Selected Publications
* Equal Contribution
Real-Time Privacy Preservation for Robot Visual Perception
Minkyu Choi*, Yunhao Yang*, Neel Bhatt*, Kushagra Gupta, Sahil Shah, Aditya Rai, David Fridovich-Keil, Ufuk Topcu, Sandeep P. Chinchali
Transactions on Machine Learning Research, 2025.
Paper
BibTeX
@article{choi2025real,
title={Real-Time Privacy Preservation for Robot Visual Perception},
author={Choi, Minkyu and Yang, Yunhao and Bhatt, Neel P. and Gupta, Kushagra and Shah, Sahil and Rai, Aditya and Fridovich-Keil, David and Topcu, Ufuk and Chinchali, Sandeep P.},
journal={Transactions on Machine Learning Research},
year={2025},
url={https://openreview.net/forum?id=uMf2vn8396}
}
On the Privacy Risks of Deploying Recurrent Neural Networks in Machine Learning
Yunhao Yang*, Parham Gohari*, Ufuk Topcu
Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, 2023.
Paper
BibTeX
@article{yang2023privacy,
title={On the Privacy Risks of Deploying Recurrent Neural Networks in Machine Learning},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Gohari, Parham and Topcu, Ufuk},
journal={Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies},
year={2023},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.03054}
}
Self-Enhancing Multi-filter Sequence-to-Sequence Model
Yunhao Yang, Zhaokun Xue, Andrew Whinston
Procedia Computer Science, Elsevier, 2023.
Paper
BibTeX
@article{yang2023selfenhancing,
title={Self-Enhancing Multi-filter Sequence-to-Sequence Model},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Xue, Zhaokun and Whinston, Andrew},
journal={Procedia Computer Science},
publisher={Elsevier},
year={2023},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.12399}
}
LAD-VF: LLM-Automatic Differentiation Enables Fine-Tuning-Free Robot Planning from Formal Methods Feedback
Yunhao Yang, Junyuan Hong, Gabriel Jacob Perin, Zhiwen Fan, Li Yin, Zhangyang Wang, Ufuk Topcu
IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), 2026.
Paper
Webpage
Code
BibTeX
@inproceedings{yang2026ladvf,
title={LAD-VF: LLM-Automatic Differentiation Enables Fine-Tuning-Free Robot Planning from Formal Methods Feedback},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Hong, Junyuan and Perin, Gabriel Jacob and Fan, Zhiwen and Yin, Li and Wang, Zhangyang and Topcu, Ufuk},
booktitle={IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation},
year={2026},
url={https://lad-vf.github.io/}
}
Uncertainty-Guided Enhancement on Driving Perception System via Foundation Models
Yunhao Yang, Yuxin Hu, Mao Ye, Zaiwei Zhang, Zhichao Lu, Yi Xu, Ufuk Topcu, Ben Snyder
IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), 2025.
Paper
BibTeX
@inproceedings{yang2025uncertaintyguided,
title={Uncertainty-Guided Enhancement on Driving Perception System via Foundation Models},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Hu, Yuxin and Ye, Mao and Zhang, Zaiwei and Lu, Zhichao and Xu, Yi and Topcu, Ufuk and Snyder, Ben},
booktitle={IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation},
year={2025},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.01144}
}
Know Where You're Uncertain When Planning with Multimodal Foundation Models: A Formal Framework
Neel P. Bhatt*, Yunhao Yang*, Rohan Siva, Daniel Milan, Ufuk Topcu, Zhangyang Wang
Annual Conference on Machine Learning and Systems (MLSys), 2025.
Paper
Webpage
Oral Presentation
Code
BibTeX
@inproceedings{bhatt2025know,
title={Know Where You're Uncertain When Planning with Multimodal Foundation Models: A Formal Framework},
author={Bhatt, Neel P. and Yang, Yunhao and Siva, Rohan and Milan, Daniel and Topcu, Ufuk and Wang, Zhangyang},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference on Machine Learning and Systems},
year={2025},
url={https://uncertainty-in-planning.github.io/}
}
Towards Neuro-Symbolic Video Understanding
Minkyu Choi*, Harsh Goel*, Mohammad Omama*, Yunhao Yang, Sahil Shah, Sandeep P. Chinchali
European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2024. Oral Presentation.
