📝 Biography

I am currently a Ph.D. student at the Department of Electronic Computer & Engineering (ECE), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), under the supervision of Prof. Yiwen Wang. Before that, I received my MPhil and B.S. degrees from HKUST and Northeastern University (Rank:1/292), respectively.

My research interest is broadly on Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) with a focus on reinforcement learning, transfer learning and neural decoding.

📖 Education

• Ph.D. in ECE, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2022–Present
• MPhil in ECE, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2020–2022.
• B.S. in Automation (Lang Shijun Elite Class), Northeastern University, 2016 - 2020

🍻 Honors and Awards

• IEEE Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Student Grant, 2023
• Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS), 2022-2026
• HKUST Redbird Scholarship, 2022
• HKUST Research Travel Grant (RTG), 2022
• 3rd prize in the IEEE-EMB Hong Kong and Macau Joint Chapter Student Project Competition, 2021
• HKUST Full Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS), 2020-2022
• Provincial Outstanding Graduates, 2020
• Chinese National Scholarship, 2017–2019
• Mayor’s Scholarship of Shenyang, 2019
• Meritorious Winner in American Mathematical Contest in Modeling, 2019
• First-class Scholarship of NEU, 2017-2020

📰 Publications

• Audio-induced Medial Prefrontal Cortical Dynamics Enhances Coadaptive Learning in Brain–Machine Interfaces. Jieyuan Tan, Xiang Zhang, Shenghui Wu, Zhiwei Song, Shuhang Chen, Yifan Huang, Yiwen Wang*, Journal of Neural Engineering. DOI:10.1088/1741-2552/ad017d. [PDF]
• A Novel KL Divergence Optimization Method for Aligning Neural Population Patterns during Task Learning. Zhiwei Song, Xiang Zhang, Yiwen Wang*, The 2023 IEEE Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC). [PDF]
• Cluster Kernel Reinforcement Learning-based Kalman Filter for Three-Lever Discrimination Task in Brain-Machine Interface. Zhiwei Song, Xiang Zhang, Yiwen Wang*, 2022 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC) IEEE, 2022: 690–693. [PDF]
• Modeling Neural Connectivity in a Point-Process Analogue of Kalman Filter. Mingdong Li, Shuhang Chen, Xi Liu, Zhiwei Song, and Yiwen Wang*, 2022 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC) IEEE, 2022: 768–771. [PDF]
• Estimating Reward Function from Medial Prefrontal Cortex Cortical Activity using Inverse Reinforcement Learning. Jieyuan Tan, Xiang Shen, Xiang Zhang, Zhiwei Song, and Yiwen Wang*, 2022 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC). IEEE, 2022: 3346–3349. [PDF]
• Reinforcement Learning-based Kalman Filter for Adaptive Brain Control in Brain-Machine Interface. Xiang Zhang, Zhiwei Song, Yiwen Wang*, 43rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2021 [PDF]
• Characterization of the influence of fiber diameter and sensing area length upon lossy mode resonance (LMR) fiber sensors, Zhiwei Song, Qi Wang, Xuezhou Wang. Instrumentation Science & Technology. DOI:10.1080/10739149.2019.1636064. [PDF]

✈️: Academic Activities

• The 2023 IEEE Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), October 1-4, 2023, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
• The 4th International Workshop on Neural Engineering and Rehabilitation, August 6–8, 2023, Chengdu, China
• 首届脑-机接口大会，暨脑机接口产业联盟第一次全会，July 3-5, 2023, Tianjin, China.
• The 8th International BCI meeting, June 7-9, 2021, BCI Society, virtual. Poster title: Utilizing Goal-Related Information from the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in the Brain-Machine Interface.

👽 Teaching Assistant (TA)

• HKUST ELEC 3100: Signal Processing and Communications, 2021 Spring
• HKUST ELEC 4830: Statistical Signal Analysis and Applications in Neural Engineering, 2021 Fall
• HKUST ELEC 4130: Machine Learning on Images, 2023 Spring
• HKUST ELEC 3810: Data Science for Neural Engineering, 2023 Fall

🎈 Life

I’m a bit of a double personality😂. When it comes to studying and working, I’m as calm and collected as a monk in meditation😶. But when it’s time to let loose and socialize, I’m the life of the party😜! Going to the gym is one of my favorite hobbies. Nothing makes me happier than seeing those biceps grow and the abs pop. My current goal? To gain weight to 65 kg and have a six-pack that can double as a washboard. I am an ENTJ guy looking forward to meeting new people. Come chat with me if you want to make a friend❤️.