Zhezheng Song

I am Zhezheng Song, a master student at Penn State University, advised by Prof. Mingfu Shao. My CV is here.

My current interests focus on algorithms, particularly heuristic and randomized algorithms, and their applications in computational biology.

Email: zzsong [at] psu [dot] edu  /  LinkedIn  /  GitHub

profile photo
Shot in D.C. by Xiaoyan
Education
Penn State University, USA
M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering • Aug. 2022 to Aug. 2025
Advisor: Prof. Mingfu Shao
Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
B.Eng. in Computer Science • Aug. 2017 to Sep. 2021
University of California, Berkeley, USA
Visiting Student • Jan. 2019 to May. 2020

Publications
Accurate Detection of Tandem Repeats from Error-Prone Sequences with EquiRep
Zhezheng Song, Tasfia Zahin, Xiang Li, and Mingfu Shao
DOI | preprint | software
RECOMB 2025
Hermes: Unlocking security analysis of cellular network protocols by synthesizing finite state machines from natural language specifications.
Abdullah Al Ishtiaq, Sarkar Snigdha Sarathi Das, Syed Md Mukit Rashid, Ali Ranjbar, Kai Tu, Tianwei Wu, Zhezheng Song, Weixuan Wang, Mujtahid Akon, Rui Zhang, Syed Rafiul Hussain
USENIX Security 2024.
ByteGNN: efficient graph neural network training at large scale
Chenguang Zheng, Hongzhi Chen, Yuxuan Cheng, Zhezheng Song, Yifan Wu, Changji Li, James Cheng, Hao Yang, Shuai Zhang
VLDB 2022

Teaching
CMPSC 465 - Data Structures and Algorithms
Teaching Assistant • Spring 2023 • Penn State University
CMPSC 465 - Data Structures and Algorithms
Teaching Assistant • Fall 2024 • Penn State University
Awarded Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year
Competitive Programming
As an undergraduate at Xi’an Jiaotong University, I competed in the ICPC and earned a regional gold prize in 2020. In 2023, I took first place in the Penn State Programming Contest. From 2023 to 2025, I served as coach of Penn State’s ICPC team, hosting training sessions alongside Prof. Antonio Blanca. Under our guidance, Penn State qualified for the North America Championship (NAC) for the first time in the university’s history at the ICPC East Central North America Regional Contest in both 2023 and 2024.

Website source from Mingyuan Xiang. I encourage you to check his incredible research!