Huang Ziqi, 2025 Apple Scholar in AIML PhD Fellowship

The Apple Scholars in AIML PhD fellowship program supports emerging leaders in academic research through funding as they pursue their PhDs, mentorship with Apple researchers, and internship opportunities.

We are pleased to share that our CCDS PhD student, Huang Ziqi, was one of the 21 recipients of the 2025 Apple Scholar in AIML PhD Fellowship. Congratulations to Huang Ziqi!

Check out her testimonial below.

“I am deeply honored to be selected as a recipient of the 2025 Apple Scholars in AIML PhD Fellowship. Huge thanks to Apple for their generous support and recognition.

This award is a testament not only to my individual efforts but also to the research conducted in collaboration with my co-authors. I am especially grateful to my PhD advisor, Assoc. Prof. Liu Ziwei, for his invaluable guidance and unwavering support throughout my academic journey. I would also like to thank my labmates at MMLab@NTU for their warm companionship and encouragement.

My journey at NTU began as an undergraduate student in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), where I majored in Information Engineering and Media, an interdisciplinary program that combines computer science, infocomm, art, and design. This unique mix sparked my interest in research that blends technology with creativity. I was particularly drawn to the field of visual generation, where we teach AI to create images and videos automatically.

After graduating in 2022, I continued as a PhD student at MMLab@NTU within the College of Computing and Data Science (CCDS) at NTU. Since then, I have been working on making AI-generated visuals more natural, meaningful, and easier for people to control. My research focuses on building AI systems that can better understand and follow human intentions, whether in generating realistic scenes, editing visual content, or evaluating the performance of generative models. I am excited to see how our work is contributing to areas like AI-assisted filmmaking and storytelling. Looking ahead, I hope this research eventually support simulating complex environments, bringing us closer to more advanced, human-aligned artificial intelligence.

I am incredibly thankful to NTU for providing a strong foundation in both education and research. I see this fellowship not only as a personal milestone but also as a recognition of the supportive community and innovative work taking place at NTU.”

Apple’s Announcement Link: https://machinelearning.apple.com/updates/apple-scholars-aiml-2025