About Me

I am a Year 3 Computer Science undergraduate in the College of Computing and Data Science at Nanyang Technological University. I currently hold a CGPA of 4.78/5.00 and am on track for Highest Distinction. I also achieved a Graduate Record Examination score of 324/340, including 168 in Quantitative Reasoning.

My research interests lie at the intersection of visual analytics, human–AI collaboration, intelligent data systems, and algorithms for complex data exploration. Through NTU's URECA programme under Prof. Yong Wang, I have contributed to research on hierarchical data-fact exploration, interactive outlier analysis, and steerable LLM-driven program evolution. This work has led to FOX, accepted at IEEE VIS 2026; EvoMaestro, conditionally accepted at ACM UIST 2026; and DFCollection, currently under revision.

I am currently broadening this work through the HKUST Summer Research Program under Prof. Raymond Chi-Wing Wong, where I study shortest-path computation and indexing on Riemannian spaces as well as schema-tree compression for natural-language querying of NoSQL databases. I am also developing a factor-mining visual analytics system in collaboration with Fudan University. Alongside research, my professional internship at Centricore gave me experience building and maintaining full-stack enterprise software. I am interested in pursuing PhD research in visual analytics, human-computer interaction, and AI-assisted data analysis, and I welcome opportunities to connect with prospective supervisors and research collaborators.

News

  • 16 Jun 2026

    Our paper FOX is finally accepted at VIS 2026!

  • 11 Jun 2026

    Arrived at Hong Kong and begin 8 weeks Summer research program at HKUST!

  •  7 May 2026

    End the Year 3 Semester 2!

  •  1 Apr 2026

    Submitted the EvoMaestro to UIST and FOX to VIS!

  • 31 Mar 2026

    Receive the offer of NUS IRIS program!

  • 11 Mar 2026

    Receive the offer of HKUST Summer Research Program under Raymond Wong!

  •  5 Dec 2025

    Completed the Professional Internship as Software Engineer at Centricore!

  •  9 Nov 2025

    Completed research on data visualization and development of the DFCollection system!

  •  8 Aug 2025

    Started my second URECA project, focusing on machine learning and genetic algorithms!

  • 21 July 2025

    Commenced my Professional Internship at Centricore!

  • 15 June 2025

    Start my Summer Program in University of Tokyo!

Education

Nanyang Technological University

Aug 2023 – May 2027

Majoring in Computer Science at CCDS with a current CGPA of 4.78 (Y1S1–Y3S2), on track for Highest Distinction.

Nanyang Technological University logo

Graduate Record Examination

21 June 2024

Achieved a total score of 324/340, with 156 in Verbal Reasoning, 168 in Quantitative Reasoning, and 3.5 in Analytical Writing.

Graduate Record Examination scores: Verbal Reasoning 156, Quantitative Reasoning 168, and Analytical Writing 3.5

Chongqing Yucai Secondary School

Sep 2020 – June 2023

Selected into the highest-ranked class and achieved an average ranking within the top 30 among over 1,800 students.

Chongqing Yucai Secondary School logo

Publications

  1. Paper 1 image

    FOX: A Visual Analytics System for Interactive Exploration of Data Fact Outliers

    Yikai Li, Yong Wang

    Final Acceptance, IEEE VIS 26 (CORE A)

  2. Paper 1 image

    DFCollection: A Scalable Visual Analytics System for Hierarchical Fact Exploration

    Yikai Li, Xiaolin Wen, Qiaomu Shen, Yong Wang

    Under revision, submitted to Visual Informatics (JCR Q1)

  3. Paper 1 image

    EvoMaestro: An Interactive Visual Analytics System for Interpretable and Steerable LLM-Driven Program Evolution

    Feng Liang, Sizhe Cheng, Yikai Li, Ruijie He, Xiaolin Wen, Yong Wang

    Conditional Acceptance ACM UIST 2026 (CORE A)

