Zheng Yu (于ε³₯)

Daily immersion in evil leads to withering; the diligent pursuit of goodness leads to flourishing.

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About Me (CV)

I'm graduating in March 2026 and actively seeking full-time opportunities. Please check out my CV and feel free to contact me if you're interested!

My name is Zheng Yu. I am a PhD candidate in the Computer Science department at Northwestern University, advised by Prof. Xinyu Xing. My research interests include System Security and AI Security. My goal is to enhance the security of programs with minimal human intervention.


I obtained my bachelor's degree from the ACM Honor Class at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, majoring in Computer Science. My advisor was Prof. Chao Li. Additionally, I was also very fortunate to be advised by Prof. Meng Xu at the University of Waterloo during my research visits.


Besides, I am very interested in and good at algorithm design. I was an OIer when I was studying at Yali. I am also a CTF player; I used to play CTF with Nu1L and StrawHat.


Outside of research, I enjoy traveling and painting, including watercolor and sketching. Here is a gallery that is still under construction.

News

Publications

* indicates equal contribution.

Talks

Work & Teaching Experience

  • CertiK Jan. 2026 – Apr. 2026

    Security Researcher New York, NY, USA

    Smart Contract Security Team

  • Northwestern University Sep. 2025 – Dec. 2025

    Teaching Assistant Evanston, IL, USA

    Operating Systems (COMP_SCI 343), Instructor: Dr. Branden Ghena

  • University of Waterloo Jun. 2025 – Sep. 2025

    Visiting Graduate Researcher Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    CrySP Lab, Advisor: Prof. Meng Xu

  • Northwestern University Sep. 2024 – Dec. 2024

    Teaching Assistant Evanston, IL, USA

    Introduction to Computer Security (COMP_SCI 350), Instructor: Prof. Xinyu Xing

  • Google Summer of Code Apr. 2022 – Oct. 2022

    GSOC Project Mentor Remote

    Bridging Qiling and Static Analysis

  • JD.COM, Inc. Jun. 2021 – May 2022

    Security Engineer Beijing, China

    Application Security Team - Firmware Emulation

  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sep. 2019 – May 2021

    Infrastructure Engineer Shanghai, China

    Information and Network Center

  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University Jun. 2019 – Sep. 2019

    Teaching Assistant Shanghai, China

    Programming Design and Data Structures (CS151), Instructor: Prof. Huiyu Weng

Honors & Awards

  • CSAW Applied Research Competition Finalist & Technical Impact Award Runner-up 2025

    NYU Tandon School of Engineering - PatchAgent Project

  • USENIX Security Student Grant Recipient 2024, 2025

    USENIX Association

  • DARPA AIxCC Advanced Finals 2024

    Top Finalist - Team 42-b3yond-6ug

  • ACM CCS Student Grant Recipient 2024

    ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security

  • DEFCON CTF Finals - 5th Place 2023

    Team StrawHat (7th Place in 2022)

  • Outstanding Graduate Award 2022

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  • Zhiyuan Honor Scholarship 2018-2021

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Top 2% annually)

  • China National Olympiad in Informatics - Silver Medal 2017

    China Computer Federation (CCF) - Top 100 Nationally

Media Coverage

Academic Services