Ye Wang

Ye Wang
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  • Biography

    Ye was a member of the Information Systems and Sciences Laboratory at Boston University, where he studied information-theoretically secure multiparty computation. His current research interests include information security, biometric authentication, and data privacy.

  • Recent News & Events

    •  NEWS    MERL Papers and Workshops at CVPR 2024
      Date: June 17, 2024 - June 21, 2024
      Where: Seattle, WA
      MERL Contacts: Petros T. Boufounos; Moitreya Chatterjee; Anoop Cherian; Michael J. Jones; Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Jonathan Le Roux; Suhas Lohit; Tim K. Marks; Pedro Miraldo; Jing Liu; Kuan-Chuan Peng; Pu (Perry) Wang; Ye Wang; Matthew Brand
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Computational Sensing, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Speech & Audio
      Brief
      • MERL researchers are presenting 5 conference papers, 3 workshop papers, and are co-organizing two workshops at the CVPR 2024 conference, which will be held in Seattle, June 17-21. CVPR is one of the most prestigious and competitive international conferences in computer vision. Details of MERL contributions are provided below.

        CVPR Conference Papers:

        1. "TI2V-Zero: Zero-Shot Image Conditioning for Text-to-Video Diffusion Models" by H. Ni, B. Egger, S. Lohit, A. Cherian, Y. Wang, T. Koike-Akino, S. X. Huang, and T. K. Marks

        This work enables a pretrained text-to-video (T2V) diffusion model to be additionally conditioned on an input image (first video frame), yielding a text+image to video (TI2V) model. Other than using the pretrained T2V model, our method requires no ("zero") training or fine-tuning. The paper uses a "repeat-and-slide" method and diffusion resampling to synthesize videos from a given starting image and text describing the video content.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-059
        Project page: https://merl.com/research/highlights/TI2V-Zero

        2. "Long-Tailed Anomaly Detection with Learnable Class Names" by C.-H. Ho, K.-C. Peng, and N. Vasconcelos

        This work aims to identify defects across various classes without relying on hard-coded class names. We introduce the concept of long-tailed anomaly detection, addressing challenges like class imbalance and dataset variability. Our proposed method combines reconstruction and semantic modules, learning pseudo-class names and utilizing a variational autoencoder for feature synthesis to improve performance in long-tailed datasets, outperforming existing methods in experiments.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-040

        3. "Gear-NeRF: Free-Viewpoint Rendering and Tracking with Motion-aware Spatio-Temporal Sampling" by X. Liu, Y-W. Tai, C-T. Tang, P. Miraldo, S. Lohit, and M. Chatterjee

        This work presents a new strategy for rendering dynamic scenes from novel viewpoints. Our approach is based on stratifying the scene into regions based on the extent of motion of the region, which is automatically determined. Regions with higher motion are permitted a denser spatio-temporal sampling strategy for more faithful rendering of the scene. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, ours is the first work to enable tracking of objects in the scene from novel views - based on the preferences of a user, provided by a click.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-042

        4. "SIRA: Scalable Inter-frame Relation and Association for Radar Perception" by R. Yataka, P. Wang, P. T. Boufounos, and R. Takahashi

        Overcoming the limitations on radar feature extraction such as low spatial resolution, multipath reflection, and motion blurs, this paper proposes SIRA (Scalable Inter-frame Relation and Association) for scalable radar perception with two designs: 1) extended temporal relation, generalizing the existing temporal relation layer from two frames to multiple inter-frames with temporally regrouped window attention for scalability; and 2) motion consistency track with a pseudo-tracklet generated from observational data for better object association.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-041

        5. "RILA: Reflective and Imaginative Language Agent for Zero-Shot Semantic Audio-Visual Navigation" by Z. Yang, J. Liu, P. Chen, A. Cherian, T. K. Marks, J. L. Roux, and C. Gan

        We leverage Large Language Models (LLM) for zero-shot semantic audio visual navigation. Specifically, by employing multi-modal models to process sensory data, we instruct an LLM-based planner to actively explore the environment by adaptively evaluating and dismissing inaccurate perceptual descriptions.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-043

        CVPR Workshop Papers:

