Yining Hong picture

Yining Hong

University of California, Los Angeles
Department of Computer Science



About Me

I am currently a fifth-year PhD student in computer science at UCLA. I'm fortunate to be co-advised by two of the best advisors in the world, Prof. Ying Nian Wu and Prof. Kai-Wei Chang. I was also under the supervision of Prof. Song-Chun Zhu from 2019 to 2021. Previously, I was an undergraduate in the Department of Electrical Engineering in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, advised by Prof. Xinbing Wang and Prof. Weinan Zhang. I'm generally super grateful for all of my past and current advisors.

I'm also an active musician based in LA.

Research Highlights

I'm dedicated to building general-purpose embodied agents that could actively explore and interact with the 3D physical world, and perform common sense reasoning within the embodied environment. Specifically, I think the critical aspects of building such embodied agents reside in:

News

Publications

SlowFast-VGen: Slow-Fast Learning for Action-Driven Long Video Generation

MultiPLY: A Multisensory Object-Centric Embodied Large Language Model in 3D World

Compositional VLM: Composing Visual Entities and Relationships in Large Language Models Via Communicative Decoding

Generative Neuro-Symbolic Visual Reasoning by Growing and Reusing Modules

3D-LLM: Injecting the 3D World into Large Language Models

3D Concept Learning and Reasoning from Multi-View Images

See, Think, Confirm: Interactive Prompting Between Vision and Language Models for Knowledge-based Visual Reasoning

A Minimalist Dataset for Systematic Generalization of Perception, Syntax, and Semantics

3D Concept Grounding on Neural Fields

Fixing Malfunctional Objects With Learned Physical Simulation and Functional Prediction

PTR: A Benchmark for Part-based Conceptual, Relational, and Physical Reasoning

VLGrammar: Grounded Grammar Induction of Vision and Language

Learning by Fixing: Solving Math Word Problems with Weak Supervision

SMART: A Situation Model for Algebra Story Problems via Attributed Grammar

Neural-Symbolic Solver for Math Word Problems with Auxiliary Tasks

A Competence-aware Curriculum for Visual Concepts Learning via Question Answering

Closed Loop Neural-Symbolic Learning via Integrating Neural Perception, Grammar Parsing, and Symbolic Reasoning

Academic Reader: An Interactive Question Answering System on Academic Literatures

Awards & Honors

Invited Talks

As A Musician

Outside of research, I'm a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and metalhead. I play the piano, pipa (a Chinese instrument), and harpsichord in an orchestra; the pipe organ in a local church; the keyboard and guitar in a rock band. I also occasionally play the saxophone, melodica (highly underrated instrument!), drums and harp in casual jams. (Favorite music genres: metal, jazz, classic, rock. Favorite book. Favorite Band: Dream Theater. Favorite Album: Metropolis Pt 2.)

I've been playing the piano since I was five, and I was the president of the piano association in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I can do fast sightreading on staff / lead sheet, and have rich recording / performing experience on piano, organ and pipa. I'm a member of American Guild of Organists and my organ teacher is Prof. Christoph Bull from UCLA. (Stay tuned! Gonna release a solo organ album soon.)

Right now I'm really into improvisation and composition. I feel tons of music inside me and the urge to express it.