PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Hong Cheng

Also known as Cheng Hong, 程鴻

Hong Cheng is a data mining and graph learning researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, whose work spans frequent pattern mining, graph clustering and prompting for graph neural networks. After a Zhejiang University bachelor's degree in 2001 and a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology MPhil in 2003, she earned a computer science PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008 and joined CUHK's Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management. In 2023, her paper "All in One: Multi-task Prompting for Graph Neural Networks," written with Xiangguo Sun and others, won the SIGKDD Best Paper Award, the first for researchers from Hong Kong. A 2024 IJCAI survey that she coauthored sorts the ways large language models work with graphs. She is a professor and Department Chairman in the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at CUHK.

Timeline

  1. 2001–2003

    Degrees from Zhejiang and HKUST

    She earns a BS in computer science from Zhejiang University in 2001 and an MPhil in computer science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2003.

  2. 2007–2008

    Pattern mining and an Illinois PhD

    In 2007, she coauthors the survey "Frequent Pattern Mining: Current Status and Future Directions" with Jiawei Han, Dong Xin and Xifeng Yan in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, and she receives a Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE ICDE conference. She completes a computer science PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008, with Jiawei Han as doctoral committee chair and a dissertation on discriminative frequent pattern-based classification.

  3. 2008–2010

    Joining CUHK's SEEM department

    She joins the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2008. She is a finalist for the SIGKDD Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2009 and receives CUHK's Vice-Chancellor's Exemplary Teaching Award in 2010.

  4. 2009–2014

    Graph clustering and k-truss communities

    Two papers from these years appear among her top-cited publications: "Graph Clustering Based on Structural/Attribute Similarities" with Yang Zhou and Jeffrey Xu Yu in 2009, and "Querying K-truss Community in Large and Dynamic Graphs" with Xin Huang, Lu Qin, Wentao Tian and Jeffrey Xu Yu in 2014.

  5. 2023

    A SIGKDD Best Paper Award

    In 2023, her paper "All in One: Multi-task Prompting for Graph Neural Networks," written with Xiangguo Sun, Jia Li, Bo Liu and Jihong Guan, wins the SIGKDD Best Paper Award in the Research Track. The paper proposes a prompting method that connects pretrained graph models to tasks at the node, edge and graph levels, and it is the first SIGKDD award for researchers from Hong Kong. She holds the post of Vice-Chairman (Graduate) of her department in 2023.

  6. 2024

    A survey on graphs and LLMs

    In 2024, she coauthors "A Survey of Graph Meets Large Language Model: Progress and Future Directions" for the IJCAI Survey Track with Yuhan Li, Zhixun Li, Peisong Wang, Jia Li, Xiangguo Sun and Jeffrey Xu Yu. The survey sorts methods that combine language models with graphs into three roles for the language model: enhancer, predictor and alignment component.

  7. As of October 2026

    Professor and department chairman

    She is a professor and Department Chairman in the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at CUHK, and holds a courtesy professorship in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Her research covers data mining and data management, with an emphasis on large-scale graph learning and management.

Career

  1. Since 2008Chinese University of Hong KongProfessor

Education

  1. 2008University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignPhD in computer science
  2. 2003Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyMPhil in computer science
  3. 2001Zhejiang UniversityBS 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 Hong Cheng. 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 named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Prof. CHENG, Hong 程 鴻 教授 - Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, CUHK se.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Hong Cheng – CUHK CSE cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Towards Accurate and Efficient Classification: A Discriminative and Frequent Pattern-Based Approach | IDEALS ideals.illinois.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Hong Cheng, Professor, Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, CUHK www1.se.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. SIGKDD Awards : 2023 SIGKDD Best Paper Award Winners kdd.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. CUHK scholars become the first in Hong Kong to win the ACM SIGKDD Best Paper Award | CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office cpr.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. [2307.01504] All in One: Multi-task Prompting for Graph Neural Networks arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. [2311.12399] A Survey of Graph Meets Large Language Model: Progress and Future Directions arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. A Survey of Graph Meets Large Language Model: Progress and Future Directions | IJCAI ijcai.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Executive Committee - Centre for Financial Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong cfe.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Two CUHK scholars receive Best Paper Award from ACM SIGKDD Conference 2023 | CUHK in Focus | The Chinese University of Hong Kong focus.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.