Xu Cao

I am a CS PhD Candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, advised by Prof. James M. Rehg and Prof. Jimeng Sun. Driven by my personal history as a former pediatric rare disease patient, I co-founded PediaMed AI to advance AI technologies specifically for pediatrics. My research lies at the intersection of Vision Language Models (VLMs), Agentic AI, Social Embodied AI. In the meanwhile, I also focus on developing applications such as AR smart glasses and Pediatrics Foundation Models.

Previously, I gained industry experience as a Machine Learning Engineer at SambaNova Systems and Tencent, working on autonomous driving and generative AI. I have also held research internships at NEC Labs America and Google Research. I hold an MS in Computer Science from the Courant Institute (NYU) and a BS in Data Science and Chemistry from Fudan University, where I graduated ranked 1st in my major.

Collaboration & Future Plans: I am actively seeking to establish collaborations with motivated undergraduate and master’s students. If you are interested in working together, please reach out via this Google Form. My recent interests cover three main domains: (1) Cognition/Child learning inspired Multimodal LLMs and Agentic AI System. (2) Social AI Agent (e.g. gesture, gaze, emotion) and Social Embodied AI. (3) Pediatric Foundation Models.
Note: I plan to seek tenure-track faculty positions during the 2028-2029 academic cycle.

❗Due to personal health care issue, I am seeking for chance of clinical trial for gallbladder neoplasm. Please send email to me if you know any news.