Cheng Xiang Zhai Explained

ChengXiang Zhai
Fields:	Information Retrieval Text Mining Natural Language Processing Machine Learning Bioinformatics
Workplaces:	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alma Mater:	Nanjing University Carnegie Mellon University
Thesis Title:	Risk Minimization and Language Modeling in Text Retrieval
Doctoral Advisor:	John D. Lafferty

ChengXiang Zhai is a computer scientist. He is a Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[1]

Biography

Zhai received the BS (1984), MS (1987, under Guoliang Zheng), and PhD (1990, under Jiafu Xu) in Computer Science from Nanjing University. He spent 1990 to 1993 working at Nanjing University's State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology. In 1993, he left for America to pursue a second PhD, this time at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) with David A. Evans.^[2] Evans then left to spend more time with the company ClariTech. Zhai obtained from CMU a MS (1997) in computational linguistics and then started working with John Lafferty. He finally received from CMU a PhD in Language and Information Technologies in 2002.^[3]

Since then, he has been an Assistant Professor (2002–2008),^[4] Associate Professor (2008–2013),^[5] Professor (2013–2018), and Donald Biggar Willett Professor (2018–) at the UIUC Department of Computer Science.^[6] He also holds joint appointments with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Department of Statistics, and School of Information Sciences at UIUC.^[3]

Awards

• ACM SIGIR Gerard Salton Award, 2021, "for significant and sustained contributions to information retrieval and data science. His work has defined many of the theoretical foundations of the language modeling approach, yielding major insights into areas such as smoothing methods, relevance feedback, topic diversification, and text representations that incorporate positional information. He and his collaborators have also pioneered the axiomatic approach to information retrieval, which continues to provide inspiration for retrieval model and evaluation research."^[7]
• ACM SIGIR Academy inductee, 2021^{[8] [9]}
• ACM Fellow, 2017, "for contributions to information retrieval and text data mining."^[10]
• ACM SIGIR Test of Time Award, 2016, for paper A study of smoothing methods for language models applied to Ad Hoc information retrieval^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}
• ACM SIGIR Test of Time Award, 2016, for paper Document language models, query models, and risk minimization for information retrieval^{[11] [12] [15]}
• ACM SIGIR Test of Time Award, 2014, for paper Beyond independent relevance: methods and evaluation metrics for subtopic retrieval^{[16] [17]}
• ACM Distinguished Member, 2009^[18]
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2004, "for his work on user-centered, adaptive intelligent information access. His techniques expect to improve search-engine performance, support better information organization and enable understanding of large volumes of information. Zhai's work in information retrieval is expected to enhance curricula and provide new educational tools for the growing information technology workforce."^[19]
• ACM SIGIR Best Paper Award, 2004, for paper A formal study of information retrieval heuristics^{[20] [21]}

Personal

Zhai's son Alex has earned three medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad.^{[22] [23]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Zhai . ChengXiang . Home Page . Computer Science . 19 November 2022.
2. Web site: Zhai . ChengXiang . Risk minimization and language modeling in text retrieval . Language Technology Institute — Faculty . 24 November 2022 . 2002.
3. Web site: Zhai . ChengXiang . Bio . ChengXiang Zhai . 23 November 2022.
4. Web site: Promotions recommended to be effective at the beginning of the 2008–09 academic year . Board of Trustees . The Board of Trustees . 24 November 2022.
5. Web site: Promotions recommended to be Effective at the beginning of the 2013–2014 academic year: Urbana-Champaign . Board of Trustees . The Board of Trustees Office . 24 November 2022.
6. Web site: Zhai . ChengXiang . CV . ChengXiang Zhai — Home Page . 24 November 2022 . 2003.
7. Web site: Gerard Salton Awards . Awards . . 19 November 2022.
8. Web site: SIGIR Academy . Awards . 19 November 2022.
9. Web site: Schmitt . Laura . Zhai Inducted into Inaugural Class of New ACM Information Retrieval Academy . News . . 19 November 2022.
10. Web site: ACM Recognizes 2017 Fellows for Making Transformative Contributions and Advancing Technology in the Digital Age. Association for Computing Machinery. December 11, 2017. 2018-10-17.
11. Web site: SIGIR Test of Time Awards Pre-2002 Recipients . Awards . ACM SIGIR . 23 November 2022.
12. Web site: ChengXiang Zhai . All Faculty . University of Illinois . 23 November 2022.
13. Book: Zhai . ChengXiang . Lafferty . John . Proceedings of the 24th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval . A study of smoothing methods for language models applied to Ad Hoc information retrieval . 2001 . 334–342 . 10.1145/383952.384019 . 1581133316 . 5793143 . https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/383952.384019 . 23 November 2022.
14. Zhai . ChengXiang . Lafferty . John . A study of smoothing methods for language models applied to information retrieval . ACM Transactions on Information Systems . 2004 . 22 . 2 . 179–214 . 10.1145/984321.984322 . 207670589 . 23 November 2022.
15. Book: 2001 . 111–119 . 10.1145/383952.383970 . https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/383952.383970 . 23 November 2022. Lafferty . John . Zhai . Chengxiang . Proceedings of the 24th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval . Document language models, query models, and risk minimization for information retrieval . 1581133316 . 53234319 .
16. Web site: SIGIR Test of Time Awards . Awards . ACM SIGIR . 23 November 2022.
17. Book: Zhai . ChengXiang . Cohen . William W. . Lafferty . John . Proceedings of the 26th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in informaion retrieval . Beyond independent relevance . 2003 . 10–17 . 10.1145/860435.860440 . 9781581136463 . 52855966 . https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/860435.860440 . 23 November 2022.
18. Web site: Recipients . Distinguished Members . . 23 November 2022.
19. Web site: The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Recipient Details: ChengXIang Zhai . National Science Foundation . . 19 November 2022.
20. Web site: Best Paper Awards . Awards . ACM SIGIR . 23 November 2022.
21. Book: Fang . Hui . Tao . Tao . Zhai . ChengXiang . Proceedings of the 27th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval . A formal study of information retrieval heuristics . 2004 . 49–56 . 10.1145/1008992.1009004 . 1581138814 . 15200693 . https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1008992.1009004 . 23 November 2022.
22. Web site: Kline . Greg . Uni student makes it count in Mathematical Olympiad . Illini football news . The News-Gazette . 24 November 2022 . 21 August 2006.
23. Web site: Alex (Lin) Zhai . International Mathematical Olympiad . 24 November 2022.