Four Questions for Assistant Professor Kaiyuan Zhang

Kaiyuan Zhang brings a diverse background in AI agent security and privacy, from training to real-world deployment, to Rutgers. He earned his doctoral and master's degrees in computer science from Purdue Univeresity and UT Dallas, respectively, and enhanced his research with collaborations and industry experiences with Perplexity, Microsoft Research, Amazon AWS GenAI, NEC Labs America, Cisco Research, and IBM Research. Zhang looks forward to enhancing his collaborations with academia and industry to continue his research.

What fuels your passion for electrical and computer engineering? 

I've always been fascinated by how quickly technology evolves and how research ideas can turn into something that makes a real difference. AI is a particularly exciting example. As these systems become more capable and integrated into our daily lives, I believe making them secure and trustworthy is just as important as making them intelligent. That's what motivates much of my work.  

What is your current research focus and who is most likely to benefit from its results? 

My research focuses on AI security and privacy, especially large language models and AI agents. We're entering an era where AI can do much more than answer questions. It can browse the web, use tools, and take actions on our behalf. While this creates exciting opportunities, it also introduces new security and privacy risks.

My goal is to understand these risks and develop practical ways to make AI agents safer, more reliable, and more trustworthy. I hope this research will benefit everyday users, AI developers, and organizations bringing these technologies into the real world.

What are you looking forward to as a new faculty member? 

I'm especially excited about building my research group and working with students who bring fresh perspectives and ideas. I also look forward to collaborating with colleagues across Rutgers and connecting fundamental research with real-world challenges. One of the most rewarding parts of research is seeing an idea grow through conversations and collaboration.   

What do you like to do when you're not being an engineer?  

I enjoy traveling, exploring new places, and meeting people from different backgrounds. I'm also interested in learning how new ideas turn into real-world products and businesses.