Zhi-Li Zhang

Zhi-Li Zhang is a Professor and Qwest Land Grant Chair in Telecommunications at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota. He also serves as Associate Director for Research at the Digital Technology Center.

• Education: Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1997), B.S. in Computer Science from Nanjing University, China.

Research Interests include networking, edge and cloud computing, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning applications in networked systems. His work focuses on building service-oriented, application-aware 5G/NextG networks and integrating AI/ML algorithms into software-defined networking and IoT.

Scientific Awards & Honors:

• McKnight Distinguished University Professor (2013)
• IEEE Fellow (2011)
• NSF CAREER Award (1998)
• Multiple Best Paper Awards (ACM SIGCOMM, IEEE INFOCOM, ACM SIGMETRICS)

Advising: Mentored Ph.D. graduate Udhaya Kumar Dayalan (2024). Actively seeks self-motivated, creative students for research projects.

Grants: Led a $4.25M NSF grant for autonomous vehicle research and received federal funding for NextG network systems.