Gengrui (Edward) Zhang

Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Toronto

Recent News

Short Bio

I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Hans-Arno Jacobsen. My research interests focus on the core problems in distributed systems, especially consensus algorithms and fault tolerance. My current research studies aim to develop algorithms and architectures that build up fault-tolerant, high-performance, highly scalable, and highly available distributed systems. I am especially interested in developing consensus algorithms binding efficiency and robustness under various fault-tolerant models including benign and Byzantine failures, and applying theoretical problems to real-world applications. Towards these objectives, I am also broadly interested in questions related to distributed computing theories, blockchains, P2P systems, cloud/distributed databases, microservices, serverless computing, and systems for AI.

Publications

Conference Proceedings:
  1. [Under review] Gengrui Zhang, Fei Pan, Sofia Tijanic, and Hans-Arno Jacobsen. Prestige BFT: Making Decentralization Efficient in Distributed Ledgers using Reputation-based Byzantine Fault-Tolerant Consensus Algorithms.

  2. [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]

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

  4. [Middleware'22] Gengrui Zhang. Binding Efficiency and Robustness for Blockchains using Reputation-based Byzantine Fault-Tolerant Consensus Algorithms. In Proceedings of the 23rd International Middleware Conference, Middleware '22, pages 11-14. ACM, 2022 (Short Paper)

  5. [Middleware'21] Gengrui Zhang and Hans-Arno Jacobsen. 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
    [Slides]

  6. [Brains'21] James Meijers, Edward Au, Yuxi Cai, Hans-Arno Jacobsen, Shashank Motepalli, Robert Sun, Andreas Veneris, Gengrui Zhang, and Shiquan Zhang. 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 (Author names in alphabetical order except the first author)

  7. [GPC'18] Gengrui Zhang and Chengzhong Xu. 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)
    [IMG]   [Award]
Journal Articles:
  1. Gengrui Zhang and Hans-Arno Jacobsen. Prosecutor+: An Efficient BFT Consensus Algorithm with Behavior-aware Penalization and Proactive Recovery. (In preparation for submssion.)

  2. [CSUR] Gengrui Zhang, Pan Fei, Michael Dang'ana, Yunhao Mao, Shashank Motepalli, Shiquan Zhang, and Hans-Arno Jacobsen. Reaching Consensus in the Byzantine Empire: A Comprehensive Review of BFT Consensus Algorithms. arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.03181 (2022)

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

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