On January 14, 2025, at 10 AM, the Faculty of Data Science at City University of Macau held an academic seminar titled 'Testing Learning-Enabled Cyber-Physical Systems Current Approaches and Future Directions' in HG01. The guest speaker was Prof. Xi Zheng, an Associate Professor at Macquarie University in Australia. The seminar attracted numerous graduate students and faculty members, who collectively explored the application potential of learning-enabled cyber-physical systems in the fields of autonomous vehicles and drones.
Prof. Xi Zheng earned his Ph.D.in Software Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015. He is awarded Australian Research Council Future Fellow in 2024.Between 2005 and 2012, he was the Chief Solution Architect for Menulog Australia. Currently, he occupies several leadership roles at Macquarie University, Australia: Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Group (ITSEG.ORG), Director of International Engagement in the Faculty of Computing, Associate Professor and Vice Programme Leader in Software Engineering. His research areas include Cyber-Physical Systems Testing and Verification, Safety Analysis, Distributed Learning, Internet of Things, and the broader spectrum of Software Engineering. Prof. Zheng has successfully secured over $2.4 million in competitive funding from the Australian Research Council (1 Future Fellow,2 Linkages and 1 Discovery) and Data61 (CRP) projects focused on safety analysis, model testing and verification, and the development of trustworthy Al for autonomous vehicles.
During the seminar, Professor Zheng shared multiple highly cited papers from his team, elaborating on the new breakthroughs achievable through the integration of learning-enabled cyber-physical systems and large language models. He also discussed various challenges encountered during his team's research, such as regional legal restrictions, safety issues in autonomous driving, and the differences in judgment between large language models and human decision-making in complex scenarios. His presentation was engaging, creating a lively atmosphere.
In the Q&A session, students and faculty actively participated, sharing their views and questions. Professor Zheng patiently addressed their inquiries, further deepening their understanding of the field. Despite the differing research directions of the attendees, there was a consensus that Professor Zheng's lecture provided valuable perspectives and sparked new thoughts.
This seminar not only presented cutting-edge research findings that broadened horizons but also offered valuable academic guidance to students and faculty. Through Professor Zheng's insights, students recognized the importance and potential of security analysis, model testing, and verification in intelligent transportation systems, encouraging them to explore these frontier areas more actively in their future research. The enthusiastic discussions and interactions during the seminar allowed students to gain a deeper understanding of how to apply theoretical knowledge to practical problems. The event concluded amidst warm applause.
