Tianyi Chen

Tianyi Chen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell Tech, Cornell University, starting from Summer 2025. Previously, he was an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he began as an Assistant Professor in 2019. His research bridges theoretical foundations in optimization, signal processing, and machine learning with practical applications in AI, wireless systems, and emerging computing paradigms.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota (Advisor: Prof. Georgios B. Giannakis)
• B.Sc. in Communication Science and Engineering, Fudan University (Highest Honors, 2014)

Research Interests:

Tianyi Chen’s work spans bilevel optimization, multi-objective learning, and federated learning, with recent focus on AI safety, large language models, and analog in-memory computing. His group develops principled algorithms that enable efficient, secure, and scalable learning systems, integrating theory with real-world deployment in next-generation wireless networks and AI platforms.

Scientific Awards:

• IEEE Signal Processing Society Best PhD Dissertation Award (2020)
• NSF CAREER Award (2021)
• Amazon Research Award – AWS AI (2022)
• IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award (2024)
• Best Student Paper Awards at NeurIPS 2020 Workshop and ICASSP 2021

Advising & Grants:

Dr. Chen has mentored numerous PhD and Master’s students, many of whom have secured faculty or industry research positions. His research is supported by NSF, Amazon, Cisco, IBM, and NVIDIA. He is currently recruiting postdocs and students with backgrounds in optimization, advanced computing, and wireless networks for Fall 2025/2026 at Cornell Tech.

Labs & Teams:

His research group operates at the intersection of optimization theory, machine learning, and system design, with active collaborations across Cornell Tech, RPI, MIT-IBM Watson Lab, and industry partners like Amazon, Cisco, and IBM AI Horizons Network.