publications

2026

1. ICML

   How Does Reasoning Flow? Tracing Attention-Induced Information Flow for Targeted RL in LLMs

   Zhichen Dong*, Yang Li*, Yuhan Sun, and 7 more authors

   In International Conference on Machine Learning, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{dong2026flowtracer,
     title = {How Does Reasoning Flow? Tracing Attention-Induced Information Flow for Targeted RL in LLMs},
     author = {Dong*, Zhichen and Li*, Yang and Sun, Yuhan and Wang, Weixun and Luo, Yijia and Peng, Zinian and Su, Wenbo and Yu, Cheng and Zheng, Bo and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning},
     year = {2026}
   }

2. ICML

   Attention Illuminates LLM Reasoning: The Preplan-and-Anchor Rhythm Enables Fine-Grained Policy Optimization

   Yang Li, Zhichen Dong, Yuhan Sun, and 9 more authors

   In International Conference on Machine Learning, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{li2026attention,
     title = {Attention Illuminates LLM Reasoning: The Preplan-and-Anchor Rhythm Enables Fine-Grained Policy Optimization},
     author = {Li, Yang and Dong, Zhichen and Sun, Yuhan and Wang, Weixun and Xiong, Shaopan and Luo, Yijia and Liu, Jiashun and Lu, Han and Wang, Jiamang and Su, Wenbo and Zheng, Bo and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning},
     year = {2026}
   }

3. CVPR

   Reasoning Palette: Modulating Reasoning via Latent Contextualization for Controllable Exploration for (V)LMs

   Rujiao Long*, Yang Li*, Xingyao Zhang, and 7 more authors

   In Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{long2026reasoning,
     title = {Reasoning Palette: Modulating Reasoning via Latent Contextualization for Controllable Exploration for (V)LMs},
     author = {Long*, Rujiao and Li*, Yang and Zhang, Xingyao and Wang, Weixun and Lin, Tianqianjin and Zhao, Xi and Xu, Yuchi and Su, Wenbo and Yan, Junchi and Zheng, Bo},
     booktitle = {Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition},
     year = {2026}
   }

4. ICLR

   MaskCO: Masked Generation Drives Effective Representation Learning and Exploiting for Combinatorial Optimization

   Lvda Chen*, Yang Li*, and Junchi Yan

   In International Conference on Learning Representations, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{chen2026maskco,
     title = {MaskCO: Masked Generation Drives Effective Representation Learning and Exploiting for Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Chen*, Lvda and Li*, Yang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2026}
   }

5. ICML

   Problem Distributions as Tasks: Repurposing Meta Learning for Generative Combinatorial Optimization towards Multi-task Pretrain and Adaptation

   Wenzheng Pan, Jiale Ma, Nuoyan Chen, and 2 more authors

   In International Conference on Machine Learning, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{pan2026problem,
     title = {Problem Distributions as Tasks: Repurposing Meta Learning for Generative Combinatorial Optimization towards Multi-task Pretrain and Adaptation},
     author = {Pan, Wenzheng and Ma, Jiale and Chen, Nuoyan and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning},
     year = {2026}
   }

6. ICLR

   ConRep4CO: Contrastive Representation Learning of Combinatorial Optimization Instances across Types

   Ziao Guo, Yang Li, Shiyue Wang, and 1 more author

   In International Conference on Learning Representations, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{guo2026conrep,
     title = {ConRep4CO: Contrastive Representation Learning of Combinatorial Optimization Instances across Types},
     author = {Guo, Ziao and Li, Yang and Wang, Shiyue and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2026}
   }

7. ICLR

   Native Adaptive Solution Expansion for Diffusion-based Combinatorial Optimization

   Yu Wang, Yang Li, Jiale Ma, and 2 more authors

   In International Conference on Learning Representations, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{wang2026native,
     title = {Native Adaptive Solution Expansion for Diffusion-based Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Wang, Yu and Li, Yang and Ma, Jiale and Yan, Junchi and Chang, Yi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2026}
   }

