Cuong Pham

Cuong Pham

MS student in Machine Learning at MBZUAI

Hi, I am Cuong Pham (Vietnamese: Phạm Anh Cường). I obtained my MS in Machine Learning at MBZUAI, where I worked with Prof. Samuel Horváth and Prof. Praneeth Vepakomma.

My research focuses on optimization and efficiency for deep learning. In particular, I am interested in continual learning, parameter-efficient fine-tuning of LLMs, collaborative/federated learning, optimization.

During my MS, my work primarily explored efficient continual training/fine-tuning through orthogonal-based methods with low-rank updates. Before joining MBZUAI, I got my Honors BS in Information Technology from VNU-UET, Vietnam in 2023, where I worked with Prof. Quang-Thuy Ha and Dr. Van-Quang Nguyen on NLP and computer vision projects.

I also spent two years in industry working on NLP, computer vision, and large-scale data science applications. In parallel, I maintained a strong interest in mathematics and participated in several mathematical competitions during high school and undergraduate studies.

Please take a look at my CV for more information.

I am actively looking for PhD position for both 2027 Spring and Fall.

For contact: My personal email is phamanhcuongvna2511 at gmail.com, and my MBZUAI email is cuong.pham at mbzuai.ac.ae.

🔥 News

  • 05.2026:   I obtained my degree (Master of Science in Machine Learning) at MBZUAI.
  • 04.2026:   I successfully defended my MS Thesis (Pass with minor revisions) at MBZUAI. Many thanks to my supervisors: Prof. Samuel Horváth, Prof. Praneeth Vepakomma, and internal committee Prof. Raul Astudillo.
  • 03.2026:   I attended CPAL 2026 in Tübingen, Germany to present the poster and gave an oral presentation for my paper Learning in the Null Space: Small Singular Values for Continual Learning.
  • 08.2024:   I joined MBZUAI as a Master’s student in Machine Learning (with full scholarship), and my supervisor for my MS is Prof. Samuel Horváth.
  • 06.2023:   I graduated with High Distinction Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology (Honors Program) from VNU University of Engineering and Technology.

📝 Publications

🎖 Honors

  • 06.2024, Fully-funded Master’s scholarship at MBZUAI.
  • 2021-2023, Third Prizes (#5 Linear Algebra 2021, #6 Linear Algebra 2022, #5 Linear Algebra 2023) in VNU-UET Mathematics Olympiad. I was also #7 Calculus in the 2022 competition, but there were only prizes for top 6.
  • 01.2019, Participation in the national Vietnam Mathematical Olympiad 2019 (representing Nghe An province, and was ranked ~#250/600 national).

📖 Education

  • 08.2024 - 05.2026, MS in Machine Learning, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (UAE).
  • 08.2019 - 06.2023, BS in Information Technology (Honors Program), VNU University of Engineering and Technology (Vietnam).

💻 Professional Experience

🔍 References

  • Dr. Samuel Horvath, Assistant Professor of Machine Learning at MBZUAI (UAE) [Email] [Website]
  • Dr. Praneeth Vepakomma, Assistant Professor of Machine Learning at MBZUAI (UAE) and Visiting Professor at MIT IDSS [Email] [Website]