        1. "CoLa-SDF: Controllable Latent StyleSDF for Disentangled 3D Face Generation" by R. Dey, B. Egger, V. Boddeti, Y. Wang, and T. K. Marks

        This paper proposes a new method for generating 3D faces and rendering them to images by combining the controllability of nonlinear 3DMMs with the high fidelity of implicit 3D GANs. Inspired by StyleSDF, our model uses a similar architecture but enforces the latent space to match the interpretable and physical parameters of the nonlinear 3D morphable model MOST-GAN.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-045

        2. “Tracklet-based Explainable Video Anomaly Localization” by A. Singh, M. J. Jones, and E. Learned-Miller

        This paper describes a new method for localizing anomalous activity in video of a scene given sample videos of normal activity from the same scene. The method is based on detecting and tracking objects in the scene and estimating high-level attributes of the objects such as their location, size, short-term trajectory and object class. These high-level attributes can then be used to detect unusual activity as well as to provide a human-understandable explanation for what is unusual about the activity.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-057

        MERL co-organized workshops:

        1. "Multimodal Algorithmic Reasoning Workshop" by A. Cherian, K-C. Peng, S. Lohit, M. Chatterjee, H. Zhou, K. Smith, T. K. Marks, J. Mathissen, and J. Tenenbaum

        Workshop link: https://marworkshop.github.io/cvpr24/index.html

        2. "The 5th Workshop on Fair, Data-Efficient, and Trusted Computer Vision" by K-C. Peng, et al.

        Workshop link: https://fadetrcv.github.io/2024/

        3. "SuperLoRA: Parameter-Efficient Unified Adaptation for Large Vision Models" by X. Chen, J. Liu, Y. Wang, P. Wang, M. Brand, G. Wang, and T. Koike-Akino

        This paper proposes a generalized framework called SuperLoRA that unifies and extends different variants of low-rank adaptation (LoRA). Introducing new options with grouping, folding, shuffling, projection, and tensor decomposition, SuperLoRA offers high flexibility and demonstrates superior performance up to 10-fold gain in parameter efficiency for transfer learning tasks.

        Paper: https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-062
    •  
    •  TALK    [MERL Seminar Series 2023] Prof. Flavio Calmon presents talk titled Multiplicity in Machine Learning
      Date & Time: Tuesday, November 7, 2023; 12:00 PM
      Speaker: Flavio Calmon, Harvard University
      MERL Host: Ye Wang
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
      Abstract
      • This talk reviews the concept of predictive multiplicity in machine learning. Predictive multiplicity arises when different classifiers achieve similar average performance for a specific learning task yet produce conflicting predictions for individual samples. We discuss a metric called “Rashomon Capacity” for quantifying predictive multiplicity in multi-class classification. We also present recent findings on the multiplicity cost of differentially private training methods and group fairness interventions in machine learning.

        This talk is based on work published at ICML'20, NeurIPS'22, ACM FAccT'23, and NeurIPS'23.
    •  

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  • Awards

    •  AWARD    MERL’s Paper on Wi-Fi Sensing Earns Top 3% Paper Recognition at ICASSP 2023, Selected as a Best Student Paper Award Finalist
      Date: June 9, 2023
      Awarded to: Cristian J. Vaca-Rubio, Pu Wang, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Ye Wang, Petros Boufounos and Petar Popovski
      MERL Contacts: Petros T. Boufounos; Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Pu (Perry) Wang; Ye Wang
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Communications, Computational Sensing, Dynamical Systems, Machine Learning, Signal Processing
      Brief
      • A MERL Paper on Wi-Fi sensing was recognized as a Top 3% Paper among all 2709 accepted papers at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2023). Co-authored by Cristian Vaca-Rubio and Petar Popovski from Aalborg University, Denmark, and MERL researchers Pu Wang, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Ye Wang, and Petros Boufounos, the paper "MmWave Wi-Fi Trajectory Estimation with Continous-Time Neural Dynamic Learning" was also a Best Student Paper Award finalist.

        Performed during Cristian’s stay at MERL first as a visiting Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and then as a full-time intern in 2022, this work capitalizes on standards-compliant Wi-Fi signals to perform indoor localization and sensing. The paper uses a neural dynamic learning framework to address technical issues such as low sampling rate and irregular sampling intervals.