8. ICLR

   Smarter Not Harder: Generative Process Evaluation with Intrinsic-Signal Driving and Ability-Adaptive Reward Shaping

   Tao He, Rongchuan Mu, Lizi Liao, and 6 more authors

   In International Conference on Learning Representations, 2026

   Bib

   @inproceedings{he2026smarter,
     title = {Smarter Not Harder: Generative Process Evaluation with Intrinsic-Signal Driving and Ability-Adaptive Reward Shaping},
     author = {He, Tao and Mu, Rongchuan and Liao, Lizi and Cao, Yixin and Li, Yang and Luo, Yijia and Wang, Weixun and Liu, Ming and Qin, Bing},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2026}
   }

9. arXiv

   Let It Flow: Agentic Crafting on Rock and Roll, Building the ROME Model within an Open Agentic Learning Ecosystem

   ROCK and ROLL and IFLOW and DT Joint Team

   2026

   Core contributor

   Bib

   @misc{rome2026letitflow,
     title = {Let It Flow: Agentic Crafting on Rock and Roll, Building the ROME Model within an Open Agentic Learning Ecosystem},
     author = {{ROCK and ROLL and IFLOW and DT Joint Team}},
     note = {Core contributor},
     year = {2026}
   }

2025

1. arXiv

   Part II: ROLL Flash–Accelerating RLVR and Agentic Training with Asynchrony

   Han Lu, Zichen Liu, Shaopan Xiong, and 19 more authors

   2025

   Bib

   @misc{lu2025rollflash,
     title = {Part II: ROLL Flash--Accelerating RLVR and Agentic Training with Asynchrony},
     author = {Lu, Han and Liu, Zichen and Xiong, Shaopan and He, Yancheng and Gao, Wei and Wu, Yanan and Wang, Weixun and Liu, Jiashun and Li, Yang and Zhao, Haizhou and Huang, Ju and Yang, Siran and Li, Xiaoyang and Luo, Yijia and Liu, Zihe and Pan, Ling and Yan, Junchi and Wang, Wei and Su, Wenbo and Wang, Jiamang and Qu, Lin and Zheng, Bo},
     year = {2025}
   }

2. NeurIPS

   Bridging Crypto with ML-based Solvers: the SAT Formulation and Benchmarks

   Xinhao Zheng, Xinhao Song, Bolin Qiu, and 3 more authors

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2025

   Bib

   @inproceedings{zheng2025crypto,
     title = {Bridging Crypto with ML-based Solvers: the SAT Formulation and Benchmarks},
     author = {Zheng, Xinhao and Song, Xinhao and Qiu, Bolin and Li, Yang and Gui, Zhongteng and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2025}
   }

3. NeurIPS

   Generation as Search Operator for Test-Time Scaling of Diffusion-based Combinatorial Optimization

   Yang Li, Lvda Chen, Haonan Wang, and 2 more authors

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{li2025gensco,
     title = {Generation as Search Operator for Test-Time Scaling of Diffusion-based Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Li, Yang and Chen, Lvda and Wang, Haonan and Wang, Runzhong and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2025}
   }

4. NeurIPS

   StruDiCO: Structured Denoising Diffusion with Gradient-free Inference-stage Boosting for Memory and Time Efficient Combinatorial Optimization

   Yu Wang, Yang Li, Junchi Yan, and 1 more author

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{wang2025strudico,
     title = {StruDiCO: Structured Denoising Diffusion with Gradient-free Inference-stage Boosting for Memory and Time Efficient Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Wang, Yu and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi and Chang, Yi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2025}
   }

5. NeurIPS

   ML4CO-Bench-101: Benchmark Machine Learning for Classic Combinatorial Problems on Graphs

