Dr. Xi Peng directs the DeepREAL (Deep Robust & Explainable AI Lab) at the University of Delaware. He specializes in AI, machine learning, and computer vision with over 15 years of experience.

Dr. Peng builds trustworthy AI models that advance computational intelligence and align with human safety.

Dr. Peng mentors PhD students and instructs various machine learning courses.

Research Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award (2024)
• DOD DEPSCoR Award (2023)
• Google Faculty Research Award (2022)
• General University Research Award (2022)
• University of Delaware Research Foundation Award (2022) 

Fengchun Qiao is a Ph.D. student, he joined the DeepREAL 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.

Previous: 

• Chinese Academy of Sciences

Publications: 

• ICML'24, 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 DeepREAL Group in Fall 2020. His current research interest is multimodal learning, unsupervised/self‑supervised representation learning, and transfer learning, with applications in computer vision.

Previous: 

• University of Southern California

Publications: 

• ICML'24, CVPR'22, AAAI'21.

Awards: 

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

Tang Li is a Ph.D. student, he joined the DeepREAL 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.

Previous: 

• George Washington University

Publications: 

• NeurIPS'24, ECCV'24, 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 DeepREAL Group in Fall 2021. His current research interest is Computer Vision and Machine Learning.

Previous: 

• Boston University

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 DeepREAL Group in Fall 2021. His current research interest is Domain Adaptation and Lifelong Learning.

Previous: 

• Texas Christian University

Publications: 

• NeurIPS'24, CIKM'24, 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).

Yunxiang (Jeffery) Peng is a Ph.D. student, he joined the DeepREAL Group in Spring 2024. His current research interest is Medical Image Processing, eXplainable ML. His current project is the deep learning for mpMRI Image Analysis.

Previous: 

• Columbia University

Publications: 

• JOSS'24.

Service: 

• Spring 2024: Teaching Assistant for CISC 220 (Data Structure).

Yanlin Chen is a Ph.D. student, he joined the DeepREAL Group in Fall 2024. His current research interest is eXplainable ML.

Previous: 

• Southern University of Science and Technology

Publications: 

• IJCNN'24.

Service: 

• Fall 2024: Teaching Assistant for CISC 498 (Computer Science Senior Design Project I).

Mohadeseh is a Ph.D. student, she joined the DeepREAL Group in Fall 2024. Her current research interest is computer vision, deep learning, and machine learning.

Previous: 

• Isfahan University of Technology

Service: 

• Research Assistant.

Ricardo Santos, a Ph.D. student at NOVA School of Science and Technology in Portugal, is a visiting scholar at the DeepREAL Group from 2023 to 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.

Previous: 

• Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (Portugal)

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).

Nathaniel Merrill is a Ph.D. student from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He joined the DeepREAL Group and co-advised by Prof. Xi Peng from 2020 to 2023. His research interest is in SLAM, sensor fusion, deep learning, and computer vision.

Advisor: 

• Prof. Pual Huang (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

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.