Publications and Preprints

A Special Paper

Optimality of a Threshold Policy for a Queueing System with One Fast Server and Two Identical Slow Servers
Weina Wang, Taha Ameen, Yudong Chen, Yige Hong, Josh Nichols, and Matthew Zurek, 2026
[paper]

This paper solves a case in an open problem originally proposed by Lin and Kumar(1984). I first read about this open problem in the paper by Koole (2022) in the special issue ``100 Views on Queues'' that celebrates Volume 100 of Queueing Systems.

This is special paper since the core technical ideas in this paper are generated by GPT-5.5 Pro. We put ourselves down as authors, but this is not authorship in a traditional sense. Our role is to verify the proofs and rewrite the paper for better rigor, clarity, and exposition. In addition, three key lemmas have also been verified in Lean 4 [GitHub]. We have included a short report at the end of the appendix describing the authors' interactions with GPT-5.5 Pro.

Here is another paper where GPT is heavily involved.
Steady-State Approximation Error of Heterogeneous Mean-Field Models
Lei Ying, 2026
[paper]
This paper is from Prof. Lei Ying at University of Michigan. In this paper, most proofs were generated, corrected, and refined through iterative interactions between ChatGPT and the author.

Stochastic Systems

Noise Schedule Design for Diffusion Models: An Optimal Control Perspective
Seo Taek Kong, Weina Wang, R. Srikant
Preprint, 2026. [arXiv]
Lyapunov-Based Sample Complexity Analysis for Weakly-Coupled MDPs
Tianhao Wu, Matthew Zurek, Weina Wang, Qiaomin Xie
COLT, 2026. [arXiv]
Projection-based Lyapunov method for fully heterogeneous weakly-coupled MDPs
Xiangcheng Zhang*, Yige Hong*, Weina Wang
NeurIPS, 2025. [arXiv]
Spotlight
Achieving \(\tilde{O}(1/N)\) Optimality Gap in Restless Bandits through Gaussian Approximation
Chen Yan, Weina Wang, Lei Ying
NeurIPS, 2025. [arXiv]
Spotlight
Unichain and Aperiodicity are Sufficient for Asymptotic Optimality of Average-Reward Restless Bandits
Yige Hong, Qiaomin Xie, Yudong Chen, Weina Wang
Mathematics of Operations Research, 2025. [DOI] [arXiv]
Job assignment in machine learning inference systems with accuracy constraints
Tuhinangshu Choudhury, Gauri Joshi, Weina Wang
Performance Evaluation, 2025.
[DOI]
Efficient Reinforcement Learning for Routing Jobs in Heterogeneous Queueing Systems
Neharika Jali, Guannan Qu, Weina Wang, Gauri Joshi
AISTATS, 2024. [arXiv]
Asymptotically optimal scheduling of multiple parallelizable job classes
Ben Berg, Ben Moseley, Weina Wang, Mor Harchol-Balter
Preprint, 2024. [arXiv]
Achieving exponential asymptotic optimality in average-reward restless bandits without global attractor assumption
Yige Hong, Qiaomin Xie, Yudong Chen, Weina Wang
Preprint, 2024. [arXiv]
Restless Bandits with Average Reward: Breaking the Uniform Global Attractor Assumption
Yige Hong, Qiaomin Xie, Yudong Chen, Weina Wang
NeurIPS, 2023. [arXiv]
Spotlight
Sample Efficient Reinforcement Learning in Mixed Systems Through Augmented Samples and Its Applications to Queueing Networks
Honghao Wei, Xin Liu, Weina Wang, Lei Ying
NeurIPS, 2023. [arXiv]
Spotlight
Near-Optimal Stochastic Bin-Packing in Large Service Systems with Time-Varying Item Sizes
Yige Hong, Qiaomin Xie, Weina Wang
ACM SIGMETRICS, 2024. [arXiv] [slides] [Simons talk video]
An Upper Bound on the M/M/k Queue With Deterministic Setup Times
Jalani K. Williams, Mor Harchol-Balter, Weina Wang
Preprint, 2025. [arXiv]
The M/M/k with deterministic setup times
Jalani K. Williams, Mor Harchol-Balter, Weina Wang
ACM SIGMETRICS, 2023. [DOI] [pdf]
Sharp waiting-time bounds for multiserver jobs
Yige Hong, Weina Wang
ACM MobiHoc, 2022. [DOI] [arXiv] [slides] [SNAPP seminar video]
Tackling heterogeneous traffic in multi-access systems via erasure coded servers
Tuhinangshu Choudhury, Weina Wang, Gauri Joshi
ACM MobiHoc, 2022. [DOI] [arXiv]
Best Paper Award
On low-complexity quickest intervention of mutated diffusion processes through local approximation
