Ziyang Li

Welcome! I'm a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania, advised by Prof. Mayur Naik. My primary area of research is programming languages. My research also spans the fields of machine learning and security.

My dissertation research is focused on neurosymbolic programming, an emerging paradigm that bridges the gap between deep learning and logical reasoning. To this end, I have developed Scallop, a general-purpose neurosymbolic programming language and compiler toolchain. Scallop has been used to develop diverse applications in the domains of natural language processing (NLP), computer vision (CV), cybersecurity, clinical-decision making, and bioinformatics. I was awarded the AWS Fellowship in 2022 for my research on trustworthy AI.

Before my PhD, I obtained a dual B.S. degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the UCSD, where I conducted research in computer graphics with Prof. Ravi Ramamoorthi. I also spent a year working in the UCSD Design Lab on HCI with Prof. Scott Klemmer. In my spare time, I am a Piano enthusiast and the keyboardist of the band, The Protagonists, where I play Jazz, Fusion, and Pop music. My favorite programming language is Rust!

Recent News

I will be on the academic job market for the 2024-25 cycle!

Publications

Core Scallop Language and its Applications:

Lobster: A GPU-Accelerated Framework for Neurosymbolic Programming Preprint

Paul Biberstein Ziyang Li Joseph Devietti Mayur Naik

Code Preprint
Neurosymbolic Programming with Scallop: Principles and Practice Foundations and Trends in Programming Languages 2024 (To Appear)

Ziyang Li Jiani Huang Jason Liu Mayur Naik

Invited Monograph Preprint
LASER: A Neuro-Symbolic Framework for Learning Spatial-Temporal Scene Graphs with Weak Supervision Preprint

Jiani Huang Ziyang Li Mayur Naik Ser-Nam Lim

ArXiv
Relational Programming with Foundation Models AAAI 2024

Ziyang Li Jiani Huang Jason Liu Felix Zhu Eric Zhao William Dodds Neelay Velingker Rajeev Alur Mayur Naik

Paper Plugin Library
Improved Logical Reasoning of Language Models via Differentiable Symbolic Programming ACL Findings 2023

Jiani Huang* Hanlin Zhang* Ziyang Li Mayur Naik Eric Xing

ArXiv
Scallop, A Language for Neurosymbolic Programming PLDI 2023

Ziyang Li Jiani Huang Mayur Naik

ArXiv Paper Zenodo Github
Scallop: From Probabilistic Deductive Databases to Scalable Differentiable Reasoning NeurIPS 2021

Jiani Huang* Ziyang Li* Binghong Chen Karan Samel Mayur Naik Le Song Xujie Si

Paper Code

Security and Program Analysis:

LLM-Assisted Static Analysis for Detecting Security Vulnerabilities Preprint

Ziyang Li Saikat Dutta Mayur Naik

ArXiv Dataset
Understanding the Effectiveness of Large Language Models in Detecting Security Vulnerabilities Preprint

Avishree Khare Saikat Dutta Ziyang Li Alaia Solko-Breslin Rajeev Alur Mayur Naik

ArXiv
TYGR: Type Inference on Stripped Binaries using Graph Neural Networks USENIX Security 2024

Ziyang Li* Chang Zhu* Anton Xue Ati Priya Bajaj William Gibbs Yibo Liu Hanjun Dai Mayur Naik Rajeev Alur Tiffany Bao Adam Doupé Yan Shoshitaishvili Ruoyu Wang Aravind Machiry

Paper
Arbitrar: User Guided API Misuse Detection IEEE S&P 2021

Ziyang Li Aravind Machiry Binghong Chen Ke Wang Mayur Naik Le Song

Paper Code Talk
Hoppity: Learning Graph Transformation to Detect and Fix Bugs in Programs ICLR 2020

Elizabeth Dinella Hanjun Dai Ziyang Li Mayur Naik Le Song Ke Wang

🏆 Spotlight Paper Code

Health and Bioinformatics:

Enhancing RNA Secondary Structure Prediction via Neuro-Symbolic Learning Preprint

Ziyang Li* Shu Yang* Mayur Naik Li Shen
Crowd-sourced machine learning prediction of Long COVID using data from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative eBioMedicine 2024

Timothy Bergquist et al. ... Neelay Velingker Ziyang Li Yinjun Wu Jiani Huang Adam Stein Emily J Getzen Qi Long Mayur Naik Ravi B Parikh ...

🏆 NIH L3C Honorable Mention Award Paper
DISCRET: Synthesizing Faithful Explanations For Treatment Effect Estimation ICML 2024

Yinjun Wu Mayank Keoliya Kan Chen Neelay Velingker Ziyang Li Emily J Getzen Qi Long Mayur Naik Ravi B Parikh Eric Wong

🏆 Spotlight ArXiv

Other Neurosymbolic Applications:

Data-Efficient Learning with Neural Programs NeurIPS 2024

Alaia Solko-Breslin Seewon Choi Ziyang Li Neelay Velingker Rajeev Alur Mayur Naik Eric Wong

ArXiv
Towards Faithful and High-Fiedlity Synthesis of Driving Scene Videos Preprint

Jiani Huang Siyang Zhang Ziyang Li Ser-Nam Lim Mayur Naik

Talks and Tutorials

Oct 11, 2024 Invited talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ Columbia University
Oct 4, 2024 Invited talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ TACPS workshop, ESWEEK'24
Sep 26, 2024 Invited talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ UT Austin
Jun 10-11, 2024 Scallop tutorial @ Summer School of Neurosymbolic Programming Tutorial
Apr 17, 2024 Guest lecture on Neurosymbolic Programming in CIS 7000, Spring 2024
Dec 10, 2023 Invited talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ Peking University PL Seminar
Nov 9, 2023 Invited talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ Purdue University
Aug 7, 2023 Invited talk on Scallop @ KDD'23
Jun 17-19, 2023 Tutorial and Talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ PLDI'23 Tutorial Slides
Apr 10, 2023 Invited talk on Scallop and Neurosymbolic Programming @ MIT Neurosymbolic Reading Group
Jun 1-2, 2022 Tutorial on Scallop @ Summer School of Formal Techniques'22 Tutorial Slides

Awards and Fellowships

AWS Fellows - 05/2023
KPCB Fellows, Engineering - 06/2018 - 09/2018

Teaching, Services, and Mentoring

Teaching:

Teaching Assistant, CIS 7000, Large Language Models - UPenn, Fall 2024
Teaching Assistant, CIS 5470, Software Analysis - UPenn, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Summer 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023
Tutor, CSE 190, Virtual Reality Technology - UCSD, Spring 2019
Tutor, CSE 165, 3D User Interaction - UCSD, Winter 2019
Tutor, CSE 130, Programming Language - UCSD, Fall 2018
Tutor, CSE 163, Advanced Computer Graphics - UCSD, Spring 2018
Tutor, CSE 167, Intro to Computer Graphics - UCSD, Winter 2018
Tutor, CSE 12, Data Structure - UCSD, Winter 2017