Xi Peng

Dr. Xi Peng serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Delaware, leading the Deep Robust & Explainable AI Lab (DeepREAL). Recognized by CSRankings as the top-1 scholar in the CIS department and second-best computer science researcher university-wide, his work focuses on advancing safety and reliability in artificial intelligence for critical applications.

Education

• PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (2018)

Research Focus
Dr. Peng's research centers on three interconnected pillars: (1) Robust Machine Learning addressing out-of-distribution challenges in dynamic, long-tail data scenarios while optimizing high-performance computing platforms; (2) Explainable Machine Learning generating domain-expert understandable rationales for AI decisions to enhance safety; and (3) Safe AI Applications deploying reliable systems in high-stakes domains including medicine, autonomous vehicles, and scientific discovery. His work bridges computer vision, robotics, and vehicle computing with foundational machine learning.

Scientific Recognition

• NSF CAREER Award (2024)
• DOD DEPSCoR Award (2023)
• Google Faculty Research Award (2022)
• University-wide research awards (2022)
• 14 paper awards at premier venues including Best Paper at NeurIPS 2021 and Oral Presentations at CVPR/ICCV

Research Support & Leadership
His work receives substantial funding from federal agencies (NSF, DOD, CDC), industrial partners (Google, Snap, MSK), and university sources. As director of DeepREAL, he oversees a research group publishing consistently in top venues (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR), with demonstrated impact in autonomous systems and connected health applications.