   Jiale Ma, Wenzheng Pan, Yang Li, and 1 more author

   In The Thirty-ninth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems Datasets and Benchmarks Track, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{ma2025mlcobench,
     title = {ML4CO-Bench-101: Benchmark Machine Learning for Classic Combinatorial Problems on Graphs},
     author = {Ma, Jiale and Pan, Wenzheng and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {The Thirty-ninth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems Datasets and Benchmarks Track},
     year = {2025},
   }

6. ICML

   Generative Modeling Reinvents Supervised Learning: Label Repurposing with Predictive Consistency Learning

   Yang Li, Jiale Ma, Yebin Yang, and 3 more authors

   In International Conference on Machine Learning, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{li2025pcl,
     title = {Generative Modeling Reinvents Supervised Learning: Label Repurposing with Predictive Consistency Learning},
     author = {Li, Yang and Ma, Jiale and Yang, Yebin and Wu, Qitian and Zha, Hongyuan and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning},
     year = {2025}
   }

7. ICML

   COExpander: Adaptive Solution Expansion for Combinatorial Optimization

   Jiale Ma, Wenzheng Pan, Yang Li, and 1 more author

   In International Conference on Machine Learning, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{ma2025coexpander,
     title = {COExpander: Adaptive Solution Expansion for Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Ma, Jiale and Pan, Wenzheng and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning},
     year = {2025}
   }

8. ICLR

   Unify ML4TSP: Drawing Methodological Principles for TSP and Beyond from Streamlined Design Space of Learning and Search

   Yang Li, Jiale Ma, Wenzheng Pan, and 4 more authors

   In International Conference on Learning Representations, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{li2025ml4tsp,
     title = {Unify ML4TSP: Drawing Methodological Principles for TSP and Beyond from Streamlined Design Space of Learning and Search},
     author = {Li, Yang and Ma, Jiale and Pan, Wenzheng and Wang, Runzhong and Geng, Haoyu and Yang, Nianzu and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2025}
   }

9. ICLR

   UniCO: On Unified Combinatorial Optimization via Problem Reduction to Matrix-Encoded General TSP

   Wenzheng Pan, Hao Xiong, Jiale Ma, and 3 more authors

   In International Conference on Learning Representations, 2025

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{pan2025unico,
     author = {Pan, Wenzheng and Xiong, Hao and Ma, Jiale and Zhao, Wentao and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2025}
   }

2024

1. NeurIPS

   Fast T2T: Optimization Consistency Speeds Up Diffusion-Based Training-to-Testing Solving for Combinatorial Optimization

   Yang Li*, Jinpei Guo*, Runzhong Wang, and 2 more authors

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{li2024fastt2t,
     title = {Fast T2T: Optimization Consistency Speeds Up Diffusion-Based Training-to-Testing Solving for Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Li*, Yang and Guo*, Jinpei and Wang, Runzhong and Zha, Hongyuan and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2024}
   }

2. NeurIPS

   Learning Plaintext-Ciphertext Cryptographic Problems via ANF-based SAT Instance Representation

   Xinhao Zheng, Yang Li, Cunxin Fan, and 3 more authors

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{zheng2024learning,
     title = {Learning Plaintext-Ciphertext Cryptographic Problems via ANF-based SAT Instance Representation},
     author = {Zheng, Xinhao and Li, Yang and Fan, Cunxin and Wu, Huaijin and Song, Xinhao and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2024}
   }

3. NeurIPS

   Benchmarking PtO and PnO Methods in the Predictive Combinatorial Optimization Regime

   Haoyu Geng, Hang Ruan, Runzhong Wang, and 4 more authors

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{geng2024rethinking,
     title = {Benchmarking PtO and PnO Methods in the Predictive Combinatorial Optimization Regime},
     author = {Geng, Haoyu and Ruan, Hang and Wang, Runzhong and Li, Yang and Wang, Yang and Chen, Lei and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2024}
   }

