I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. Previously, I was a postdoc at UC Berkeley and Columbia University. I received the PhD in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
My research focuses on Large Language Models for Code Generation and AI for Security. I teach a role-playing seminar class CMSC818I: Large Language Models, Security, and Privacy. My research group works on: (1) How to enable AI Coding Assistants such as Copilot and Cursor to generate secure code, (2) How to benchmark LLM's cybersecurity capabilities, and (3) How to develop LLM agents to detect and patch security vulnerabilities. Occasionally, I delve into the security and safety issues of AI agents.
I am recruiting PhD students and postdocs. If you are interested in working with me, please fill out the questionnaire, and send me an email: yzchen [at] umd [dot] edu