Zhaoze Wang

I am an incoming PhD student in Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. I earned my B.S. in Computer Engineering from Boston University and my M.S.E. in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

My research interests lie at the intersection of information theory and information geometry. Information is scattered everywhere in our world — through the visual scenes we see, the sounds we hear, and the smells we encounter daily — creating a complex representation of our environment. Different types of information exhibit varying degrees of variability. For example, landmarks like mountains and streams may be scarse, but having large magnitudes and low variability. Small objects, however, may be abundant, yet exhibit small magnitudes and high variability. What might the distribution of these magnitudes and variabilities look like? How do they contribute to the information geometry of our world? Furthermore, if we were to encode this information, how might we do so in the most effective manner?

The overarching question I aim to explore is whether there is an inherent geometry, structure, or distribution of information in our world that determines the relative importance of different pieces of information. By understanding this, we could potentially exploit it for more efficient encoding. Additionally, I am also seeking inspiration from the rodent hippocampus, where the encoding of information (i.e., memory) takes place.