4. 中国科学

   Learning to Solve Combinatorial Optimization under Positive Linear Constraints via Non-Autoregressive Neural Networks

   Runzhong Wang, Yang Li, Junchi Yan, and 1 more author

   SCIENTIA SINICA Informationis 2024, 2024

   Bib

   @article{wang2024learning,
     title = {Learning to Solve Combinatorial Optimization under Positive Linear Constraints via Non-Autoregressive Neural Networks},
     author = {Wang, Runzhong and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi and Yang, Xiaokang},
     journal = {SCIENTIA SINICA Informationis 2024},
     year = {2024}
   }

5. ICMLSpotlight (3.5%)

   ACM-MILP: Adaptive Constraint Modification via Grouping and Selection for Hardness-Preserving MILP Instance Generation

   Ziao Guo, Yang Li, Chang Liu, and 2 more authors

   In The Forty-first International Conference on Machine Learning, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{guo2024acm,
     title = {ACM-MILP: Adaptive Constraint Modification via Grouping and Selection for Hardness-Preserving MILP Instance Generation},
     author = {Guo, Ziao and Li, Yang and Liu, Chang and Ouyang, Wenli and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {The Forty-first International Conference on Machine Learning},
     year = {2024},
   }

6. ICLR

   MixSATGEN: Learning Graph Mixing for SAT Instance Generation

   Xinyan Chen*, Yang Li*, Runzhong Wang, and 1 more author

   In The Twelfth International Conference on Learning Representations, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @inproceedings{chen2024mixsat,
     title = {MixSATGEN: Learning Graph Mixing for SAT Instance Generation},
     author = {Chen*, Xinyan and Li*, Yang and Wang, Runzhong and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {The Twelfth International Conference on Learning Representations},
     year = {2024},
   }

7. arXiv

   Machine Learning Insides OptVerse AI Solver: Design Principles and Applications

   Xijun Li, Fangzhou Zhu, Hui-Ling Zhen, and 23 more authors

   arXiv preprint, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF

   @article{li2024machine,
     title = {Machine Learning Insides OptVerse AI Solver: Design Principles and Applications},
     author = {Li, Xijun and Zhu, Fangzhou and Zhen, Hui-Ling and Luo, Weilin and Lu, Meng and Huang, Yimin and Fan, Zhenan and Zhou, Zirui and Kuang, Yufei and Wang, Zhihai and Geng, Zijie and Li, Yang and Liu, Haoyang and An, Zhiwu and Yang, Muming and Li, Jianshu and Wang, Jie and Yan, Junchi and Sun, Defeng and Zhong, Tao and Zhang, Yong and Zeng, Jia and Yuan, Mingxuan and Hao, Jianye and Yao, Jun and Mao, Kun},
     year = {2024},
     journal = {arXiv preprint},
   }

8. arXiv

   Molecule Generation for Drug Design: a Graph Learning Perspective

   Nianzu Yang, Huaijin Wu, Kaipeng Zeng, and 2 more authors

   In Fundamental Research, 2024

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{yang2024molecule,
     title = {Molecule Generation for Drug Design: a Graph Learning Perspective},
     author = {Yang, Nianzu and Wu, Huaijin and Zeng, Kaipeng and Li, Yang and Yan, Junchi},
     year = {2024},
     booktitle = {Fundamental Research},
   }

2023

1. NeurIPS

   T2T: From Distribution Learning in Training to Gradient Search in Testing for Combinatorial Optimization

   Yang Li, Jinpei Guo, Runzhong Wang, and 1 more author

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2023

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @inproceedings{li2023t2tco,
     title = {T2T: From Distribution Learning in Training to Gradient Search in Testing for Combinatorial Optimization},
     author = {Li, Yang and Guo, Jinpei and Wang, Runzhong and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     year = {2023}
   }

2. SIGKDD

   HardSATGEN: Understanding the Difficulty of Hard SAT Formula Generation and A Strong Structure-Hardness-Aware Baseline

