About Me

I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida, supervised by Prof. Sanjay Ranka and Prof. Anand Rangarajan, and I will graduate in Fall 2025. I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Sun Yat-Sen University under the supervision of Prof. Dong Zhang in 2018 and 2020, respectively. My research focuses on applying deep learning to solve practical problems, with expertise spanning data compression, smart transportation, AI for science (e.g., climate modeling, turbulence), and human-computer interaction.

Currently, I am working on foundational diffusion models for error-bounded lossy data compression and spatiotemporal data generation. I also have experience with foundation models, unsupervised learning, point cloud data processing, and gesture, gaze, and pose estimation, as well as designing and building large-scale datasets.

I am actively seeking a summer internship in 2025, with the goal of securing a return offer to begin full-time work at the end of 2025.

Research Interests:

  • Smart Transportation
  • Unsupervised Learning
  • Error-bounded Lossy Data Compression
  • Generative AI

🔥 News

  • 2025.2:  🎉🎉 Our paper “Foundation Model for Lossy Compression of Spatiotemporal Scientific Data” has been accepted in Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD).
  • 2025.2:  🎉🎉 Our paper “Machine Learning Techniques for Data Reduction of Climate Applications” has been accepted in Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD).
  • 2024.12:  ⭐⭐ Xiao Li presented the work “Attention Based Machine Learning Methods for Data Reduction with Guaranteed Error Bounds” at IEEE BigData 2024 in Washington DC, USA.
  • 2024.10:  🎉🎉 Our paper “Attention Based Machine Learning Methods for Data Reduction with Guaranteed Error Bounds” has been accepted in IEEE BigData 2024.
  • 2024.06:  ⭐⭐ Xiao Li presented the work “A Data-driven Approach for Probabilistic Traffic Prediction and Simulation at Signalized Intersections” at 2024 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV) in Jeju, Korea.
  • 2024.04:  🎉🎉 Our paper “An Efficient Semi-Automated Scheme for Infrastructure LiDAR Annotation” has been accepted” has been accepted in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
  • 2024.03:  🥇🥇 Congratulations to Xiao Li on being selected as the Gartner Group Graduate Fellowship recipient at UFL!
  • 2024.03:  ⭐⭐ Xiao Li presented the work “Hybrid Approaches for Data Reduction of Spatiotemporal Scientific Applications” at the DCC Conference in Snowbird, Utah.
  • 2024.01:  🎉🎉 Our work “Hybrid Approaches for Data Reduction of Spatiotemporal Scientific Applications” has been accepted in Data Compression Conference.
  • 2023.07:  🎉🎉 Our paper “A Spatiotemporal Correspondence Approach to Unsupervised LiDAR Segmentation with Traffic Applications” has been accepted in IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference.
  • 2023.05:  🎉🎉 Our work “Computer-aided autism spectrum disorder diagnosis with behavior signal processing” has been accepted in IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing.
  • 2023.03:  🎉🎉 Our paper “An Efficient Semi-Automated Scheme for LiDAR Annotation and A Benchmark Infrastructure Dataset” has been accepted in ICLR ML4IoT.
  • 2022.11:  🎉🎉 Our paper “Accurate Head Pose Estimation Using Image Rectification and A Lightweight Convolutional Neural Network” has been accepted in IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.
  • 2021.09:  🎉🎉 Our paper “Concurrent Two-factor Identify Verification Using Facial Identify and Facial Actions” has been accepted in Electronic Imaging.

