Sichang He (Steven) stevensichanghe@gmail.com

Ph.D. Student in Computer Science GitHub & YouTube @SichangHe

University of Southern California Website

Education

University of Southern California (USC) Aug. 2024 – present. Los Angeles, USA

Ph.D. student in Computer Science Advisor: Dr. Harsha V. Madhyastha

– Research focus: User-facing enhancements of the Web.

Duke Kunshan University (DKU) & Duke University Dual Degree Aug. 2020 – May 2024

B.S. in Data Science (by DKU) & Kunshan, China &

∗ Computer Organization and Programming (A+, at Duke): Binary search tree in MIPS assembly and ring buffer

in C; fifth place in PizzaCalc assembly length optimization competition (68 lines).

∗ Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes (A): PageRank DKU website as a Markov chain.

∗ Numerical Analysis (A+); Intro Abstract Algebra (at Duke), Complex Analysis (A).

– Achieved full grade on all five courses at Duke University in the Fall 2022 semester.

Zhixin High School Aug. 2017 – Jun. 2020 Guangzhou, China

– Chemistry Olympiad competition team; Biology Olympiad competition team.

Conference Publication

[1] Sichang He, Italo Cunha, and Ethan Katz-Bassett. “RPSLyzer: Characterization and Verification of

Policies in Internet Routing Registries”. In: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Internet Measurement Conference.

Research Experience

Independent Researcher on Internet Route Verification Apr. 2023 – present

Independent research, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (Remote) Supervisor: Dr. Italo Cunha

– Designed and implemented an efficient and comprehensive parser for the Routing Policy Specification Language

(RPSL), a language used in the Internet Route Registry to document public inter-domain routing policies, guide

public peering, and aid routing issue troubleshooting.

∗ Studied and complied with RPSL semantics in RFCs, covering over 99% of all real-world RPSL use cases.

∗ Optimized the parser to generate detailed verification reports for tens of millions of routes within an hour.

∗ Leveraged abstract algebra and Rust language features to guarantee correct branching in report generation.

– Employed the RPSL parser to verify observed inter-domain routes; analyzed verification reports and identified

The FedCampus Team, EdgeIntelligence Lab, DKU Supervisor: Dr. Bing Luo

– Authored FedKit, open-source SDKs to streamline real-world FL experiments across Android and iOS devices,

enabling training shared ML models collaboratively without sharing private data on smartphones.

∗ Developed a pipeline to convert, train natively, and aggregate the same ML models across Android and iOS.

∗ Implemented cross-platform continuous model delivery and training, enabling iterative FL design in production.

∗ Contributed to the Flower FL framework: revamped the Android example; helped correct the iOS example.

∗ Implemented on-device ML training with the experimental TensorFlow Lite and the proprietary Core ML.

– Led and managed the systems development for the FedCampus Android/iOS app, leveraging personal health data

from over 100 participants to conduct real-world FL and federated analytics experiments on DKU campus.

∗ Supervised and mentored four undergrads and one M. Eng. student in mobile and web development.

Presentation

[1] Bing Luo and Sichang He. FedCampus: a Privacy-preserving Data Platform for Smart Campus with

Federated Learning and Analytics. Flower AI Summit, 2024. Mar. 2024. url: https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=K7yu2jvu_t8.

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant for COMPSCI 201, DKU Nov. 2021 – Mar. 2022

Introduction to Programming and Data Structures Instructor: Dr. Jiang Long

– Hosted weekly lab sessions and office hours.

– Created text-based tutorials and the first video tutorial on development environment setup.

Math & CompSci. Tutor, Academic Resource Center, DKU May 2021 – May 2022

modeling software.

• Dean’s List (Spring 2021) & Dean’s List with Distinction (Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023), DKU

• Chancellor’s Scholarship & UGRD Entrance Scholarship, DKU (merit-based, Fall 2020 – Spring 2024)

Open Source Developer & Maintainer of mdBook-KaTeX Nov. 2022 – present

Math expression preprocessor for mdBook written in Rust; over 60,000+ downloads on crates.io GitHub

– Took over maintainership by publishing a fork when it was unmaintained.

– Fixed numerous bugs and developed new features, resolving more than 20 GitHub issues others had opened.

∗ Fixed the GitHub CIs for MUSL Linux and Windows builds.

∗ Fixed persisting CommonMark Markdown rendering bugs and error handling bugs.

∗ Added support to include math expressions source, enable MathML for accessibility, and use custom delimiters.

Co-translated three English articles into Chinese; reviewed and edited multiple articles and Intersections’ website.

• Active DKU Running Club and Badminton Club member Fall 2020 – Spring 2024

Skills

Natural Language Mandarin (native), Cantonese (fluent).

Programming Language

– Invested and proficient: Rust, Python, Elixir, JavaScript.

– Used in projects: Kotlin, Dart, Swift, Ruby, Java, Lua, TypeScript, Svelte, HTML, CSS, C, SQL, Racket, L

A

– Familiar: C++, Fish, Bash, Julia, Go, VimScript, Elisp, Mathematica, MATLAB, Scala, R.