Tianyi Niu

Hello! I am pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am currently a Research Assistant at MURGe-Lab, advised by Prof. Mohit Bansal and Prof. Elias Stengel-Eskin. I am applying to PhD programs starting Fall 2026.

My current research focuses on two key directions:

1. Abstractions and Cognition of MLLMs. How do abstractions formed by (M)LLMs differ from humans, and can insights from human cognition inform model development, and vice versa?
2. Interaction and communication in multi-agent systems. How is knowledge transferred in multi-agent systems, and can principles of human communication also inform and optimize multi-agent interaction paradigms?

I previously graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with highest distinction, obtaining a BS in Computer Science (highest honors) with a second major in Linguistics. My undergraduate thesis (advised by Prof. Shashank Srivastava) explored whether LLMs benefit from curriculum training on synthetic pre-training data.

Feel free to reach me at: tianyin4 [at] cs [dot] unc [dot] edu

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