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About |
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Hey! I'm Lei M. Zhang, a recent PhD graduate from the Department of ECE at the University of Toronto. My supervisor was professor Frank Kschischang, one of the inventors of the Factor Graph.
My research focused on the fields of information theory and coding theory. I was able to provide a theoretical explanation for one of the most efficient error-correcting codes used in modern fiber-optic communication systems, called Staircase Codes. I also made numerous contributions to the design and application of staircase codes in industry. For a list of my publications, please see Google Scholar.
Currently, my main research interest is the intersection of deep neural networks, variational inference, and information theory. I'm excited by the fact that information theory appears to be a driving force behind improving performance (InfoGAN), reducing errors (Entropy regularizer for adversarial robustness), or even as a possible theory for the unreasonable effectiveness of deep neural networks (Information bottleneck).