PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

John Chi Shing Lui

Also known as John C.S. Lui, 呂自成

John Chi Shing Lui is a computer scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong whose research on networked systems extends to online learning, bandit algorithms and reinforcement learning. After a 1991 UCLA doctoral thesis on large Markov models and a stint at IBM, he joined CUHK's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, which he chaired from 2005 to 2011. ACM and IEEE elected him a fellow in 2009 and 2010, and the Croucher Foundation awarded him a Senior Research Fellowship in 2011. His 2017 paper on debiasing online product ratings won the Best Paper Award at ACM RecSys, and his later work includes the Restless-UCB bandit algorithm at NeurIPS 2020 and a combinatorial bandit paper with applications to episodic reinforcement learning at ICML 2024. He is the Choh-Ming Li Chair Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at CUHK, where he works on online learning and quantum networks.

Timeline

  1. 1991

    A UCLA doctorate and IBM

    His 1991 UCLA doctoral thesis, advised by Richard Muntz, covers large Markov models for computer performance and reliability analysis. He then works on file systems and parallel I/O architectures at IBM's San Jose Research Laboratory, now the Almaden Research Center, before joining the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

  2. 2005–2018

    Department chair at CUHK

    From 2005 to 2011, he chairs the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at CUHK; from 2014 to 2018, he is Associate Dean of Research in the College of Engineering.

  3. 2009–2011

    ACM, IEEE and Croucher fellowships

    ACM elects him a fellow in 2009 for his contributions to stochastic analysis of parallel storage and communication systems, and IEEE elects him a fellow in 2010 for his work on performance modelling and analysis of storage communication systems and peer-to-peer networks. In 2011, the Croucher Foundation awards him a Senior Research Fellowship.

  4. 2017

    A RecSys best paper

    In 2017, his paper with Xiaoying Zhang and Junzhou Zhao, "Modeling the Assimilation-Contrast Effects in Online Product Rating Systems: Debiasing and Recommendations", wins the Best Paper Award at the ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys).

  5. 2018

    Hong Kong engineering academy fellow

    In 2018, he becomes a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and he sits on its council from 2021 to 2024.

  6. 2020

    Restless-UCB at NeurIPS

    With Siwei Wang and Longbo Huang, he publishes "Restless-UCB, an Efficient and Low-complexity Algorithm for Online Restless Bandits" at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) in 2020.

  7. 2024

    POMACS editor and an ICML paper

    In 2024, he coauthors "Combinatorial Multivariant Multi-Armed Bandits with Applications to Episodic Reinforcement Learning and Beyond" at the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML). He also begins a 2024–2027 term as Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the ACM on Measurement and Analysis of Computing Systems (POMACS).

  8. As of October 2026

    Online learning and quantum networks

    He is the Choh-Ming Li Chair Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at CUHK, where his research covers online learning, quantum networks and machine learning on network sciences. A 2026 paper he coauthors for the Association for Computational Linguistics, "Large Language Model-Enhanced Multi-Armed Bandits", combines classical bandit algorithms with LLM reward prediction. Another 2026 paper, "Effective Entanglement Scheduling in Quantum Networks via Deep Reinforcement Learning", appears at the QCNC conference in Kobe.

Career

  1. Since 2005Chinese University of Hong KongDepartment Chair, Associate Dean of Research
  2. 2021–2024Hong Kong Academy of Engineering SciencesCouncil Member

Education

  1. 1991University of California, Los AngelesPhD

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 John Chi Shing Lui. 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

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  1. John C.S. Lui - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Three CUHK Scholars Named Croucher Senior Research Fellow 2011-12 | CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office cpr.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Prof. John C.S. Lui cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Prof. John C.S. Lui Conferred ACM and IEEE Fellowships – CUHK CSE cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. John C.S. Lui's publications by topics cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Fellows | HKAE hkestaward.hkaes.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. John Chi Shing Lui – CUHK CSE cse.cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. John C.S. Lui - ACL Anthology aclanthology.org. Checked 21 October 2026.