📖 Educations

UF Logo University of Florida

- Ph.D. Student in Computer Science

- Advisor: Prof. Ranka Sanjay, Co-advised by Prof. Anand Rangarajan

- 2021.08 - Present

SYSU Logo Sun Yat-sen University

- M.S. in Electronics and Communication, Outstanding Graduate

- Prof. Dong Zhang

- 2018.08 - 2020.08

SYSU Logo Sun Yat-sen University

- B.S. in Communication Engineering

- 2014.08 - 2018.08

📝 Publications

Foundation Models for Error-Bounded Lossy Data Compression

Guaranteed Conditional Diffusion: 3D Block-based Models for Scientific Data Compression
Authors:Jaemoon Lee, Xiao Li, Anand Rangarajan, Sanjay Ranka
Published in: In submission
Foundation Model for Lossy Compression of Spatiotemporal Scientific Data
Authors: Xiao Li, Jaemoon Lee, Anand Rangarajan, Sanjay Ranka
Published in: Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD) 2025
Machine Learning Techniques for Data Reduction of Climate Applications
Authors: Xiao Li, Qian Gong, Jaemoon Lee, Scott Klasky, Anand Rangarajan, Sanjay Ranka
Published in: Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD) 2025
Attention Based Machine Learning Methods for Data Reduction with Guaranteed Error Bounds
Authors: Xiao Li, Jaemoon Lee, Anand Rangarajan, Sanjay Ranka
Published in: IEEE International Conference on Big Data 2024
Hybrid Approaches for Data Reduction of Spatiotemporal Scientific Applications
Authors: Xiao Li, Qian Gong, Jaemoon Lee, Scott Klasky, Anand Rangarajan, Sanjay Ranka
Published in: Data Compression Conference 2024
Machine Learning Techniques for Data Reduction of CFD Applications
Authors: Jaemoon Lee, Ki Sung Jung, Qian Gong, Xiao Li, Scott Klasky, Jacqueline Chen, Anand Rangarajan, Sanjay Ranka
Published in: Under Review of The International Conference on Contemporary Computing (I3C) 2025

Smart Transportation and Point Cloud Processing

An Efficient Semi-Automated Scheme for Infrastructure Lidar Annotation
Authors: Aotian Wu, Pan He, Xiao Li, Ke Chen, Sanjay Ranka, Anand Rangarajan
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (T-ITS) 2024
A Spatiotemporal Correspondence Approach to Unsupervised LiDAR Segmentation with Traffic Applications
Authors: Xiao Li, Pan He, Aotian Wu, Sanjay Ranka, Anand Rangarajan
Published in: IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) 2023
An Efficient Semi-Automated Scheme for LiDAR Annotation and A Benchmark Infrastructure Dataset
Authors: Aotian Wu, Pan He, Xiao Li, Ke Chen, Sanjay Ranka, Anand Rangarajan
Published in: ML4IoT Workshop@ICLR'2023

Advanced Human Pose and Identity Recognition Techniques

Computer-Aided Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis with Behavior Signal Processing
Authors: Ming Cheng, Yingying Zhang, Yixiang Xie, Yueran Pan, Xiao Li, Wenxing Liu, etc.
Published in: Sensors 2018
Accurate Head Pose Estimation Using Image Rectification and A Lightweight Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Xiao Li, Dong Zhang, Ming Li, Dah-Jye Lee
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Multimedia 2022
Concurrent Two-factor Identify Verification Using Facial Identity and Facial Actions
Authors: Zheng Sun, Dah-Jye Lee, Dong Zhang, Xiao Li
Published in: Electronic Imaging 2021
Inverse Piezoresistive Nanocomposite Sensors for Identifying Human Sitting Posture
Authors: Zhe Qian, Anton E Bowden, Dong Zhang, Jia Wan, Wei Liu, Xiao Li, Daniel Baradoy, David T Fullwood
Published in: Sensors 2018

📝 Projects

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Real-Time 3D Hand Pose Estimation with Deep Heatmap-Based Network

Hand-Computer Intection, Deep Learning, Hand Keypoints Estimation, Mesh Deformation.

Xiao Li, Hui Hu

Project Page

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3D Face Modeling and Head Pose Tracking with Comsumer RGB-D Cameras

Point Cloud, 3D Geometry, Face Modeling, Head Pose Estimation

Xiao Li, Dong Zhang

Project Page

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Accurate Head Pose Estimation Using Image Rectification and Lightweight Convolutional Neural Network

Head Pose Estimation, Image Rectification, Lightweighted Convolutional Neural Networks

Xiao Li, Dong Zhang

Project Page

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Appearance-Based Gaze Estimation from Full Face Image

Gaze Estimation, Attention Analysis, Gaze-Computer Interaction

Xiao Li, Dong Zhang

Project Page

🎖 Honors and Awards

  • 2024.05 Gartner Group Graduate Fellowship
  • 2020.06 Outstanding Graduate
  • 2019.09 First Class Scholarship
  • 2018.09 Second Class Scholarship
  • 2016.09 MCM/ICM Contest Meritorious Winner

👨‍💻 Professional Services

Paper Reviewer:

  • IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems (TNNLS) (2024)
  • Machine vision and applications (2023)

💻 Professional Experience and Internships

  • 2020.12 - 2021.08: CVTE (Research Assistant)
    • Worked on hand-computer interaction for XR headset.
  • 2020.08 - 2020.12: Duke Kunshan University, China

  • 2019.08 - 2019.12: Duke Kunshan University, China

📚 Teaching Experience

  • CAP6610 Spring 2024 - Machine Learning
  • COT5615 Fall 2023 - Math for Intelligent Systems
  • COP3530 Fall 2021 - Data Structure and Algorithms