Qining Zhang, Honghao Wei, Weina Wang, Lei Ying
ACM MobiHoc, 2022. [DOI] [arXiv]
Beyond response time: scheduling to speed up convergence in machine learning
Weina Wang
‘100 views on queues’, Volume 100 of Queueing Systems, 2022. [DOI]
Probing to minimize
Weina Wang, Anupam Gupta, Jalani K. Williams (random author order)
ITCS, 2022. [DOI] [pdf]
The case for phase-aware scheduling of parallelizable jobs
Benjamin Berg, Justin Whitehouse, Benjamin Moseley, Weina Wang, Mor Harchol-Balter
IFIP Performance, 2021. [DOI] [pdf]
Job dispatching policies for queueing systems with unknown service rates
Tuhinangshu Choudhury, Gauri Joshi, Weina Wang, Sanjay Shakkottai
ACM MobiHoc, Jul. 2021. [DOI] [arXiv] [slides]
Zero queueing for multi-server jobs
Weina Wang, Qiaomin Xie, Mor Harchol-Balter
ACM SIGMETRICS, Jun. 2021. [DOI] [arXiv]
Achieving zero asymptotic queueing delay for parallel jobs
Wentao Weng, Weina Wang
ACM SIGMETRICS, Jun. 2021. [DOI] [arXiv] [talk video by Wentao]
Optimal resource allocation for elastic and inelastic jobs
Benjamin Berg, Mor Harchol-Balter, Benjamin Moseley, Weina Wang, Justin Whitehouse
ACM SPAA, Jul. 2020. [DOI] [pdf]
QuickStop: A Markov optimal stopping approach for quickest misinformation detection
Honghao Wei, Xiaohan Kang, Weina Wang, Lei Ying
ACM SIGMETRICS, Phoenix, AZ, Jun. 2019. [DOI] [pdf]
Delay asymptotics and bounds for multi-task parallel jobs
Weina Wang, Mor Harchol-Balter, Haotian Jiang, Alan Scheller-Wolf, R. Srikant
Queueing Systems Jan. 2019. [DOI] [QUESTA pdf]
International Symposium on Computer Performance, Modeling, Measurements and Evaluation (IFIP Performance), Toulouse, France, Dec. 2018. [DOI]
Heavy-traffic insensitive bounds for weighted proportionally fair bandwidth sharing policies
Weina Wang, Siva Theja Maguluri, R. Srikant, Lei Ying
Mathematics of Operations Research, 2022. [DOI][arXiv]
Heavy-traffic delay insensitivity in connection-level models of data transfer with proportionally fair bandwidth sharing
Weina Wang, Siva Theja Maguluri, R. Srikant, Lei Ying
International Symposium on Computer Performance, Modeling, Measurements and Evaluation (IFIP Performance), New York City, NY, Dec. 2017. [DOI]
Resource allocation for data-parallel computing in networks with data locality
Weina Wang, Lei Ying
Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Monticello, IL, Sep. 2016. [DOI] [Allerton pdf]
Decentralized scheduling with data locality for data-parallel computation on Peer-to-Peer networks
Weina Wang, Matthew Barnard, Lei Ying
Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Monticello, IL, Sep. 2015. [DOI] [Allerton pdf]
Data locality in MapReduce: A network perspective
Weina Wang, Lei Ying
Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Monticello, IL, Sep. 2014. [DOI]
Performance Evaluation, Feb. 2016. [DOI] [PEVA pdf]
[technical report]
MapTask scheduling in MapReduce with data locality: throughput and heavy-traffic optimality
Weina Wang, Kai Zhu, Lei Ying, Jian Tan, Li Zhang
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Feb. 2016. [DOI] [ToN pdf]
Map task scheduling in MapReduce with data locality: throughput and heavy-traffic optimality
Weina Wang, Kai Zhu, Lei Ying, Jian Tan, Li Zhang
IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM), Turin, Italy, Apr. 2013. [DOI] [INFOCOM pdf]
A throughput optimal algorithm for map task scheduling in MapReduce with data locality
Weina Wang, Kai Zhu, Lei Ying, Jian Tan, Li Zhang
ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, Mar. 2013. [DOI]
[poster]
On the performance of largest-deficit-first for scheduling real-time traffic in wireless networks
Xiaohan Kang, Weina Wang, Juan José Jaramillo, Lei Ying
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Feb. 2016. [DOI] [ToN pdf] [supplementary]
ACM International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and Computing (MobiHoc), Bangalore, India, Jul. 2013. [DOI] [MobiHoc pdf]

