Yicong Li

I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Harvard University, advised by Prof. Hanspeter Pfister in the Visual Computing Group (VCG), with an M.S. in Bioengineering. I also work with Prof. Jeff W. Lichtman, Prof. Aravinthan D.T. Samuel, Prof. Wanhua Li, and Prof. Donglai Wei.

Previously, I obtained my master’s degree from Tsinghua University, advised by Prof. Yang Li, and my bachelor’s degree from Sichuan University’s Wu Yuzhang Honors College. During this period, I also worked with Prof. Nir Shavit and Prof. Lu Mi at MIT CSAIL, and Prof. Faisal Mahmood at Harvard Medical School.

I interned at Netflix, Genentech, Microsoft Research (w/ Dr. Kristen Severson), Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute (w/ Prof. Dmitri “Mitya” B. Chklovskii, Prof. Jingpeng Wu), and Huawei (w/ Prof. Nanshan Zhong’s team).

I aim to develop bleeding-edge AI techniques to address important real-world challenges. My recent work explores:

• Computer Vision: vision foundation models, generative models, 2D & 3D segmentation, detection, restoration, compression.
• Multimodal Learning: video understanding, MLLM post-training (SFT, RL, on-policy distillation) & in-context learning, alignment, synthetic data generation.
• Self-Improving Agents: automated optimization of prompts, skills, workflows, harnesses.
• AI for Neuroscience: large-scale electron microscopy image analysis for connectomics.
• AI for Healthcare: computational pathology, respiratory disease screening & quality assurance, embryo viability prediction in IVF, MRI/CT/X-ray image analysis.

I’m a recipient of the Laverack Family Innovation Fund Fellowship from Harvard University and the “Wang Wen Guo” Scholarship from Sichuan University. My research has been featured in Forbes, MIT News, Harvard Gazette, Nature Methods’ Method of the Year 2025, MarkTechPost, Computer Vision News, and ERCIM News.

Beyond research, I analyze investments across the full AI stack: AI chips, space as AI infrastructure, physical AI foundation models, robotics, and agentic AI solutions across industries. I also have extensive experience leading a student organization of 70+ members, managing large-scale business, academic, social events, and serving 5000+ students and scholars at Harvard.

I'm currently on the job market — feel free to reach out!