Zihan Ma

Zihan Ma

PhD Student

Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)

About Me

I am a Ph.D. student at Xi'an Jiaotong University under the supervision of Prof. Minnan Luo, working on machine learning and artificial intelligence. My research focuses on multimodal social network analysis and LLM evaluation, with applications to information security and social network analysis. Recently, I have been studying code generation and evaluation with LLMs.

My work involves developing advanced machine learning methods for detecting and interpreting bots and misinformation in social networks, particularly leveraging large language models and multimodal techniques. My research has been published at top-tier conferences such as NeurIPS, ACL, and SIGIR. Previously, I was a research intern with the OpenCompass team at Shanghai AI Lab.

I am particularly interested in explainable AI, LLM-based code generation, agent safety, and the intersection of machine learning with social media analysis. I am currently at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as a Visiting Ph.D. Student. I always welcome collaboration and exchange in these research areas.

Research Interests

  • Natural Language Processing
  • Misinformation Analysis
  • LLM Code Generation
  • Information Security and Trust

🔥 News

  • [Dec 2025]: Selected for the 2025 China Association for Science and Technology Youth Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Project Doctoral Student Special Plan. (2025年中国科协青年科技人才培育工程博士生专项计划) 🎉
  • [Nov 2025]: Started as a Visiting Ph.D. Student at NTU. 🚀
  • [Nov 2025]: Our paper "How Brittle is Agent Safety? Rethinking Agent Risk under Intent Concealment and Task Complexity" is now available on arXiv.
  • [Nov 2025]: Our paper "Graphing the Truth: Harnessing Causal Insights for Advanced Multimodal Fake News Detection" has been accepted by IEEE TIFS 😄.
  • [Oct 2025]: Received the Outstanding Reviewer for ACM MM 2025! 🏆
  • [Sep 2025]: Our paper "Rethinking Verification for LLM Code Generation: From Generation to Testing" has been accepted by NeurIPS 2025! 🎉
  • [Apr 2025]: Our paper "Bridging Interests and Truth: Towards Mitigating Fake News with Personalized and Truthful Recommendations" has been accepted by SIGIR 2025! 🎊

📝 Publications

First/Co-First Author Publications

Co-authored Publications

📖 Education

2024 - Present
Ph.D. Student
Computer Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)
Supervisor: Prof. Minnan Luo
2022 - 2024
Master-Ph.D. Program (Direct Entry)
Computer Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)
Supervisor: Prof. Minnan Luo
2018 - 2022
Bachelor of Engineering
Electrical Engineering and Automation, Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)

💼 Experience

Dec 2024 - Oct 2025
Research Intern @ Shanghai AI Laboratory

Team: LLM Center; Project: OpenCompass (6.0k+ GitHub Stars). Working on large language model evaluation and benchmarking systems. Mentor: Songyang Zhang

Nov 2025 - Present
Visiting Ph.D. Student @ Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Visiting PhD student in Natural Language Processing and AI Safety. Supervisor: Assistant Prof. Wenya Wang

🔬 Academic Services

Reviewer

NeurIPS, ICLR, AAAI, ARR, IEEE TIFS, ACM MM, IEEE ICME

🏆 Awards & Scholarships

Academic Awards & Recognition
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, ACM MM 2025
Scholarships & Honors
  • 2025 China Association for Science and Technology Youth Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Project Doctoral Student Special Plan (2025年中国科协青年科技人才培育工程博士生专项计划)
  • Xi'an Jiaotong University Graduate Special Scholarship
  • Xi'an Jiaotong University Second-Class Scholarship
  • Siyuan Electric Scholarship
CSC Visiting Ph.D. Program

Awarded China Scholarship Council (CSC) funding for visiting PhD program at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore