Yanzhi Wang
Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Contact
- yanz.wang@northeastern.edu
- 329 Dana
360 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Office
- 617.373.8805
Research Focus
Real-time and energy-efficient deep learning and artificial intelligence systems, model compression of deep neural networks (DNNs), neuromorphic computing and non-von Neumann computing paradigms
Education
- PhD, University of Southern California, 2014
Honors & Awards
- 2024 Constantinos Mavroidis Translational Research Award
- 2022 College of Engineering Faculty Fellow
- IEEE Technical Committee on Secure and Dependable Measurement Early Career Award
- Army Research Office Young Investigator Award
- Top Paper Award, IEEE Cloud Computing Conference (CLOUD)
- System Design Contest Special Service Recognition Award at DAC
- Massachusetts Acorn Innovation Award, Faculty Research Awards from Google, Mathworks, etc.
- Best Paper Award, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP)
- Best Paper Award, IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Low Power Electronic Design (ISLPED)
Research Overview
Real-time and energy-efficient deep learning and artificial intelligence systems, model compression of deep neural networks (DNNs), neuromorphic computing and non-von Neumann computing paradigms
Selected Research Projects
- Robust Machine Learning at the Edge
- – co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Strengthening Elderly Mobility in Urban Landscapes: Towards Age-Inclusive and Equitable Communities
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- DISCoVER (Design & Integration of Superconductive Computation for Ventures beyond Exascale Realization)
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Toxic-Free Footprints to Improve Community Health against Respiratory Hazards
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- CNS Core: Small: Collaborative: Content-based Viewport Prediction Framework for Live Virtual Reality Streaming
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- PatDNN: Towards 100X Acceleration and Real-Time DNN Execution on Mobile Platforms
- – Principal Investigator (YIP), Army Research Office
- SPX: Collaborative Research: FASTLEAP: FPGA based Compact Deep Learning Platform
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
Research Centers and Institutes
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Yue, Jinshan, Liu, Yongpan, Liu, Ruoyang, Sun, Wenyu, Yuan, Zhe, Tu, Yung-Ning, Chen, Yi-Ju, Ren, Ao, Wang, Yanzhi, Chang, Meng-Fan, Li, Xueqing, Yang, Huazhong (2021). STICKER-T: An Energy-Efficient Neural Network Processor Using Block-Circulant Algorithm and Unified Frequency-Domain Acceleration. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 56(6),1936-1948. 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3030264
- Niu, X. Ma, S. Lin, S. Wang, X. Qian, X. Lin, Y. Wang, B. Ren, PatDNN: Achieving Real-Time Dnn Execution on Mobile Devices with Pattern-Based Weight Pruning, in ACM International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS), 2020
- Ma, F-M. Guo, W. Niu, X. Lin, J. Tang, K. Ma, B. Ren, Wang, PCONV: The Missing but Desirable Sparsity in Dnn Weight Pruning for Real-Time Execution on Mobile Device, AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2020
- R. Cai, A. Ren, O. Chen, N. Liu, C. Ding, X. Qian, J. Han, W. Luo, N. Yoshikawa, Y. Wang, A Stochastic-Computing Based Deep Learning Framework Using Adiabatic Quantum-Flux-Parametron Superconducting Technology, in Proceedings of International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), 2019
May 26, 2026
Uncovering the Mystery Behind Physical AI
The term “physical AI”, coined by the CEO of NVIDIA, refers to any AI system that is designed to interact with its environment. Northeastern COE professors, through the Physical AI Research Initiative (PAIR), weigh in with their own knowledge and research on the concept, and where it may be headed.
May 19, 2026
Patent for Compressing and Accelerating Mobile AI Models
ECE Professor Yanzhi Wang was awarded a patent for “Computer-implemented methods and systems for compressing recurrent neural network (RNN) models and accelerating RNN execution in mobile devices to achieve real-time inference.”
Feb 17, 2026
Patent for Faster and More Efficient AI Applications on Smartphones
ECE Professor Yanzhi Wang was awarded a patent for “Computer-implemented methods and systems for DNN weight pruning for real-time execution on mobile devices.”
Sep 23, 2025
2025 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above.
Jul 21, 2025
Strengthening AI For Critical Edge Applications
ECE Professor Stratis Ioannidis, ECE/Khoury Distinguished Professor Jennifer Dy, and ECE Professor Yanzhi Wang, in collaboration with Kaushik Chowdhury from the University of Texas at Austin, were awarded a $1,100,000 NSF grant for “Robust Machine Learning at the Edge.”
Jan 31, 2025
2024 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes those who published a paper in 2024 or later.
Aug 01, 2024
$1.6M NSF Award for Creating Inclusive Cities Through Technology
CEE Associate Professor Qi “Ryan” Wang and ECE Associate Professor Yanzhi Wang, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the University of Virginia, received a $1.6 million NSF grant for “Strengthening Elderly Mobility in Urban Landscapes: Towards Age-Inclusive and Equitable Communities.”
Feb 01, 2024
Faculty and Staff Awards 2024
The College of Engineering recognized faculty and staff at the annual faculty and staff awards event and thanked everyone for their hard work and dedication in support of our students, college, and university during the 2023-2024 academic year. View award recipients and photo gallery.
Dec 07, 2023
2023 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above.
Aug 11, 2023
More Efficient Deep Neural Networks for Edge Devices
ECE Associate Professor Yanzhi Wang, in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, was awarded a $600,000 NSF grant for “Expediting Continual Online Learning on Edge Platforms through Software-Hardware Co-designs.”