CV

Contact Information

Name Zifan Lyu
Email ziflyu@student.ethz.ch
Website https://zifanlyu.github.io

Education

  • 2026 - present

    Zurich, Switzerland

    PhD
    ETH Zurich
    Computer Science
    • Research on efficient evaluation of large language models (LLMs).
    • First-author ICML 2026 paper in the first year.
    • Two further projects to be submitted in early 2027.
  • 2021 - 2025

    Zurich, Switzerland

    MSc
    ETH Zurich
    Statistics
    • Overall grade 5.85/6.00, with distinction; over 150 ECTS completed (90 required).
    • Coursework: Guarantees for Machine Learning, Probabilistic Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning in Scientific Computing, Probability Theory, Fundamentals of Mathematical Statistics, Functional Analysis I–II, Numerical Solution of Stochastic Ordinary Differential Equations.
  • 2018 - 2021

    London, United Kingdom

    BSc
    London School of Economics (LSE)
    Mathematics, Statistics and Business
    • First Class Honours.
    • Coursework: Stochastic Processes, Algorithms and Programming.

Publications

Research Experience

  • 2025 - 2025

    Zurich, Switzerland

    Research Assistant
    ETH Zurich
    • Developed SySRs, a hyperparameter-free bandit algorithm that finds the best LLM with fewer evaluations by exploiting similarity between models (ICML 2026).
  • 2024 - 2024

    Zurich, Switzerland

    Research on physics-informed neural networks (MSc)
    ETH Zurich
    • Combining computer vision with physics-informed neural networks to estimate the underlying fluid dynamics (manuscript in preparation).
    • Checkable positive-definiteness criteria for the limiting neural tangent kernel of PINNs with linear constraints, and high-probability guarantees for finite-width gradient descent (arXiv:2610.04357).

Other Experience

  • 2023 - 2023

    Zurich, Switzerland

    Teaching Assistant, Probability Theory (401-3601-00L)
    ETH Zurich
    • Weekly exercise sessions and grading for Prof. Igor Kortchemski’s graduate course.
  • 2019 - 2020

    London, United Kingdom

    Head of Diversity and Inclusion
    LSESU Business & Investment Group
    • LSE’s largest student society: organised diversity and inclusion events on campus and liaised with employers alongside its Women’s Advancement Division.
  • 2019 - 2020

    London, United Kingdom

    Peer Supporter
    London School of Economics (LSE)
    • Confidential peer support for students facing academic stress, peer pressure and interpersonal difficulties; trained in active listening, crisis intervention and boundary-setting under professional supervision.

Skills and Languages

Programming: Python, R, MATLAB, C++
Tools: PyTorch, Git, Slurm (HPC)
Languages: English and Mandarin (bilingual), German (B1), Japanese (elementary)