Easton Hu 🎓

Easton Hu

Ph.D Student

University of Georgia

About Me

Always in beta: learning and evolving.

I am currently a Ph.D student in Computer Science at the University of Georgia, under the guidance of Dr. Jian Liu. I obtained my M.S. in Computer Science from Georgia State University under the supervision of Dr. Qin Hu.

My current research focuses on how to protect human voices from being cloned by AI. I’ve previously focused on security in multimodal large language models and federated learning. You can check out my recent publications on my Research page.

I love sports and music. Lately, I’ve been really into zone 2 training, which has been great for improving my physical fitness and balancing my blood pressure. I’m a huge fan of Liverpool FC and the Golden State Warriors basketball team. I also spent two months at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK for a summer school program, and that was one of the happiest times of my life.

Education

Ph.D in Computer Science

University of Georgia

M.S. in Computer Science

Georgia State University

B.Eng in Computer Science

NingboTech University

Interests

LLMs Security & Privacy Trustworthy AI Multimodal Model Human-Computer Interaction
📰 Latest News
  • May 2026: Started Ph.D program at University of Georgia under the guidance of Dr. Jian Liu!
  • May 2026: Graduated from Georgia State University with M.S. in Computer Science!
  • January 2026: One paper was submitted to ACL 2026!
  • September 2025: One paper was submitted to IEEE Internet of Things Journal!
  • January 2025: Started M.S. program at Georgia State University.
  • June 2024: Completed Bachelor’s degree and graduated from NingboTech University, along with Graduation Honorary Certificate from Zhejiang University.
🔬 Research Experience

GAMBIT: Gamified Jailbreak Framework for Multimodal LLMs

Georgia State University, INSPIRE Lab

  • Proposed a novel framework utilizing ‘Puzzle-based Multimodal Encoding’ to disrupt visual semantic filters
  • Identified and formalized the ‘Safety-Complexity Trade-off’ in Multimodal LLMs
  • Achieved state-of-the-art Attack Success Rates (ASR) on popular models
  • Submitted to ACL 2026 | arXiv

Straggler Mitigation in Blockchain-based Hierarchical Federated Learning

Georgia State University, INSPIRE Lab

  • Proposed a decentralized BHFL framework utilizing Raft-based consortium blockchain
  • Designed ‘HieAvg’, a novel hierarchical averaging algorithm with theoretical convergence proof
  • Validated performance improvements on Raspberry Pi and AWS EC2 testbeds
  • Submitted to IEEE Internet of Things Journal | arXiv
📚 Teaching Experience
  • Lab Instructor, Georgia State University

    CSC 1302L: Principles of Computer Science II (Spring 2026)

  • Teaching Assistant, Georgia State University

    CSC 6330: Programming Language Concepts (Fall 2025)

    CSC 6330: Programming Language Concepts (Summer 2025)

    CSC 8230: Secure and Private AI (Spring 2025)

🏆 Honors & Awards

"I dedicated most of my undergraduate years to competitive programming. While the awards I earned during my four years as an ACMer were limited, the friends and experiences I made along the way are my greatest treasure."

  • Graduation Honorary Certificate - Zhejiang University (2024)
  • Team Silver Medal - 8th China Group Programming Ladder Tournament (2023)
  • Team Bronze Medal - 7th China Group Programming Ladder Tournament (2022)
  • Bronze Medal - 2023 Zhejiang Provincial Collegiate Programming Contest
  • Bronze Medal - 2022 Zhejiang Provincial Collegiate Programming Contest
  • Bronze Medal - 47th ICPC, Nanjing Site (2022)
  • Bronze Medal - 47th ICPC, Jinan Site (2022)
  • Bronze Medal - 46th ICPC, Kunming Site (2022)
  • Bronze Medal - CCPC, Weihai Site (2022)
🤝 Collaboration
If you are a researcher interested in collaborating, please feel free to contact me at Easton.Hu@uga.edu.