Dialogue@ZJU: With Dr. LIU Zuozhu from the International Campus

【Message from the editor: In the previous issues, Dr. SHAO Fangwei, associate professor from ZJUI, and Dr. CHEN Di from ZJE, shared their research and teaching at the International Campus. Today, let’s meet Dr. LIU Zuozhu, who joined ZJUI as an assistant professor in 2020. His research interests mainly lie at machine learning, deep learning algorithms and applications. Detailed directions include unsupervised/semi-supervised learning algorithms, Bayesian inference, and their applications in healthcare, language representation learning, wireless networks, etc.】  

I have joined the International Campus, ZJU, for one year. Every time I take a walk on the Campus, looking at the flags with ZJU motto Seeking Truth, Pursuing Innovation on both sides of the road, there is always a strong sense of belonging in my heart. Back to this young but somewhat familiar campus, I can't help making myself ambitious.

I was born in Hunan. I am always full of energy like the so called “Ya Zi in Hunan. When I was in senior high school, I chose a non-mainstream route. Instead of taking the College Entrance Examination, I participated in the discipline competition and got into Zhejiang University through the recommended admission. In the senior year in ZJU, I decided to apply for the PhD program in Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), after attending an academic seminar by my later doctoral advisor Prof. Tony Q.S. Quek and communicating with him. Making such a decision is certainly not easy. At that time, SUTD had just been established. Although it was supported by the Singapore government in the strategic partnership with ZJU and MIT, it still received little attention in China. Perhaps because of my inner yearning for such a small but energetic and innovative environment, I finally chose SUTD.

In March 2020, I came across a job posting of the International Campus, ZJU when I was doing postdoctoral research at National University of Singapore (NUS). After getting a general understanding of this Campus, I am sure that this is my dream working place. When I first arrived here, my alma mater, presented in a new look on this Campus, the question raised by the late president, Chu Kochen -- What kind of person will I be after graduation came to my mind again. I think, I am very likely to stay in this new environment, and find the answer with the rest of my life here.

My research interest is artificial intelligence and intelligent healthcare, which is a very popular research direction at present. Starting from the practical problems in the medical field, we explore and study the new AI algorithms to assist doctors in more efficient and accurate diagnosis and to help patients reduce the cost of treatment.

After joining the Zhejiang University-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute (ZJUI), we established the ZJU-Angelalign Research & Development Center for Intelligent Healthcare with Angelalign Inc. Shanghai, a leading enterprise in the field of stomatology in China. This is also the first university-enterprise joint research center ZJUI has set up. In fact, before returning to China, I had already cooperated with Angelalign on many projects. We, together with researchers from West China Medical Center, Sichuan University and Harvard Medical School, developed a deep learning-based tooth segmentation system for 3D introral scans and other techniques, which have been integrated into real-world clinical software, serving more than 10,000 patients within 3 months. In the next few years, we will carry out in-depth cooperation in artificial intelligence, intelligent diagnosis, biological big data platform etc., and explore to create a new generation of digital oral diagnosis and manufacturing system. We hope to deploy high-end medical equipment and provide intelligent medical service in oral diagnosis, improving the efficiency of doctors, reducing the cost of patients, and achieving better and faster treatment.

The International Campus is a diversified family. Here I have deeply felt the enthusiasm and efficiency of the administrative staff, and the interdisciplinary and innovative research culture. Here, we can carry out cooperation with other Institutes such as the Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute (ZJE), the research teams on the main campus, the hospitals and local enterprises in high efficiency. In such a diversified environment, I believe that we can definitely cultivate the students to the best and make more innovative and ground-breaking academic achievements.

For more stories about the faculty members at the International Campus, please click here.

Source: International Campus, Zhejiang University