Xiaolei (Alex) Chu

About Me

I’m a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley, working with Prof. Ziqi Wang. My research interests include LLM post-training (SFT, RLHF, RLVR), generative models (diffusion and flow matching), and graph learning. I also do research in statistical physics (mean-field theory, renormalization group) and uncertainty quantification. I am always open to research collaborations, especially on LLM and generative models. Please feel free to connect! Before joining Berkeley, I got my master’s degree (with honors) at Tongji University and bachelor’s degree (with honors) at Southwest Jiaotong University.

Outside academia, I like road trips, swimming, hiking, skiing, running, and exploring different restaurants.

Current topics

Multimodal sentiment analysis; text-to-image generation; foundation models for natural hazard generation.

Research Interests

Large Language Model: multimodal sentiment analysis
Generative Model: foundation models for natural hazard generation, such as ground motion, hurricanes, etc.
Statistical Physics: emotional phase transition (mean field theory, renormalization group)
Uncertainty Quantification: sequential Monte Carlo, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo

Awards

[May. 2025] 2nd Place of Objective Resilience Student Paper/Presentation Competition at EMI 2025, Anaheim, CA, USA
[Aug. 2024] The Professor Alex & Georgia Scordelis Fellowship in Structural Engineering at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
[Oct. 2022] Excellent Master’s Thesis at Tongji University, Shanghai, China
[Jun. 2022] Excellent Graduate of Tongji University, Shanghai, China
[Oct. 2021] China National Scholarship, Shanghai, China
[Aug. 2019] Citation for Outstanding College Graduate (summa cum laude), China Civil Engineering Society, Shanghai, China
[Jun. 2019] Excellent Undergraduate of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, China
[Jan. 2019] 1st International Engineering Mechanics Competition: 1st prize for individual competition and 2nd prize for team competition, Nanjing, China
[Apr. 2018] ASCE Steel Bridge Competition: 5th Overall and Best Display Medal (as the group leader), Sacramento, CA, USA
[Oct. 2017] 1st prize in the 9th Chinese Mathematics Competition (CMC), Chengdu, China
[Jul. 2017] 1st prize in the 11th Zhou Peiyuan National Mechanics Competition, Chengdu, China
[Oct. 2016] 1st prize in the 8th Chinese Mathematics Competition (CMC), Chengdu, China
[Sep. 2016-2018] Railway Alumni Scholarship, Chengdu, China

Publications and Projects

RESS

Maximum entropy-based modeling of community-level hazard responses for civil infrastructures

Xiaolei Chu, Ziqi Wang

Reliability Engineering & System Safety, Oct. 2024.
SCHM

Multiscale Time Series Decomposition for Structural Dynamic Properties: Long-Term Trend and Ambient Interference

Xiaolei Chu, Wei Cui, Shengyi Xu, Lin Zhao, Hua Guan, Yaojun Ge

Structural Control and Health Monitoring, Feb. 2023.
ES

Bayesian inference based parametric identification of vortex-excited force using on-site measured vibration data on a long-span bridge

Peng Liu, Xiaolei Chu, Wei Cui, Lin Zhao, Yaojun Ge

Engineering Structures, Sep. 2022.
JSE

Life-Cycle Assessment of Long-Span Bridge’s Wind Resistant Performance Considering Multisource Time-Variant Effects and Uncertainties

Xiaolei Chu, Wei Cui, Lin Zhao, Yaojun Ge

Journal of Structural Engineering, May 2022.
MSSP

Bayesian spectral density approach for identification of bridge section’s flutter derivatives operated in turbulent flow

Xiaolei Chu, Wei Cui, Peng Liu, Lin Zhao, Yaojun Ge

Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, May 2022.
JWEIA

Probabilistic flutter analysis of a long-span bridge in typhoon-prone regions considering climate change and structural deterioration

Xiaolei Chu, Wei Cui, Lin Zhao, Shuyang Cao, Yaojun Ge

Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Aug. 2021.

Services

Journal Reviewers

Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE
Journal of Engineering
Advanced Engineering Informatics
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing
Engineering Structures
Measurement
Journal of Building Engineering
Automation in Construction
Reliability Engineering & System Safety

Membership & Activities

[2016-present] Student Member of ASCE