PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Evangeline F.Y. Young

Young is a computer science professor whose work applies machine learning and optimization to VLSI design automation and AI chip design. She earned computer science degrees at CUHK and a doctorate at UT Austin in 1999, then joined CUHK's Department of Computer Science and Engineering as an assistant professor. In 2020, she coauthored Neural-ILT, a neural-network study of mask printability and complexity, and developed open-source physical-design tools for AI chip design with her students. ACM named her a Distinguished Member in 2020, SIGDA gave her its Distinguished Service Award in 2021, and she became an IEEE Fellow in 2023. Her team won an ICCAD placement contest in 2025, and her coauthored routing paper received the 2026 ISPD Best Paper Award; she is CEDAR Director and Chairperson and Professor at CUHK.

Now at
CEDAR
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Timeline

  1. 1999

    A PhD and CUHK appointment

    She earns B.Sc. and M.Phil. degrees in computer science from CUHK and completes a Ph.D. at UT Austin in 1999. She joins CUHK's Department of Computer Science and Engineering as an assistant professor in 1999.

  2. 2020

    Neural networks for AI chip design

    She coauthors Neural-ILT at ICCAD in 2020, applying neural networks to mask printability and complexity co-optimization. She and her students develop open-source physical-design tools for placement, routing, and AI chip design.

  3. 2020

    An ACM Distinguished Member

    ACM names her a Distinguished Member in 2020.

  4. 2021

    A SIGDA service award

    SIGDA gives her the 2021 Distinguished Service Award for leadership in promoting diversity in the ACM/SIGDA community.

  5. 2023

    An IEEE fellowship

    She becomes an IEEE Fellow in 2023 for contributions to electronic design automation in VLSI physical design.

  6. 2025

    An ICCAD placement championship

    Her team wins the 2025 ICCAD CAD Contest for incremental placement optimization beyond detailed placement, including simultaneous gate sizing, buffering, and cell relocation.

  7. 2026

    An ISPD Best Paper Award

    In 2026, she coauthors “Gradient-Guided RC Weighting for Timing-Driven Global Routing,” which receives the ISPD Best Paper Award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Chairperson and professor

    As of October 2026, she is CEDAR Director and Chairperson and Professor in CUHK's Department of Computer Science & Engineering.

Career

  1. Since 1999Chinese University of Hong KongAssistant Professor
  2. NowCEDARDirector

Education

  1. 1999University of Texas at AustinPh.D.
  2. Chinese University of Hong KongB.Sc. and M.Phil. in computer science

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Evangeline F.Y. Young. 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.
  2. Universities keep AI researchers for a median of 6 years, compared with 2 years at frontier labsIncludes Chinese University of Hong Kong. Across 15,811 dated work stays (6,529 people), median role tenure runs from 6 years at universities to 2 years at frontier labs. We compare all five organization types, starting decades from the 1970s to the 2020s, and the organizations that keep people longest.
  3. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Chinese University of Hong Kong. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Chinese University of Hong Kong. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Evangeline F.Y. Young yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Evangeline Young's home page cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Evangeline F.Y. Young – CUHK CSE cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Prof. Evangeline F.Y. Young Recognized by ACM as 2020 Distinguished Member – CUHK CSE cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. SIGDA Service Award – SIGDA sigda.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Awards 2023 archive.dac.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. International Symposium on Physical Design (ISPD) ispd.cc. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Our Team – CEDAR | Centre for Next Generation EDA Research cedar.cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.