Portrait of Xijun Li

Xijun Li 李希君

Assistant Professor · Ph.D. Advisor

Teaching AI to solve complex problems.

I work on Learning to Optimize, LLMs for optimization and reasoning, and embodied intelligence, connecting mathematical methods with complex decisions in real systems.

RESEARCH AT A GLANCE
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STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT · 2025

Grand Prize, 19th “Challenge Cup” AI+ Track

Student team advised by Xijun Li

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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT · 2025

Three papers accepted to NeurIPS 2025

Combinatorial optimization, solver configuration and efficient generation

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ACADEMIC SERVICE

ICLR / NeurIPS Area Chair

ICML 2026 Gold Reviewer

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01 / RESEARCH

Connecting learning, optimization and decision making.

Learnable solving methods for complex problems
in the era of large models.

01LEARN TO SOLVE

Learning to Optimize

Machine learning for mathematical programming

Integrating machine learning into mathematical and combinatorial optimization, with work on presolving, branching, cut selection and instance generation.

Mathematical programmingReinforcement learningCombinatorial optimization
Related publications ↗
02REASON & OPTIMIZE

LLMs for Optimization & Reasoning

Structural priors, planning and code optimization

Combining graph structural priors with language models for combinatorial optimization, collaborative planning and solving, and code optimization.

Structural priorsReasoningCode optimization
Related publications ↗
03PERCEIVE, PLAN & ACT

Embodied Intelligence

Planning and decision making in embodied environments

Planning and decision making in embodied environments, and efficient deployment of vision-language-action models in embodied systems.

Embodied intelligenceVLA modelsSystems acceleration
Related publications ↗
APPLICATIONS

Logistics & supply chain · Storage & computing systems · Industrial scheduling · Embodied intelligence

All research interests ↗
03 / PUBLICATIONS

Browse publications by CCF category.

Google Scholar ↗

All authorships · CCF categories · Papers, code, slides and video

Full publication & preprint archive ↗
04 / PROJECTS & SYSTEMS

Research that reaches real systems.

All grants & funding ↗

Grants & Research Funding

5 as PI · 1 core role
01
NSFC Young Scientists Fund, Category C

PI · 2026—2028

02
Shanghai Natural Science Foundation

PI · 2025—2028

03
SJTU “AI for Engineering” Program, Category B

PI · 2025—2027

04
National AI 2030 Major Project

Core member · 2022—2025

Amounts and full details ↗
FROM ALGORITHMS TO SYSTEMS

Research and development
at Huawei Noah’s Ark Lab

From 2018 to 2024, I worked at Huawei Noah’s Ark Lab, applying machine learning to optimization solvers and industrial systems.

OptVerseHuawei Cloud AI Solver · Core developer
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PanguHuawei large language models · Core developer
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PATENTS

Patents & technical work

Optimization, resource scheduling, code generation and long-horizon planning.

All 21 records ↗
CN122308802A

End-to-end generation of FPGA-executable programs for Xilinx environments

CN120996196A

Long-horizon planning with foundation models and symbolic solvers in open embodied environments

CN120578395A

Structure-aware code generation for combinatorial optimization

05 / PEOPLE & MENTORSHIP

Research and growth, together.

Students & collaborators ↗
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Grand Prize
“Challenge Cup”
AI+ Track

19th “Challenge Cup” · 2025
Research and competition training for students

Read the story ↗

Current Students

Supervised & co-supervised
Yunfan ZhouPh.D. student
Tianyu WangPh.D. student
Chao ShenPh.D. student
Qi LiuPh.D. student
Jiexiang YangMaster student
Jinghao WangMaster student
Zhengdong HeMaster student
Ye ZhuMaster student
Junqing SongMaster student
Mingrui YuMaster student
Jiabo XuMaster student
Xinyuan LiUndergraduate
RESEARCH & GROWTH

Papers, outstanding thesis and honors degree

Student outcomes include a NeurIPS 2025 paper, an Outstanding Thesis, and a Zhiyuan Honors Bachelor Degree.

ALUMNI

Mengqi Guo

Master · CSCWD 2026
Joined Aviation Industry Corporation of China

Interns & research collaborators ↗
JOIN OUR GROUP

Let’s work on the next
interesting research question.

We welcome students interested in Learning to Optimize, LLMs for optimization and reasoning, and embodied intelligence.

Ph.D.MasterResearch interns · Year-round
RESOURCES

Embodied intelligence / GPU / NPU / CPU

How to apply

  1. 01
    Explore the research

    Browse the publication list and identify questions that interest you.

  2. 02
    Prepare your CV

    Email your CV with a short introduction to your research interests.

  3. 03
    Start a conversation

    We can schedule a discussion after the initial email.

lixijun@sjtu.edu.cn ↗

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