Paper
Webpage
Oral Presentation
BibTeX
@inproceedings{choi2024towards,
title={Towards Neuro-Symbolic Video Understanding},
author={Choi, Minkyu and Goel, Harsh and Omama, Mohammad and Yang, Yunhao and Shah, Sahil and Chinchali, Sandeep P.},
booktitle={European Conference on Computer Vision},
year={2024}
}
Fine-Tuning Language Models Using Formal Methods Feedback: A Use Case in Autonomous Systems
Yunhao Yang*, Neel Bhatt*, Tyler Ingebrand*, William Ward, Steven Carr, Zhangyang Wang, Ufuk Topcu
Annual Conference on Machine Learning and Systems (MLSys), 2024.
Paper
Oral Presentation
BibTeX
@inproceedings{yang2024finetuning,
title={Fine-Tuning Language Models Using Formal Methods Feedback: A Use Case in Autonomous Systems},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Bhatt, Neel and Ingebrand, Tyler and Ward, William and Carr, Steven and Wang, Zhangyang and Topcu, Ufuk},
booktitle={Annual Conference on Machine Learning and Systems},
year={2024},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.18239}
}
Multimodal Pretrained Models for Verifiable Sequential Decision-Making: Planning, Grounding, and Perception
Yunhao Yang, Cyrus Neary, Ufuk Topcu
International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS), 2024. Oral Presentation.
Paper
Oral Presentation
BibTeX
@inproceedings{yang2024multimodal,
title={Multimodal Pretrained Models for Verifiable Sequential Decision-Making: Planning, Grounding, and Perception},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Neary, Cyrus and Topcu, Ufuk},
booktitle={International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems},
year={2024},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.05295}
}
A Survey on Reinforcement Learning for Combinatorial Optimization
Yunhao Yang, Andrew B. Whinston
IEEE World Conference on Applied Intelligence and Computing (AIC), 2023.
Paper
BibTeX
@inproceedings{yang2023survey,
title={A Survey on Reinforcement Learning for Combinatorial Optimization},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Whinston, Andrew B.},
booktitle={IEEE World Conference on Applied Intelligence and Computing},
year={2023},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.12248}
}
Training Heterogeneous Features in Sequence to Sequence Tasks: Latent Enhanced Multi-filter Seq2Seq Model
Yunhao Yang, Zhaokun Xue
Proceedings of Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys), Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Springer, 2022.
Paper
Best Student Paper Award
BibTeX
@inproceedings{yang2022training,
title={Training Heterogeneous Features in Sequence to Sequence Tasks: Latent Enhanced Multi-filter Seq2Seq Model},
author={Yang, Yunhao and Xue, Zhaokun},
booktitle={Proceedings of Intelligent Systems Conference},
series={Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems},
publisher={Springer},
year={2022},
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.08840}
}
Automaton-Based Controller and Method with Generative Language Models for Task Execution
Ufuk Topcu, Yunhao Yang, Cyrus Neary, Jean-Raphaƫl Gaglione
US Patent App. 18/958,684.
Paper
BibTeX
@misc{topcu2025automaton,
title={Automaton-Based Controller and Method with Generative Language Models for Task Execution},
author={Topcu, Ufuk and Yang, Yunhao and Neary, Cyrus and Gaglione, Jean-Raphael},
howpublished={US Patent App. 18/958,684},
year={2025},
url={https://patents.google.com/patent/US20250172913A1/en}
}
Awards and Fellowships
Amazon Fellow. Amazon Science Hub, 2024-2025.
Special Departmental Honor in Computer Science. College of Natural Science, UT Austin, 2022.
Research Distinction. College of Natural Science, UT Austin, 2021.
Undergraduate Research Fellowship. College of Natural Science, UT Austin, 2020.
Community Services
Journal and Conference Review
Area Chair for MLSys 2025
Reviewer for Journal of Computational and Cognitive Engineering, NeurIPS, ICLR, TMLR, ICML
Program Committee for CSCT 2023,
CSCT 2023,
ICCIS 2023,
ICIVC 2023
AutoDrive Lab Internship, 2025 and 2026
STEM Girl Day at UT Austin, 2024 and 2025
Mentor for REACT RUE summer program, 2023
Volunteer for TACC Back@TACC, 2022 and 2024
Volunteer for LASA High School Visit, 2023
Volunteer for FIRST Technical Challenge: Texas-Central GEMS League Tournament, 2023