Guo-Jun Qi

Guo-Jun Qi (齐国君) is an award-winning AI researcher and entrepreneur who joined Westlake University in Hangzhou in 2025 after a decade-long career in the United States, ending his run as a former Microsoft researcher and Chief AI Scientist at Huawei Research USA. At 43, the IEEE Fellow and distinguished ACM member is now a full-time faculty member at Westlake's School of Engineering, where he leads the Machine Perception and Learning (MAPLE) Lab overseeing a team of roughly 20 researchers.

Qi graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) with a degree in automation in 2005, then earned his first PhD in the same discipline at USTC in 2009 through a joint program with Microsoft Research Asia. He went on to earn a second PhD, in electrical and computer engineering, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2013, working with Professor Thomas Huang at the Beckman Institute. His US career included roles as a Research Staff Member at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, faculty at the University of Central Florida, and senior leadership positions at Huawei Cloud and OPPO Research before becoming Huawei Research America's Chief AI Scientist.

At Westlake, Qi's team explores AI and deep learning applications for image, video, and virtual environment generation. "I was drawn to the free-spirited atmosphere at Westlake University and wanted to come back and pursue something I truly wanted to do," the Chinese-born researcher said of his decision to return.