Chih-Fan (Rich) Pai

PhD Candidate
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California San Diego
cpai@ucsd.edu  ·  cfrpai@gmail.com  ·  CV  ·  Google Scholar
Portrait of Chih-Fan (Rich) Pai

About

✦ I am graduating in December 2026 and looking for research positions in both academia and industry.

I am a PhD Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California San Diego, advised by Prof. Yang Zheng. I obtained my MS in Communication Engineering from National Taiwan University, advised by Prof. See-May Phoong, and my BS in ECE from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University.

News

Research

I work on prediction, planning, and control for dynamical systems under uncertainty, drawing on optimization, online learning, and control theory.

Online prediction and nonstochastic control I design sequential prediction and control algorithms for partially observed systems under adversarial disturbances via regret-minimizing approaches.

Model predictive control and model-based RL I study how receding-horizon planners with imperfect information behave in closed loop systems, including sampling-based MPC (such as CEM and MPPI) and data-driven MPC. I ask when sharper prediction or better optimization actually yields better long-horizon control.

Convex and Nonconvex Optimization in Control I study the nonconvex landscapes of classical optimal and robust control (such as LQR and \( \mathcal{H}_\infty \) control) and the hidden convex structure behind them. With collaborators, I developed Extended Convex Lifting, a unified framework bridging convex LMI-based synthesis and Riccati theory with direct policy optimization.

I also studied reward-free exploration in reinforcement learning early in my PhD, and signal processing for communication systems during my MS.

Experience

I was an Audio R&D Intern at Qualcomm in Summer 2025, working on active noise cancellation algorithms for earbuds. I combined ideas from optimization, robust control, and signal processing to develop practical solutions.

Publications

Talks

Teaching

Teaching Assistant at UCSD:

Teaching Assistant at NTU: