Shicheng Fan
Ph.D. Student in Computer Science · University of Illinois Chicago
First author papers: ICML 2026; NeurIPS 2026; COLM 2026
I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Chicago, advised by Prof. Philip S. Yu. I work closely with Prof. Kun Zhang at Carnegie Mellon University and have been a part-time Research Scientist Intern at Aether AI since August 2026.
I received my B.Eng. in Automation (Control & Robotics) from Zhejiang University’s Chu Kochen Honors College, where I worked with Prof. Qi Ye on dexterous robotic manipulation.
My research explores how AI agents can recursively improve their own memory, harnesses, and self-evolution mechanisms. I study how autonomous exploration and verifiable feedback help agents accumulate reusable knowledge and skills that guide subsequent exploration and task solving. Recent work includes RSIAgent for recursive exploration, CoEvoSkills for skill evolution, and Agentic Commerce World for evaluating agents in auditable environments.
I welcome research discussions and collaborations. Please feel free to reach out by email.
Experience
Aether AI
Aug 2026 – PresentResearch Scientist Intern
Hugging Face Daily Papers #6 (Sep 15, 2026)
Headline feature in Synced (机器之心), an AI news outlet.
RSIAgent combines autonomous exploration and iterative memory refinement, using verified experience from each round to guide the next. Built on open-source GLM-5.3 and Kimi-K3, it surpasses GPT-6 Astra in reported partial-credit scores on OSWorld 2.0 (78.98 vs. 72.60) and Agents' Last Exam, Near-term (84.82 vs. 82.26).
Education
University of Illinois Chicago
Aug 2025 – PresentPh.D. in Computer Science
Advised by Prof. Philip S. Yu · Research in Recursive Self-improvement of AI Agents and Causal Representation Learning
Zhejiang University
Sep 2021 – Jun 2025B.Eng. in Automation (Control & Robotics)
Chu Kochen Honors College · GPA: 3.98/4.0 · Rank: 6/121 (Top 5%)
Outstanding Graduate · Dexterous robotic manipulation with Prof. Qi Ye
Invited Talks
Reviewer
news
selected publications
- Preprint
RSIAgent: Autonomous Exploration for Recursive Self-improvement in New EnvironmentsUnder review at ICLR 2027; Hugging Face Daily Papers #6 (Sep 15, 2026); Headline feature in Synced (机器之心), an AI news outlet , 2026