Joining my group

I am always looking for students with strong background to work on designing, building, and understanding networks and systems.

Current openings

[PhD students]

[11/2025] Looking for 1-2 PhD student to start in fall 2025.

• Indicate my name in your online application, then drop me an email.

• Fall 2025 admission: Visit here for general information.

  • Early admission has finished.

  • Regular admission is ongoing.

  • Outstanding candidates are encouraged to check out and apply for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship.

How to apply

Drop me an email with your CV, transcripts, and 1 to 2 representative papers if any. If you're in HK, do mention that so we may meet in person.

Note: I'm filtering emails from 163.com, 126.com, and qq.com due to the massive junk emails from them.

PhD students

• I (try to) take 1-2 PhD students each year.

• Email me if you are interested in working with me, and fits at least one of the following:

  • have outstanding undergrad GPA

  • have outstanding research experience, e.g. 1st or 2nd author papers published or accepted at reputable venues

  • have outstanding systems development experience, e.g. core contributor of a popular open-source project

• Choose me as your preferred advisor in the system, so I can find your applications easier (yup I use this for screening).

• I regret that I may not have time to reply, but I do read all emails.

RA positions

RA positions have more specific requirements on the student's background. You must have a bachelor's degree before applying. It takes in general 2 months to get a HK work permit if you are not local. The minimum duration is 6 months, and can be extended depending on performance. RAs with strong performance will have a clear advantage towards applying to PhD program. RA positions are usually full-time. Students with a HK study permit or IANG permit can work as part-time RAs as well.

Undergraduate students

I strongly encourage and welcome undergraduates with strong interest to get involved in research early on. I would be happy to provide advice on how to go about it, including what opportunities are available in my group.

The best way to find me is to email me to setup a time.

Visiting students/scholars

I welcome visiting students/scholars to join my group and collaborate with us. Email me if you are interested.

Advice: Mentality, mentality, mentality!

Many students have the question: what should I do to prepare for the graduate study? Usually students want a list of papers or books to read; they consider this the most essential part of preparation. I must say that I disagree. I believe mentality (initiative, attitude, etc.) is much more important than any technical skills, and the same is true for all fields beyond sciences and engineering. With the right mentality, everything follows.

The following article contains an excellent summary of advice for students (and even profs) to prepare their mentality for grad school. I just wish everyone could read it so that he/she doesn't have to learn the hard way.

Jason Hong. PhDs from the Faculty's Perspective, Blog@CACM, 2012.