PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Cheng Zhang

Also known as 张铖

Cheng Zhang is a Cornell information science professor whose research uses wearable sensing and machine learning to interpret human activity. He earned degrees at Nankai University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, completed a computer science PhD at Georgia Tech, and joined Cornell in July 2018. His group developed FingerTrak, NeckFace, BodyTrak and PoseSonic to sense hand, facial and body movement with thermal, infrared and acoustic signals; a paper he coauthored earned the UbiComp 10-year Impact Award in 2023. In 2025, he coauthored SpellRing for American Sign Language fingerspelling and SeamFit for exercise logging, earned tenure as an associate professor, and received a Cornell Bowers Research Excellence Award. Since 2024, he has co-chaired the ACM ISWC Steering Committee; as of October 2026, he is an associate professor at Cornell and is on sabbatical for the 2026 calendar year.

Timeline

  1. July 2018

    Education and Cornell appointment

    Before Cornell, he earns a bachelor's degree in software engineering at Nankai University and a master's at the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he begins HCI research, then completes a computer science PhD at Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing. In July 2018, he joins Cornell as a tenure-track assistant professor of information science.

  2. 2020–2021

    FingerTrak and NeckFace

    His group develops FingerTrak in 2020, a wrist-worn bracelet that uses thermal cameras and machine learning to reconstruct a full 3D hand pose from wrist contours. In 2021, he leads a team that develops NeckFace, a neck-worn infrared camera system that uses deep learning to track facial expressions.

  3. 2022

    BodyTrak reconstructs body pose

    He is senior author of BodyTrak in 2022, a wristband that uses one miniature camera and a deep neural network to reconstruct 14 full-body poses in 3D from partial silhouettes.

  4. 2023

    PoseSonic and a 10-year award

    His group presents PoseSonic in 2023, using speakers and microphones on eyeglasses to capture inaudible echoes for a machine-learning estimate of upper-body poses. In 2023, the UbiComp 10-year Impact Award goes to Instant inkjet circuits, a paper he coauthors with Yoshihiro Kawahara, Steve Hodges, Benjamin S. Cook and Gregory D. Abowd.

  5. Since 2024

    Co-chairing ISWC

    Since 2024, he co-chairs the steering committee of the ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC).

  6. 2025

    SpellRing and SeamFit

    In 2025, he coauthors SpellRing, a micro-sonar ring whose deep-learning system recognizes continuous American Sign Language fingerspelling, with accuracy between 82% and 92% across evaluated words. He also coauthors SeamFit, whose March 2025 study uses conductive shirt seams and machine learning to identify exercises with 93.4% accuracy.

  7. 2025

    Tenure and a research award

    In July 2025, he becomes an associate professor with tenure. Cornell Bowers names him a recipient of the 2025 Ann S. Bowers ’59 Research Excellence Award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at Cornell

    As of October 2026, he is a tenured associate professor of information science at Cornell and directs the SciFi Lab. He is on sabbatical for the 2026 calendar year.

Career

  1. Since 2018Cornell UniversityAssistant Professor of Information Science

Education

  1. Nankai UniversityBachelor's degree
  2. Chinese Academy of SciencesMaster's degree
  3. Georgia Institute of TechnologyPhD

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Cornell University. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Cornell University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes Cornell University. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Cornell University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Cheng Zhang yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Cheng Zhang | Department of Information Science | Cornell Bowers infosci.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. 美国康奈尔大学助理教授Cheng Zhang来中心访问 ceca.pku.edu.cn. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Researchers develop 3D hand-sensing wristband | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Smart necklace could track your detailed facial expressions | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Wrist-mounted camera captures entire body in 3D | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Glasses use sonar, AI to interpret upper body poses in 3D | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. UbiComp/ISWC 2023 Awards – Ubicomp-ISWC 2023 ubicomp.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Cheng Zhang (张铖)| SciFi Lab| Cornell czhang.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. CS Seminar Series: Cheng Zhang - University of Rochester Calendar events.rochester.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. AI ring tracks spelled words in American Sign Language | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Nice flex: AI-powered smart clothing logs posture, exercises | Cornell Chronicle news.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  12. News | Cheng Zhang (张铖)| SciFi Lab| Cornell czhang.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  13. Cornell Bowers awards honor exemplary faculty and staff | Cornell Bowers bowers.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.