FORTIS Lab

FORTIS stands for Foundations Of Robust Trustworthy Intelligent Systems. Derived from the Latin word "fortis," meaning strong or resilient, FORTIS Lab develops AI systems with a focus on robustness, trustworthiness, scalability, and open-source innovation. Addressing challenges such as out-of-distribution (OOD) detection, anomaly detection, and structured data analysis, the lab integrates graph learning and generative AI to solve real-world problems.

1. PhD Openings and Application Guidelines I am happily recruiting 2 PhD students for Fall 2026. We also have openings for undergraduate and graduate interns all the time, both at USC and elsewhere (preferably in North America for time zone compatibility).

• Important: I only admit Ph.D. students with whom I have previously collaborated. Please reach out well in advance to explore collaboration opportunities. This ensures a mutual fit and is non-negotiable. If unsure, please reach out now.
• Research Focus: Candidates should align with my core research areas. For details, please visit my research interests.
• Prerequisites for Ph.D.: Successful candidates typically have:
  • A few top-tier publications in ML (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR), Systems (e.g., MLSys, VLDB, OSDI), or LLMs (ACL, EMNLP, NAACL). This list is not exhaustive.
  • Strong programming skills, demonstrated through research projects or significant open-source contributions.
• Prerequisites for Research Interns: Successful candidates typically have:
  • At least one top-tier publication in ML (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR), Systems (e.g., MLSys, VLDB, OSDI), or LLMs (ACL, EMNLP, NAACL). This list is not exhaustive.
  • Strong programming skills, demonstrated through research projects or significant open-source contributions.

2. Email for Connection and Form Submission - For all positions, please fill out this Google Form: Application Form and also email the following details (subject line: "Interested in PhD/Intern at Fall 25"): Magic Words - please include Trojan in the email title to demonstrate that you have read these instructions carefully.

• CV: Provide a concise summary of your background and your future plans.
• Why FORTIS?: Mention any of my research papers or topics that have caught your interest. Additionally, feel free to propose new topics you are interested in exploring. I am always open to innovative ideas and fresh perspectives.

3. Compensation. Ph.D. students will receive the full support (tuition waiver + stipend is $40,000 in 2024-25) outlined by the CS department. TA is always guaranteed, and we will try to give you as many RA as possible. We do not have paid opportunities for undergraduate and master RA; it is not allowed to pay remote interns at USC :( Please consider this before reaching out.

4.1. GPU Clusters. We recently (Nov 2023) bought a new GPU server with AMD EPYC Milan 7763, 64x16=1TB DDR4 memory, 15 TB SSD, 6x NVIDIA RTX A6000 Ada (released Dec 2022; 1.5x faster than A6000). We plan to buy a second GPU server in Fall 2025.

4.2. Cloud Credits. We recently (Aug 2024) get $20,000 AWS credit; thank you, Amazon.