        ICASSP, a flagship conference of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS), was hosted on the Greek island of Rhodes from June 04 to June 10, 2023. ICASSP 2023 marked the largest ICASSP in history, boasting over 4000 participants and 6128 submitted papers, out of which 2709 were accepted.
    •  
    •  AWARD    MERL Ranked 1st Place in Cross-Subject Transfer Learning Task and 4th Place Overall at the NeurIPS2021 BEETL Competition for EEG Transfer Learning.
      Date: November 11, 2021
      Awarded to: Niklas Smedemark-Margulies, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Ye Wang, Deniz Erdogmus
      MERL Contacts: Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Ye Wang
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Signal Processing, Human-Computer Interaction
      Brief
      • The MERL Signal Processing group achieved first place in the cross-subject transfer learning task and fourth place overall in the NeurIPS 2021 BEETL AI Challenge for EEG Transfer Learning. The team included Niklas Smedemark-Margulies (intern from Northeastern University), Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Ye Wang, and Prof. Deniz Erdogmus (Northeastern University). The challenge addresses two types of transfer learning tasks for EEG Biosignals: a homogeneous transfer learning task for cross-subject domain adaptation; and a heterogeneous transfer learning task for cross-data domain adaptation. There were 110+ registered teams in this competition, MERL ranked 1st in the homogeneous transfer learning task, 7th place in the heterogeneous transfer learning task, and 4th place for the combined overall score. For the homogeneous transfer learning task, MERL developed a new pre-shot learning framework based on feature disentanglement techniques for robustness against inter-subject variation to enable calibration-free brain-computer interfaces (BCI). MERL is invited to present our pre-shot learning technique at the NeurIPS 2021 workshop.
    •  
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  • Research Highlights

  • Internships with Ye

    • CI0054: Internship - Anomaly Detection for Operations Technology Security

      MERL is seeking a highly motivated and qualified intern to work on anomaly detection for operational technology security. The ideal candidate would have significant research experience in anomaly detection, machine learning, and cybersecurity for operational technology. A mature understanding of modern machine learning methods, proficiency with Python and PyTorch, and a relevant research publication history are expected. Candidates at or beyond the middle of their Ph.D. program are encouraged to apply. The expected duration is for 3 months with flexible start dates (but ideally in December or early January).

      Required Specific Experience

      • Proficiency with PyTorch framework.
      • Research publications in machine learning and anomaly detection.

    • CI0086: Internship - Trustworthy AI

      MERL is seeking passionate and skilled research interns to join our team focused on developing trustworthy, private, safe, and robust machine learning technologies. This is an exciting opportunity to make an impact on the field of AI safety, with the aim of publishing at leading AI research venues.

      What We're Looking For:
      • Advanced research experience with generative models related to the topics of AI safety, privacy, robustness, and trustworthiness
      • Hands-on skills for large language models (LLM), vision language models (VLM), large multi-modal models (LMM), foundation models (FoMo)
      • Deep understanding of state-of-the-art machine learning methods
      • Proficiency in Python and PyTorch
      • Familiarity with other relevant deep learning frameworks
      • Ph.D. candidates who have completed at least half of their program
      Internship Details:
      • Duration: approximately 3 months
      • Flexible start dates available
      • Objective: publish research results at leading AI research venues
      If you're a highly motivated individual with a passion for tackling AI safety and privacy challenges, we want to hear from you! This internship offers a unique chance to work on meaningful AI research projects, combined with the opportunity to publish and add to your thesis.

