My name is Zhuoyi Zhao, and I am currently a first-year Ph.D. student at The University of Hong Kong, supervised by Prof. Xianhao Chen.

Previously, I was a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Toronto, supervised by Prof. Ben Liang. I received the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, USA, in 2025, where I was supervised by Prof. Igor Kadota, and the B.E. degree in Information Engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China, in 2023, under the supervision of Prof. Jiayi Zhang.

My current research interests focus on developing theories and models that capture the fundamental limits and trade-offs in communication networks, federated learning, and multi-agent systems.

I am (always) actively seeking collaboration opportunities. If you are interested in my research, please feel free to reach out via email at zhuoyijoeyzhao@gmail.com or WeChat: joeyzzhao.

Education

• 2026 - present, University of Hong Kong, Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

• 2023 - 2025, Northwestern University, Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Thesis-track). Thesis: Optimizing Age-of-Information in Real-World Networks.

• 2019 - 2023, Beijing Jiaotong University, Bachelor of Engineering in Information Engineering.

Experience

• Aug. 2025 – May. 2026, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Toronto, Focus on Online Optimization & Communication-Efficient Federated Learning.

Publications

Manuscripts Under Review

• [M5] Y. Ma, Z. Zhao, Z. Fang, H. An, X. Chen, Y. Fang.”Update the Unseen Only: Minimizing AoI for Collaborative Perception through Online Learning”, submitted to IEEE journals for possible publication.

• [M4] Z. Zhao, B. Liang.”Adaptive Data Admission and Retention for Streaming Federated Learning”, submitted to ACM conferences for possible publication.

• [M3] Z. Zhao, I. Kadota. “Toward Practical Age-of-Information Scheduling in 5G Cellular”, submitted to IEEE conferences for possible publication.

• [M2] Z. Zhao, V. Tripathi, I. Kadota. “Scheduling Policies for Age Minimization in Wireless Networks with Mixed Update Sizes”, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Major Revision.

• [M1] Z. Zhao, I. Kadota. “Minimizing Age of Information Without Knowing the Age of Information”, submitted to IEEE journals for possible publication.

Conference Paper

• [C3] Z. Zhao, V. Tripathi, I. Kadota. “Optimizing Age of Information in Networks with Large and Small Updates”, WiOpt 2025. (Invited paper)

• [C2] Z. Zhao, I. Kadota. “Optimizing Age of Information Without Knowing the Age of Information”, IEEE INFOCOM 2025. (Acceptance rate: 18.7%)

• [C1] J. Zheng, Z. Zhao, J. Zhang, J. Cheng, V. Leung. “Performance Analysis of Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems with Asynchronous Reception”, IEEE GlobeCom Workshops, 2023.

News

• May. 2026: After more than a year of waiting for my visa, I decided to join The University of Hong Kong to pursue my Ph.D. Despite the difficult circumstances, I truly enjoyed my research experience this year. Many thanks to my advisor, Prof. Ben Liang, for his support throughout this journey; it has been a great honor to work with him.
• Aug. 2025: Admitted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Toronto with the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Graduate Scholarship, but was unable to enroll due to visa delays. :(

• May. 2025: Awarded the Best Electrical Engineering MS Thesis Award for my Thesis entitled “Optimizing Age of Information in Real-World Network”. Sincere gratitude to my advisor, Prof. Igor Kadota.
• May. 2025: Just presented the paper entitled “Optimizing Age of Information without Knowing the Age of Information” in IEEE INFOCOM 2025 and enjoyed a wonderful trip. The Open Source Code for this work could be found here.

• Mar. 2025: Our paper entitled “Optimizing Age of Information in Networks with Large and Small Updates” has been accepted by WiOPT 2025. See you in Linköping!
• Dec. 2024: Our paper entitled “Optimizing Age of Information without Knowing the Age of Information” has been accepted by IEEE INFOCOM 2025. See you in London!

Services

• Journal reviewer: IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing; IEEE Wireless Communication Letters
• Conference reviewer: IEEE INFOCOM 2027; IEEE GLOBECOM 2026
• Teaching Assistant, EE 307: Communication Systems, Northwestern University, Fall 2024.

Honor and awards

• Postgraduate Scholarship, University of Hong Kong, 2026-2030
• Best Electrical Engineering MS Thesis Award, Northwestern University, 2025

Contact

• Email: zhuoyijoeyzhao@connect.hku.hk, zhuoyijoeyzhao@gmail.com