Dr. Xi Peng is directing the Deep-REAL research group. Currently, he is holding three positions at UD:

• Assistant Professor, Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS)
• Resident Faculty, Data Science Institute (DSI)
• Affiliate Faculty, of Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN)

Dr. Peng works in the area of machine learning (ML), deep learning, and computer vision. His research interest is developing reliable, explainable, and efficient ML models, upon which scientific machine learning and human-centered AI can advance synergistically. His group is working in three research directions:

• Robust and explainable ML: topology-aware robust and explainable optimization
• Scientific ML: large and evolving data analysis in geography, hydrology, and coastal mapping
• Human-centered AI: AI-based biomechanics analysis

Publications: 

• Total (until Apr. 22, 2024): Conferences 39, Journals 14, Patents 2, Citations 4153, h­-index 29, i10-­index 43.
• Top conferences (25): CVPR 10, NeurIPS 3, ICLR 2, AAAI 1, ICCV 3, ECCV 3, IJCAI 1, KDD 1, NSDI 1.
• Top journals (11): TPAMI 2, IJCV 3, TIP 1, TMM 1, THMS 1, JOB 2.

Fengchun Qiao is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Spring 2020. His current research interest is in machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision. His current projects include Domain Generalization, Uncertainty Quantification, and Online Learning.

Publications: 

• ICLR'23, CVPR'21, TPAMI'21, CVPR'20, CASA'18, ACII Asia'18.

Awards: 

• NeurIPS 2022 Top Reviewer Award;
• Distinguished Graduate Student Award, University of Delaware, 2021;
• National Scholarship for Graduate Students, 2018.

Mengmeng Ma is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Fall 2020. His current research interest is multimodal learning, unsupervised/self‑supervised representation learning, and transfer learning, with applications in computer vision.

Publications: 

• CVPR'22, AAAI'21.

Awards: 

• Graduate Student Travel Award, University of Delaware, 2022;
• Distinguished Graduate Student Award, Computer & Information Sciences, University of Delaware, 2021.

Nathaniel Merrill is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Fall 2020. His current research interest is SLAM, sensor fusion, deep learning, and computer vision.

Publications: 

• CVPR'22, ICRA'21, IROS'20, ICRA'20, IROS'19, RSS'18.

Awards: 

• AAUP-UD Award, University of Delaware;
• Deans List, University of Delaware;
• First Place Intern Poster Award, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Tang Li is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Fall 2020. His current research interest is Machine Learning , Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and Explainable AI (XAI). His current project is the  deep learning for spatiotemporal modeling of Urbanization.

Publications: 

• CVPR'23, NeurIPS'21W.

Awards & Service: 

• Best Paper Award: NeurIPS 2021 MLPH Workshop;
• Department Travel Award for Outstanding Conference Publications, 2023;
• The University of Delaware DSI (Data Science Institute) fellow.

Qitong Wang is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Fall 2021. His current research interest is Computer Vision and Machine Learning.

Publications: 

• ICCV'23, TMM'22, CVIU’22, ICIP'21, CVPR'20W.

Service: 

• Research Assistant.

Kien X. Nguyen is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Fall 2021. His current research interest is Domain Adaptation and Lifelong Learning.

Publications: 

• CVIU'23, ICME'21, IPCCC'20.

Service: 

• Fall 2023: Teaching Assistant for CISC 684 (Intro to Machine Learning).
• Summer 2023: Instructor for CISC684 (Intro to Machine Learning).
• Summer 2022: Instructor for CISC181 (Intro to Computer Science II).

Ziyang Jia is a Ph.D. student, he joined the Deep-REAL Group in Fall 2022. His current research interest is Computer Vision and Machine Learning.

Publications: 

• Physica A'18.

Service: 

• Spring 2022: Teaching Assistant for CISC 106 (General Computer Science for Engineers).
• Summer 2022: Teaching Assistant for CISC 108 (Introduction to Computer Science I).
  
• Fall 2022: Teaching Assistant for CISC 106 for honors college.

Ricardo Santos, a Ph.D. student at NOVA School of Science and Technology in Portugal, is currently a visiting scholar at the Deep-REAL Group for Spring 2024. He specializes in enhancing the robustness of Deep Learning models, particularly with multimodal and longitudinal data, and is dedicated to applying these improvements to clinical settings through the use of Electronic Health Records.

Publications: 

• ECML/PKDD’23W, IJMI’23, IF’23, JKSU-CIS’23, IEEEAcess’21.

Service: 

• Spring 2023: Teaching assistant for Medical Image Processing (NOVA FCT).
• Fall 2022: Teaching assistant for Intro to Machine Learning for Biomedical Engineering (NOVA FCT).

Amani A. Kiruga is an undergraduate student from the CIS department under the supervision of Dr. Peng. 

Grade: 

• Senior.

Research Interests:

• Computer Vision.
• Multimodal Learning.

Awards: 

• Outstanding Sophomore Student/Paul D. Amer Meritorious Award.

Wenxuan Li is an undergraduate student from the CIS department under the supervision of Dr. Peng. 

Grade: 

• Senior.

Research Interests: 

• Out-of-distribution Detection.
• Out-of-distribution Generalization.

Ruoxi Jin is an undergraduate student from the CIS department under the supervision of Dr. Peng. 

Grade: 

• Senior.

Research Interests: 

• Computer Vision.

Awards: 

• Dean's List: Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022.