Internship & Programs

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — Summer Research Program

Jun 2026 – Aug 2026

  • Participating in an 8-week summer research program under the supervision of Prof. Raymond Wong.
  • Studying Riemannian spaces and graph-based representations of curved manifolds for shortest-path computation and simulation.
  • Implementing and benchmarking Dijkstra, ALT, Contraction Hierarchies, Hub Labeling, and H2H, comparing preprocessing cost, query performance, memory usage, and search-space expansion.
  • Developing an offline schema-tree compression workflow for 11 datasets, reducing prompt-token usage while preserving query-relevant structure for natural-language querying of NoSQL databases.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology logo

Centricore (S) Pte. Ltd. – Junior Software Engineer

21 July 2025 – 5 Dec 2025

  • Worked on full-stack development using React, TypeScript, Node.js, and SQL Server.
  • Improved Azure authentication workflows and integrated public-key–based validation.
  • Built an automated email notification service using AWS SES.
  • Delivered a complete Blacklist & Whitelist report page, including UI, backend API, and SQL queries.
  • Supported feature migration across hospital Visitor Management Systems.
  • Debugged, enhanced, and maintained production-level code in a large enterprise system.
Centricore logo

The University of Tokyo — Global Unit Courses (GUC)

Jun 2025

  • Completed an intensive course on cosmology and computational scientific analysis.
  • Applied programming and statistical methods to explore astronomical data and present research findings.
The University of Tokyo logo

Projects

Factor Mining Visual Analytics system interface

Factor Mining Visual Analytics System Ongoing

Developing an interactive visual analytics system that helps experts mine, inspect, and edit quantitative factors through coordinated views and human-in-the-loop refinement. This ongoing collaboration with Fudan University is conducted under the supervision of Prof. Yong Wang.

View project
Riemannian Space Lab shortest-path simulation interface

Riemannian Space Shortest-Path Simulation

Developed an interactive system for computing and simulating shortest paths on discretized Riemannian spaces. The system compares non-indexed and indexed approaches, including Dijkstra, ALT, Contraction Hierarchies (CH), Hub Labeling, and H2H. This project was completed under the supervision of Prof. Raymond Chi-Wing Wong.

View project
Schema Compression Workbench interface

Schema Tree Compression

Built an offline schema-tree compression workflow for 11 datasets, producing compact schema representations that can fit within prompt token budgets for natural-language querying of NoSQL databases. This project was completed under the supervision of Prof. Raymond Chi-Wing Wong.

View project
Writing Quality Prediction

SC4000 - Quality Prediction

Developed a machine learning pipeline for the Kaggle competition “Linking Writing Processes to Writing Quality,” using keystroke logs to reconstruct essays, extract behavioral and text-based features, train diverse models, and improve prediction performance through ensembling, achieving a top 30% ranking.

View project
NUHS

NUHS VMS

During my internship at Centricore, I helped enhance the Visitor Management System for the National University Hospital System by adding and optimizing features, and the project remains business confidential.

View project

Experience

URECA (2nd) Evolutionary Algorithms and Data Fact Outlier analysis

Aug 2025 – Jun 2026

Conducted two research projects under the supervision of Prof. Wang and research staff member Liang: EvoMaestro: Toward Interpretable and Steerable LLM-Driven Program Evolution (submitted to UIST) and FOX: Visual Exploration of Data Fact Outliers (submitted to VIS).

IET Liaison Manager

Sep 2024 – Present

Serving as Liaison Manager for the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Organized guest lectures and networking events connecting students with industry professionals, including the IET CrossCampus Connect initiative between UOSM and PSB Academy, and coordinated a Mediacorp industry sharing session in October 2025.

URECA (1st) Data Facts Exploration and Visualization

Aug 2024 – June 2025

Participated in the URECA undergraduate research programme, focusing on exploratory data analysis and visual analytics. Proposed the DFCollection system, a novel data-fact collection approach for improving clustering and hierarchical exploration, and contributed to the design of a scalable visualization system.