Zhang earns Amazon Research Award
10-07-2025
Ruqi Zhang, assistant professor of computer science (photo by Brian Powell)
Purdue Computer Science Assistant Professor Ruqi Zhang has received an Amazon Research Award for her project, Efficient Test-time Alignment for Large Language Models and Large Multimodal Models.
Her research develops plug-and-play methods that make AI assistants safer, more reliable, and more aligned with human values, without costly retraining. By combining probabilistic modeling with efficient sampling, the work promises to improve the trustworthiness of AI systems used in real-world applications.
“As AI systems become part of everyday life, ensuring they are safe, trustworthy, and aligned with human values is more important than ever,” said Zhang. “This award will allow us to build efficient methods that guide models toward responsible behavior in real time, without the need for expensive retraining.”
The Amazon Research Awards (ARA) provide unrestricted funds and AWS promotional credits to support faculty, PhD students, and postdocs at academic institutions worldwide. Zhang’s project focuses on test-time alignment, a new direction in AI safety that improves how large models behave at the point of use, rather than requiring full retraining. This approach could help AI systems remain accurate and safe even when faced with unexpected or adversarial prompts.
Amazon’s recognition underscores the importance of advancing AI safety. “What excites me is the opportunity to push forward probabilistic foundations that can make alignment more principled and scalable, while also collaborating with the broader research ecosystem,” Zhang said.
Zhang’s work fits into a larger effort at Purdue to ensure AI systems are developed responsibly. Purdue provides a strong ecosystem for AI research, with world-class faculty, high-performance computing resources, and a culture of collaboration across disciplines.
Looking ahead, Zhang expects breakthroughs in the coming years on aligning AI models with human values and safety constraints. “AI today is at a turning point; models are becoming incredibly capable but also more complex and unpredictable,” she said. “The exciting frontier is figuring out how to make these systems safe, efficient, and trustworthy, so they can be deployed responsibly in society.”
About the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University
Founded in 1962, the Department of Computer Science was created to be an innovative base of knowledge in the emerging field of computing as the first degree-awarding program in the United States. The department continues to advance the computer science industry through research. U.S. News & World Report ranks the department No. 8 in computer engineering and No. 16 overall in undergraduate and No. 19 graduate computer science. Additionally, the program is ranked No. 6 in cybersecurity, No. 8 in software engineering, No. 13 in systems, No. 15 in programming languages and data analytics, and No. 18 in theory. Graduates of the program are able to solve complex and challenging problems in many fields. Our consistent success in an ever-changing landscape is reflected in the record undergraduate enrollment, increased faculty hiring, innovative research projects, and the creation of new academic programs. The increasing centrality of computer science in society, academic disciplines and new research activities — centered around foundations and applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, such as natural language processing, human computer interaction, vision, and robotics, as well as systems and security — are the future focus of the department. Learn more at cs.purdue.edu.