    See All Internships at MERL

  • MERL Publications

    •  Li, Z., Lowy, A., Liu, J., Koike-Akino, T., Parsons, K., Malin, B., Wang, Y., "Analyzing Inference Privacy Risks Through Gradients In Machine Learning", ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), October 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-141 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Li2024oct,
      • author = {Li, Zhuohang and Lowy, Andrew and Liu, Jing and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Parsons, Kieran and Malin, Bradley and Wang, Ye}},
      • title = {Analyzing Inference Privacy Risks Through Gradients In Machine Learning},
      • booktitle = {ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-141}
      • }
    •  Sanz-Gorrachategui, I., Wang, Y., Guillen-Asenio, A., Bono-Nuez, A., Martín-del-Brío, B., Orlik, P.V., Pastor-Flores, P., "Remaining Useful Life Estimation of Used Li-Ion Cells with Deep Learning Algorithms without First Life Information", IEEE Access, October 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-155 PDF
      • @article{Sanz-Gorrachategui2024oct,
      • author = {Sanz-Gorrachategui, Ivan and Wang, Ye and Guillen-Asenio, Alejandro and Bono-Nuez, Antonio and Martín-del-Brío, Bonifacio and Orlik, Philip V. and Pastor-Flores, Pablo}},
      • title = {Remaining Useful Life Estimation of Used Li-Ion Cells with Deep Learning Algorithms without First Life Information},
      • journal = {IEEE Access},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-155}
      • }
    •  Rashid, M.R.U., Liu, J., Koike-Akino, T., Mehnaz, S., Wang, Y., "Forget to Flourish: Leveraging Machine-Unlearning on Pretrained Language Models for Privacy Leakage", arXiv, August 2024.
      BibTeX arXiv
      • @article{Rashid2024aug,
      • author = {Rashid, Md Rafi Ur and Liu, Jing and Koike-Akino, Toshiaki and Mehnaz, Shagufta and Wang, Ye}},
      • title = {Forget to Flourish: Leveraging Machine-Unlearning on Pretrained Language Models for Privacy Leakage},
      • journal = {arXiv},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = aug,
      • url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.17354}
      • }
    •  Chakrabarty, A., Vanfretti, L., Bortoff, S.A., Deshpande, V.M., Wang, Y., Paulson, J.A., Zhan, S., Laughman, C.R., "Assessing Building Control Performance Using Physics-Based Simulation Models and Deep Generative Networks", IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA) 2024, DOI: 10.1109/​CCTA60707.2024.10666585, August 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-113 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Chakrabarty2024aug,
      • author = {Chakrabarty, Ankush and Vanfretti, Luigi and Bortoff, Scott A. and Deshpande, Vedang M. and Wang, Ye and Paulson, Joel A. and Zhan, Sicheng and Laughman, Christopher R.}},
      • title = {Assessing Building Control Performance Using Physics-Based Simulation Models and Deep Generative Networks},
      • booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA) 2024},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = aug,
      • doi = {10.1109/CCTA60707.2024.10666585},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-113}
      • }
    •  Sorouifar, F., Paulson, J.A., Wang, Y., Quirynen, R., Laughman, C.R., Chakrabarty, A., "Bayesian Forecasting with Deep Generative Disturbance Models in Stochastic MPC for Building Energy Systems", IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA), DOI: 10.1109/​CCTA60707.2024.10666537, August 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-110 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Sorouifar2024aug,
      • author = {Sorouifar, Farshud and Paulson, Joel A. and Wang, Ye and Quirynen, Rien and Laughman, Christopher R. and Chakrabarty, Ankush}},
      • title = {Bayesian Forecasting with Deep Generative Disturbance Models in Stochastic MPC for Building Energy Systems},
      • booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = aug,
      • doi = {10.1109/CCTA60707.2024.10666537},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-110}
      • }
    See All MERL Publications for Ye

