I am a computer science PhD student at the University of California, San Diego, where I am fortunate to be advised by Rose Yu. I received my Master’s degree in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology, and Bachelor degrees in computer science and physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

I am broadly interested in deep learning theory and optimization. Currently, I am studying symmetries in the neural network parameter space and their impact on optimization, generalization, and the loss landscape.

Publications

  • Improving Convergence and Generalization Using Parameter Symmetries
    Bo Zhao, Robert M. Gower, Robin Walters, Rose Yu
    International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2024 (Oral presentation)
    [arXiv] [code]
  • DYffusion: A Dynamics-informed Diffusion Model for Spatiotemporal Forecasting
    Salva Rühling Cachay, Bo Zhao, Hailey Joren, Rose Yu
    Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2023
    [arXiv] [code] [blog]

  • Symmetries, Flat Minima, and the Conserved Quantities of Gradient Flow
    Bo Zhao*, Iordan Ganev*, Robin Walters, Rose Yu, Nima Dehmamy (*equal contribution)
    International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2023
    [arXiv] [code] [talk]

  • Symmetry Teleportation for Accelerated Optimization
    Bo Zhao, Nima Dehmamy, Robin Walters, Rose Yu
    Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2022
    [arXiv] [code] [video]

  • LIMO: Latent Inceptionism for Targeted Molecule Generation
    Peter Eckmann, Kunyang Sun, Bo Zhao, Mudong Feng, Michael Gilson, Rose Yu
    International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), 2022
    [paper] [code] [video] [website]

  • Concentric Spherical Neural Network for 3D Representation Learning
    James Fox, Bo Zhao, Beatriz Gonzalez Del Rio, Sivasankaran Rajamanickam, Rampi Ramprasad, Le Song
    International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2022
    [paper] [pdf] [code]

  • Multiple Aging Mechanisms in Ferroelectric Deuterated Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate
    Gregory A. Fields, Samuel F. Cieszynski, Bo Zhao, Kidan A. Tadesse, Mohammed A. Sheikh, Eugene V Colla, and M. B. Weissman.
    Journal of Applied Physics 125, 194102, 2019
    [paper] [pdf]

Experience

  • IBM, AI Intern, June - September 2022

Teaching

  • Teaching Assistant, CS 4641 Machine Learning, Georgia Tech, Fall 2020
  • Lead Course Assistant, CS 225 Data Structures, UIUC, Spring 2019
  • Course Assistant, CS 225 Data Structures, UIUC, Fall 2017 / Spring 2018 / Fall 2018

Education

  • Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California, San Diego, 2021-present
  • M.S. in Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-2021
  • B.S. in Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016-2019
  • B.S. in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016-2019