CV
Hongkun Yang
Undergraduate researcher in responsible AI
Summary
Undergraduate student in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Ocean University of China. Research interests include robust and reliable AI, vision-language models, knowledge distillation, and responsible AI for real-world systems.
Education
- B.S. in Mathematics and Applied MathematicsPresentOcean University of China (OUC), Qingdao, ChinaGPA: 86/100 (3.5/4.0)Courses: Data Structures (99/100), Mathematical Analysis (98/100), Higher Algebra (97/100)
Work Experience
- Research AssistantJun. 2026 - PresentRice University, Houston, TX, USAAdviser: Prof. Wei Qiu
- Developed PerDFKD, a source-data-free knowledge-distillation framework that reconstructs personalized ECG teachers and transfers their knowledge to lightweight student models.
- Research AssistantJul. 2025 - Sep. 2025Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeAdviser: Prof. Wei Dong
- Proposed a non-transferable-learning framework for vision-language models to prevent unauthorized fine-tuning and intellectual-property exploitation while preserving utility on authorized tasks.
Publications
- DeAR: Fine-Grained VLM Adaptation by Decomposing Attention Head Roles2026CVPR 2026Yiming Ma*, Hongkun Yang*, Lionel Z. Wang, et al. Accepted to CVPR 2026. Equal contribution. Refined the core framework, led most experiments, and co-authored the manuscript.
- PerDFKD: Source-Data-Free Knowledge Distillation for Efficient Personalized ECG Adaptation2026Under Review at KDD 2027Hongkun Yang, Yilin Song, Wei Qiu. Designed the complete PerDFKD algorithm, implemented all experiments, and wrote the manuscript.
- AppellateGen: A Benchmark for Appellate Legal Judgment Generation2026Under ReviewHongkun Yang, Lionel Z. Wang, Wei Fan, et al. Built the benchmark, developed the SOP-based multi-agent system, and led evaluations and writing.
- NüshuVoice: Reviving the Voice of Endangered Nüshu with Pitch-Aware Text-to-Speech2026Under ReviewHongkun Yang*, Xinhui Yi*, Xiyan Zhao*, Yibo Meng*, et al. Equal contribution. Built the first Nüshu TTS benchmark and contributed to the pitch-aware Nüshu-PitchVITS framework.
Teaching
- Algorithms and Data Structures2025Ocean University of China (OUC), Qingdao, ChinaRole: Teaching Assistant (Sep. 2025–Jan. 2026)Conducted weekly office hours and Q&A sessions, provided debugging guidance, and evaluated programming assignments and examinations.