  • Software & Data Downloads

  • Videos

  • MERL Issued Patents

    • Title: "Method and System for Training a Neural Network for Generating Universal Adversarial Perturbations"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Aeron, Shuchin; Rakin, Adnan; Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Moulin, Pierre; Parsons, Kieran
      Patent No.: 12,063,620
      Issue Date: Aug 13, 2024
    • Title: "Automated Construction of Neural Network Architecture with Bayesian Graph Exploration"
      Inventors: Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye; Demir, Andac; Erdogmus, Deniz
      Patent No.: 12,061,985
      Issue Date: Aug 13, 2024
    • Title: "Anomaly Detection and Diagnosis in Factory Automation System using Pre-Processed Time-Delay Neural Network with Loss Function Adaptation"
      Inventors: Guo, Jianlin; Liu, Bryan; Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye; Kim, Kyeong-Jin; Parsons, Kieran; Orlik, Philip V.
      Patent No.: 12,007,760
      Issue Date: Jun 11, 2024
    • Title: "Multi-Band Wi-Fi Fusion for WLAN Sensing"
      Inventors: Wang, Pu; Yu, Jianyuan; Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye; Orlik, Philip V.
      Patent No.: 11,902,811
      Issue Date: Feb 13, 2024
    • Title: "Apparatus and Method for Anomaly Detection"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Kim, Kyeong-Jin; Wang, Xiao
      Patent No.: 11,843,623
      Issue Date: Dec 12, 2023
    • Title: "System and Method for Manipulating Two-Dimensional (2D) Images of Three-Dimensional (3D) Objects"
      Inventors: Marks, Tim; Medin, Safa; Cherian, Anoop; Wang, Ye
      Patent No.: 11,663,798
      Issue Date: May 30, 2023
    • Title: "Non-Uniform Regularization in Artificial Neural Networks for Adaptable Scaling"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Koike-Akino, Toshiaki
      Patent No.: 11,651,225
      Issue Date: May 16, 2023
    • Title: "Protograph Quasi-Cyclic Polar Codes and Related Low-Density Generator Matrix Family"
      Inventors: Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye
      Patent No.: 11,463,114
      Issue Date: Oct 4, 2022
    • Title: "Battery Diagnostic System for Estimating Remaining useful Life (RUL) of a Battery"
      Inventors: Gorrachategui, Ivan Sanz; Pajovic, Milutin; Wang, Ye
      Patent No.: 11,346,891
      Issue Date: May 31, 2022
    • Title: "Generative Model for Inverse Design of Materials, Devices, and Structures"
      Inventors: Kojima, Keisuke; Tang, Yingheng; Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye
      Patent No.: 11,251,896
      Issue Date: Feb 15, 2022
    • Title: "DATA-DRIVEN PRIVACY-PRESERVING COMMUNICATION"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Ishwar, Prakash; Tripathy, Ardhendu S
      Patent No.: 11,132,453
      Issue Date: Sep 28, 2021
    • Title: "Irregular Polar Code Encoding"
      Inventors: Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye; Draper, Stark C.
      Patent No.: 10,862,621
      Issue Date: Dec 8, 2020
    • Title: "Method and Systems using Privacy-Preserving Analytics for Aggregate Data"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Raval, Nisarg Jagdishbhai; Ishwar, Prakash
      Patent No.: 10,452,865
      Issue Date: Oct 22, 2019
    • Title: "Irregular Polar Code Encoding"
      Inventors: Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Wang, Ye; Draper, Stark C.
      Patent No.: 10,313,056
      Issue Date: Jun 4, 2019
    • Title: "Soft-Output Decoding of Codewords Encoded with Polar Code"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Koike-Akino, Toshiaki; Draper, Stark C.
      Patent No.: 10,312,946
      Issue Date: Jun 4, 2019
    • Title: "Method and Systems using Privacy-Preserving Analytics for Aggregate Data"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Hattori, Mitsuhiro; Shimizu, Rina; Hirano, Takato; Matsuda, Nori
      Patent No.: 10,216,959
      Issue Date: Feb 26, 2019
    • Title: "Privacy Preserving Statistical Analysis on Distributed Databases"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Lin, Bing-Rong; Rane, Shantanu D.
      Patent No.: 10,146,958
      Issue Date: Dec 4, 2018
    • Title: "Method and System for Determining Hidden States of a Machine using Privacy-Preserving Distributed Data Analytics and a Semi-trusted Server and a Third-Party"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye
      Patent No.: 9,471,810
      Issue Date: Oct 18, 2016
    • Title: "Method for Determining Hidden States of Systems using Privacy-Preserving Distributed Data Analytics"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Xie, Qian; Rane, Shantanu D.
      Patent No.: 9,246,978
      Issue Date: Jan 26, 2016
    • Title: "Privacy Preserving Statistical Analysis for Distributed Databases"
      Inventors: Wang, Ye; Lin, Bing-Rong; Rane, Shantanu D.
      Patent No.: 8,893,292
      Issue Date: Nov 18, 2014
    • Title: "Secure Multi-Party Computation of Normalized Sum-Type Functions"
      Inventors: Rane, Shantanu D.; Sun, Wei; Wang, Ye
      Patent No.: 8,473,537
      Issue Date: Jun 25, 2013
    See All Patents for MERL