Leyang Li

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About

Software Developer / HCI Researcher

I am a 26' undergraduate student at the University of Notre Dame, persuing B.S. in Computer Science and ACMS(suppl.). I have worked at SaNDwich Lab at Notre Dame, advised by Prof. Toby Jia-Jun Li. This 2025 summer, I am working at SPUD Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Prof. Sauvik Das.

Research Interest

My research interest lies in the interaction of Usable Privacy and Security, LLM Social Simulation, and Human-Centered AI. Specifically, I aim to focus on:

  • (1) developing effective simulation techniques that faithfully model user intentions and reasoning within real-world tasks.
  • (2) mitigating privacy concerns on simulation personas by reducing sensitive data disclosure and increasing transparency and user control.
  • (3) building personalized LLM agents based on high-fidelity, privacy-preserving simulations.

Hobbies

  • Meanwhile, I have the hobby of painting and hiking.

    • Some of my paintings for leisure:

    guard life DV


    Hannibal cat

    I've hiked in the following national parks (ranked from best to worst from my view):

    • Grand Canyon (Arizona)
    • Yellowstone (Wyoming)
    • Arches (Utah)
    • Olympic (Washington)
    • Mount Rainier (Washington)
    • Saguaro (Arizona)
    • Bryce Canyon (Utah)
    • Canyonlands (Utah)
    • Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado)
    • North Cascades (Washington)
    • Mammoth Cave (Kentucky)
    • Petrified Forest (Arizona)
    • Mesa Verde (Colorado)
    • Indiana Dunes (Indiana)
    canyonlands
    olympic

    Last but not least, I'm a Notre Dame football fan!

    footballs