Xi Li (李溪)

PhD Recruitment

Dr. Xi Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She is looking to recruit 1-2 PhD students for Fall 2025. Her research interests include trustworthy AI and adversarial machine learning. Recent research topics include:

• Robustness of large language, vision, and multi-modal models
• Machine learning for IoT security and cybersecurity
• Trustworthy AI + X (e.g., education and healthcare)

Dr. Xi Li received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Penn State University in 2024. She earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from Penn State University in 2018 and her B.S. degree from the School of Information Science and Engineering at Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 2016. During her Ph.D. studies, her research was published in top-tier conferences such as AAAI, ICCV, and ICASSP, as well as in prestigious journals including the IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE) and Neurocomputing.

Join Us

• Complete the UAB online application.
• Send an email with the subject "[25Fall PhD Application]" including your resume and transcripts.

Requirements

• Highly motivated students with a keen interest in research related to trustworthy AI and machine learning.
• Applicants with a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, or other related STEM fields.
• Strong programming skills, with a preference for Python.
• Proficiency in English writing and speaking. (See English proficiency exams).
• Good communication skills: Ability to maintain regular and clear communication with the advisor about any research difficulties or questions.
• Demonstrated responsibility: Ability to remain resilient through research challenges.

Support

• Funding: PhD students are provided with a guaranteed 2-year Research Assistantship, which covers tuition fees, health insurance, and a living stipend.
• Facilities: PhD students and interns will have access to state-of-the-art facilities, including two servers equipped with high-performance GPUs (such as the A100) and personal computers.

About UAB

• UAB is an R1 research university, ranking in the top 8% of global universities. It ranks 137th among U.S. universities and 64th among public universities.
• UAB is heavily investing in computer science, particularly in the field of machine learning, by recruiting new faculty and acquiring GPU resources to support ML research. The university also encourages interdisciplinary collaboration.

Living in Birmingham

Birmingham is one of the major cities in Alabama, with convenient shopping options like Costco. The university is close to an airport, and it is within a 2-3 hour drive to cities like Atlanta, Memphis, and Nashville. The cost of living is affordable. The area also offers numerous state and national parks, ideal for outdoor activities.