Random Graphs

Efficient Algorithms for Attributed Graph Alignment with Vanishing Edge Correlation
Ziao Wang, Weina Wang, Lele Wang
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2025. [DOI]
COLT, 2024. [arXiv]
On the Feasible Region of Efficient Algorithms for Attributed Graph Alignment
Ziao Wang, Ning Zhang, Weina Wang, Lele Wang
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2024. [DOI]
IEEE ISIT, Jul. 2022. [arXiv]
Attributed graph alignment
Ning Zhang, Weina Wang, Lele Wang
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2024. [DOI]
IEEE ISIT, Jul. 2021. [arXiv]

Systems

SurgeProtector: Mitigating temporal algorithmic complexity attacks using adversarial scheduling
Nirav Atre, Hugo Sadok, Erica Chiang, Weina Wang, Justine Sherry
ACM SIGCOMM, Aug. 2022. [DOI] [pdf]
Caching with delayed hits
Nirav Atre, Justine Sherry, Weina Wang, Daniel Berger
ACM SIGCOMM, Aug. 2020. [DOI] [pdf]

Data Privacy

Privacy-utility tradeoffs in routing cryptocurrency over payment channel networks
Weizhao Tang, Weina Wang, Giulia Fanti, Sewoong Oh
ACM SIGMETRICS, Jun. 2020. [DOI] [pdf]
Data collection from privacy-aware users in the presence of social learning
Abdullah Basar Akbay, Weina Wang, Junshan Zhang
Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Monticello, IL, Sep. 2019. [DOI]
A winners-take-all incentive mechanism for crowd-powered systems
Pengfei Jiang, Weina Wang, Yao Zhu, Jingrui He, Lei Ying
Workshop on Economics of Networks, Systems and Computation (NetEcon), Jun. 2018. [DOI]
Buying data from privacy-aware individuals: The effect of negative payments
Weina Wang, Lei Ying, Junshan Zhang
Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE), Montreal, Canada, Dec. 2016. [DOI] [WINE pdf]
[technical report]
The value of privacy: Strategic data subjects, incentive mechanisms and fundamental limits
Weina Wang, Lei Ying, Junshan Zhang
ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation, Aug. 2018. [DOI] [TEAC pdf]
ACM SIGMETRICS, Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France, Jun. 2016. [DOI] [SIGMETRICS pdf]
Kenneth C. Sevcik Outstanding Student Paper Award
A game-theoretic approach to quality control for collecting privacy-preserving data
Weina Wang, Lei Ying, Junshan Zhang
Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Monticello, IL, Sep. 2015. [DOI] [Allerton pdf]
[technical report]
A minimax distortion view of differentially private query release
Weina Wang, Lei Ying, Junshan Zhang
Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers (Asilomar), Pacific Grove, CA, Nov. 2015. [DOI] [Asilomar pdf] [technical report]
On the relation between identifiability, differential privacy, and mutual-information privacy
Weina Wang, Lei Ying, Junshan Zhang
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Sep. 2016. [DOI] [TIT pdf]
Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Monticello, IL, Sep. 2014. [DOI]
Poster presented at IEEE North American School of Information Theory, Toronto, Canada, Jun. 2014. [poster]