Cheng Li

Cheng Li

Senior Researcher

Microsoft

About Me

I am senior software engineer at Databricks GenAI. My work has focused on understanding and optimizing inference/training of Deep Learning (DL) models, particularly on Transformers (LLMs). Before that, I was a senior researcher at Microsoft. At Microsoft, I worked on improving the performance/usability of transformer models in production (e.g. GitHub Copilot, DALL·E-2, etc.), building systematic profiling/optimization stacks for DL, and integrating SOTA system technologies into Microsoft DeepSpeed, an open-source DL optimization software suite that enables unprecedented scale and speed for training and inference.

I recently developed and open sourced llm-analysis: Latency and Memory Analysis of Transformer Models for Training and Inference, check it out!

Interests

  • Deep Learning and Transformers (LLMs)
  • System Optimization and Engineering for Deep Learning
  • GPU and Parallel Computing

Education

  • PhD in Computer Science, 2020

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • MS in Computer Science and Engineering, 2015

    University of Michigan

  • BS in Computer Engineering, 2013

    University of Michigan

  • BS in Electrical Engineering, 2013

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Senior Software Engineer

Databricks

Aug 2023 – Present Bellevue, WA
 
 
 
 
 

Senior Researcher

Microsoft

Aug 2020 – Aug 2023 Bellevue, WA
 
 
 
 
 

Research Intern

Alibaba Group

May 2019 – Aug 2019 Sunnyvale, CA
 
 
 
 
 

Teaching Assistant for the 9th Programming and Tuning Massively Parallel Systems + Artificial Intelligence summer school (PUMPS+AI)

BSC, UPC and UIUC

Jul 2018 – Jul 2018 Barcelona, Spain
 
 
 
 
 

Research Intern

IBM TJ Watson Research Center

May 2018 – Aug 2018 Yorktown Heights, NY
 
 
 
 
 

Research Intern

IBM TJ Watson Research Center

May 2017 – Aug 2017 Yorktown Heights, NY
 
 
 
 
 

Head Teaching Assistant for ECE408/CS483: Applied Parallel Programming

UIUC

Aug 2016 – Dec 2016 Champaign, IL

Publications

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Languages

Python, C/C++, CUDA, Go, JavaScript, Bash

Chinese, English

Contact