (CGH) has broad applications such as direct-view display, virtual and augmented reality, as well as optical microscopy. CGH usually utilizes a spatial…
Merlin HugeCTR: GPU-accelerated Recommender System Training and Inference
Joey Wang, Yingcan Wei, Minseok Lee +9
In this talk, we introduce Merlin HugeCTR. Merlin HugeCTR is an open source, GPU-accelerated integration framework for click-through rate estimation. It optimizes both training and…
The 2005 July Superoutburst of the Dwarf Nova 2QZ J021927.9-304545: the SU UMa Nature Confirmed
Akira Imada, Taichi Kato, L. A. G. Monard +3
We report on time-resolved photometry of the 2005 July superoutburst of the dwarf nova, 2QZ J021927.9-304545. The resultant light curves showed conspicuous superhumps with a period…
Emerging Patterns of GenAI Use in K-12 Science and Mathematics Education
Lief Esbenshade, Shawon Sarkar, Drew Nucci +10
In this report, we share findings from a nationally representative survey of US public school math and science teachers, examining current generative AI (GenAI) use, perceptions, c…
Teacher-Authored Prompts for Configuring Student-AI Dialogue: K-12 Classroom Implementation
Alex Liu, Min Sun, Lief Esbenshade +3
GenAI has rapidly entered instructional and learning settings as a teaching assistant or AI tutor. However, less is known about how pedagogical intent connects to the learning gene…