An artificial intelligence (AI) researcher at Michigan State University has received an international award for his advancements in the field of neural networks.
Sijia Liu, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), was presented the Aharon Katzir Young Investigator Award from International Neural Network Society (INNS) during its 2025 joint conference in Rome, Italy, in early July.
Liu’s research is in neural networks, with a focus on making AI systems safe and scalable. His work spans the areas of machine learning/unlearning, optimization, computer vision, security, signal processing, and data science.
“This award represents not only a recognition of my own work but also a testament to our efforts in building scalable and robust neural networks. Our overarching goal is to advance AI systems that are secure, trustworthy, and safe -- anytime and anywhere.”
Abdol-Hossein Esfahanian, professor and CSE chairperson, said this well-earned recognition from Dr. Liu’s scientific peers is both gratifying and inspiring.
“With a prolific record of contributions that are both theoretically profound and practically impactful, Dr. Liu is undoubtedly CSE’s next rising star in AI,” he added.
He is particularly encouraged by his research group’s recent efforts in machine unlearning for AI safety. “This line of work focuses on making large, costly-trained AI systems more controllable, allowing us to efficiently remove undesired behaviors or harmful knowledge embedded in the model. In other words,” he continued, “we aim to make AI systems easier to ‘debug’ when they exhibit misregulation, misuse, or generate unsafe outcomes.”
Developing safe and efficient AI is far from trivial, he noted.
“It requires an integrated approach -- what I call algorithm-data-model tri-design -- which brings together AI practitioners and researchers working on foundational topics like optimization theory and methodology. It is an exciting, urgent, and truly interdisciplinary frontier.”
An award-winning faculty member, some of Liu’s other honors include an MSU Withrow Rising Scholar Award in 2025 and a National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award in 2024. Since 2021, he has served as an affiliated professor at IBM Research, and a principal investigator affiliated with the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. Read more on his education and background here.
Written by Patricia Mroczek
MSU College of Engineering Media and Public Relations page.