   Yang Li, Xinyan Chen, Wenxuan Guo, and 6 more authors

   In Proceedings of the 29th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, 2023

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @inproceedings{li2023hardsatgen,
     title = {HardSATGEN: Understanding the Difficulty of Hard SAT Formula Generation and A Strong Structure-Hardness-Aware Baseline},
     author = {Li, Yang and Chen, Xinyan and Guo, Wenxuan and Li, Xijun and Luo, Wanqian and Huang, Junhua and Zhen, Hui-Ling and Yuan, Mingxuan and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of the 29th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining},
     year = {2023}
   }

3. IJCAI

   IID-GAN: an IID Sampling Perspective for Regularizing Mode Collapse

   Yang Li*, Liangliang Shi*, and Junchi Yan

   In Proceedings of the 32nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2023

   Bib HTML PDF

   @inproceedings{iid2023li,
     author = {Li*, Yang and Shi*, Liangliang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of the 32nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence},
     title = {IID-GAN: an IID Sampling Perspective for Regularizing Mode Collapse},
     year = {2023}
   }

2022

1. NeurIPSSpotlight (5%)

   Improving Generative Adversarial Networks via Adversarial Learning in Latent Space

   Yang Li, Yichuan Mo, Liangliang Shi, and 1 more author

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2022

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @inproceedings{li2022improving,
     author = {Li, Yang and Mo, Yichuan and Shi, Liangliang and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     editor = {Koyejo, S. and Mohamed, S. and Agarwal, A. and Belgrave, D. and Cho, K. and Oh, A.},
     pages = {8868--8881},
     publisher = {Curran Associates, Inc.},
     title = {Improving Generative Adversarial Networks via Adversarial Learning in Latent Space},
     volume = {35},
     year = {2022}
   }

2. NeurIPS

   The Policy-gradient Placement and Generative Routing Neural Networks for Chip Design

   Ruoyu Cheng, Xianglong Lyu, Yang Li, and 3 more authors

   In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2022

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @inproceedings{NEURIPS2022_a8b8c1ad,
     author = {Cheng, Ruoyu and Lyu, Xianglong and Li, Yang and Ye, Junjie and Hao, Jianye and Yan, Junchi},
     booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
     editor = {Koyejo, S. and Mohamed, S. and Agarwal, A. and Belgrave, D. and Cho, K. and Oh, A.},
     pages = {26350--26362},
     publisher = {Curran Associates, Inc.},
     title = {The Policy-gradient Placement and Generative Routing Neural Networks for Chip Design},
     volume = {35},
     year = {2022}
   }

3. SAT Comp.

   Kissat Adaptive Restart, Kissat Cfexp: Adaptive Restart Policy and Variable Scoring Improvement

   Yang Li, Yuqi Jia, Wanqian Luo, and 4 more authors

   Proceedings of SAT Competition, 2022

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @article{li2022kissat,
     title = {Kissat Adaptive Restart, Kissat Cfexp: Adaptive Restart Policy and Variable Scoring Improvement},
     author = {Li, Yang and Jia, Yuqi and Luo, Wanqian and Zhen, Hui-Ling and Li, Xijun and Yuan, Mingxuan and Yan, Junchi},
     journal = {Proceedings of SAT Competition},
     year = {2022}
   }

4. SAT Comp.

   The SAT Encoding for Graph Isomorphism

   Yang Li, Yuqi Jia, Wanqian Luo, and 4 more authors

   Proceedings of SAT Competition, 2022

   Bib HTML PDF Code

   @article{li2022sat,
     title = {The SAT Encoding for Graph Isomorphism},
     author = {Li, Yang and Jia, Yuqi and Luo, Wanqian and Zhen, Hui-Ling and Li, Xijun and Yuan, Mingxuan and Yan, Junchi},
     journal = {Proceedings of SAT Competition},
     year = {2022}
   }