Yiming Chen
Hi there! I am a Rhodes Scholar and PhD student in the Visual Geometry Group (VGG) at the University of Oxford, where I am fortunate to be advised by Professor Andrea Vedaldi and Dr. Yushi Lan. My research focus is spatial intelligence, generative world modeling, and building AI systems that understand and simulate physics.
I graduated from MIT with B.S. degrees in Math and Computer Science and an M.Eng in Computer Science. For my Master's, I was lucky to be part of the MIT Medical Vision Group led by Professor Polina Golland and worked in collaboration with IBM Research.
I'm passionate about teaching and scientific communication. Sharing appreciation for beautiful concepts is the most gratifying feeling! Outside the lab, you can find me playing Guzheng (a traditional Chinese instrument), singing A Capella, and doing activities on water of different states——rowing and figure skating. I also sometimes make things.
Please feel free to reach out at yiming [at] robots.ox.ac.uk. I am always excited to chat about research and collaborate!
Research
PhysiFormer: Learning to Simulate Mechanics in World Space
arXiv, 2026
project page / arXiv / code / demo
PhysiFormer learns physically plausible 4D mesh dynamics in world coordinates for multi-object, multi-material simulation.
Geo-UNet: A Geometrically Constrained Neural Framework for Clinical-Grade Lumen Segmentation in Intravascular Ultrasound
MLMI @ MICCAI, 2024
Services
Reviewer for MICCAI 2026, MIDL 2026, GRAIL @ MICCAI 2025, 2026.
Interests
Teaching đź“š
University of Oxford
- Tutor for Uncertainty in Deep Learning (Fall 2025)
MIT
- Teaching Assistant for Design & Analysis of Algorithms | 6.1220 (Spring 2023, Fall 2023)
- Teaching Assistant for Probability & Random Variables | 18.600 (Fall 2022)
- Lecture Assistant for Intro to Python/Data Science | 6.100A/B (Fall 2021)
- Created educational videos with the MIT Edgerton Center (Fall 2020)
Hampshire College Summer Studies in Math (HCSSiM)
- Junior faculty (Summer 2022
)
Silk Road Trilogy
MIT Chamber Music Society Spring'24 (with Irene Huang on flute): Tango, By the Yili River, Waterlillies
One of the most rewarding experiences of my college career! Under the mentorship of Professor Hui Weng of New England Conservatory and Berkelee College of Music, I expanded my musical comfort zone by exploring more musical genres on Guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument. From the chromatic flair of Spanish tango to the rhythmic vitality of Uygur dance music in Northwestern China to the pentatonic, lyrical melodies of Southern Chinese watertowns, I learned so much about improvisation, expression, and musical synergy between Guzheng and Western instruments.
Dance of the Yi
Guzheng solo
