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Short Bio

I obtained my PhD degree from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, advised by Professor Hans-Arno Jacobsen. My research is at the core of distributed systems, especially consensus algorithms and fault tolerance. My research contributes to both the theoretical foundations of distributed computing and the design and implementation of practical systems. The overarching objective of my research is to develop 3H distributed systems -- characterized by high performance, high scalability, and high availability. It is focused on designing general and tailored consensus algorithms, fault tolerance, and consistency models to effectively support various distributed applications, including blockchains, databases, cloud computing, and distributed training systems.

Publications

Conference Proceedings:
  1. [Under review] Gengrui Zhang, Yunhao Mao, Shiquan Zhang, Shashank Motepalli, and Hans-Arno Jacobsen. V-Guard: A Fast, Dynamic, and Versatile Permissioned Blockchain Framework for V2X Networks.
    [Code]

  2. PrestigeBFT: Revolutionizing View Changes in BFT Consensus Algorithms with Reputation Mechanisms. In 40th IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering, IEEE, 2024.
    Gengrui Zhang, Fei Pan, Sofia Tijanic, and Hans-Arno Jacobsen.
    ICDE'24   [paper]

  3. Lifting the fog of uncertainties: Dynamic resource orchestration for the containerized cloud. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing, 2023.
    Yuqiu Zhang, Tongkun Zhang, Gengrui Zhang, Hans-Arno Jacobsen
    SoCC'23   [paper]

  4. ESCAPE to Precaution against Leader Failures. In 2022 IEEE 42nd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems, IEEE, 2022.
    Gengrui Zhang and Hans-Arno Jacobsen.
    ICDCS'22   [paper] [slides] [video]

  5. Binding Efficiency and Robustness for Blockchains using Reputation-based Byzantine Fault-Tolerant Consensus Algorithms. In Proceedings of the 23rd International Middleware Conference, Middleware '22, ACM, 2022. (Short Paper)
    Gengrui Zhang.
    Middleware'22   [paper] [slides]

  6. Prosecutor: An Efficient BFT Consensus Algorithm with Behavior-Aware Penalization against Byzantine Attacks. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Middleware Conference, Middleware '21, pages 52-63. ACM, 2021.
    Gengrui Zhang and Hans-Arno Jacobsen.
    Middleware'21   [paper] [slides]

  7. Blockchain for V2X: A Taxonomy of Design Use Cases and System Requirements. In Conference on Blockchain Research & Applications for Innovative Networks and Services, BRAINS, IEEE, 2021
    James Meijers, Edward Au, Yuxi Cai, Hans-Arno Jacobsen, Shashank Motepalli, Robert Sun, Andreas Veneris, Gengrui Zhang, and Shiquan Zhang. (Author names in alphabetical order except the first author)
    Brains'21   [paper]

  8. An Efficient Consensus Protocol for Real-time Permissioned Blockchains under Non-Byzantine Conditions. In International Conference on Green, Pervasive, and Cloud Computing, pages 298-311. Springer, 2018
    Best Paper Award [image] [award]
    Gengrui Zhang and Chengzhong Xu.
    GPC'18   [paper]
Journal Articles:
  1. Reaching Consensus in the Byzantine Empire: A Comprehensive Review of BFT Consensus Algorithms.
    Gengrui Zhang, Pan Fei, Yunhao Mao, Sofia Tijanic, Michael Dang'ana, Shashank Motepalli, Shiquan Zhang, and Hans-Arno Jacobsen.
    ACM Computing Surveys   [paper]

  2. Blockchain for V2X: Applications and Architectures. IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology (2022)
    James Meijers, Panagiotis Michalopoulos, Shashank Motepalli, Gengrui Zhang, Shiquan Zhang, Andreas Veneris, and Hans-Arno Jacobsen.
    IEEE OJVS   [paper]

Teaching

Guest lectures:

  1. Introduction to Consensus Algorithms, in ECE1779 Introduction to Cloud Computing.

  2. Blockchains and Consensus Protocols, in ECE1770 Trends in Middleware: Blockchain Technologies.

Teaching Assistantships:

* Teaching assistantships are an integral part of the doctoral education at the University of Toronto.

>> Graduate level courses:
  1. Head TA, ECE1770 Trends in Middleware: blockchain technologies, 2021 Winter, 2022 Winter, 2023 Winter.
    [Syllabus]

  2. TA, ECE1762 Algorithms and Data Structures, 2021 Fall and 2021 Winter.

>> Undergraduate level courses:
  1. Head TA, ECE419 Distributed Systems, 2020 Winter, 2021 Winter, 2022 Winter, and 2023 Winter.

  2. TA, ECE345 Algorithms and Data Structures, 2019 Winter, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Fall.

  3. TA, CSC343 Introduction to Databases, 2023 Winter.

  4. TA, CSC263 Data Structures and Analysis, 2021 Fall.

  5. TA, ECE244 Programming Fundamentals, 2019 Fall, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Fall.

  6. TA, CSC148 Introduction to Computer Science, 2022 Winter.

Talks

  1. Fairness in Byzantine Consensus, Macau University, Macau SAR, China, 2021.04

  2. Scaling Byzantine Consensus, ACM SACMAT, Toronto, Canada, 2019.06

  3. Optimizing Consensus Algorithms for Permissioned Blockchains, Blockchain Week, Toronto, Canada, 2019.04

  4. Untangling Blockchain Consensus Protocols from Blockchain 1.0 to 2.0, Tencent, Shenzhen, China, 2018.04

  5. High-level Comparsions of Cosensus Protocols between Permissionless Blockchains and Permissioned Blockchains, SIAT, CAS, Shenzhen, China, 2017.11