Shane Storks, PhD (he/him)
Hello! I’m an Assistant Professor at Eastern Michigan University Computer Science. My research leverages insights from human language and reasoning to better understand and improve how AI language models (LMs) work. Some directions I’m particularly interested in include:
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World knowledge and grounding. How much knowledge do LMs have about how the world works, and how effectively do they apply it in task contexts that require it? (see EMNLP 2025, EMNLP 2023)
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Abstraction in automated reasoning. Do LMs’ seemingly humanlike reasoning capabilities stem from humanlike abstraction over their training data? (see ACL 2026, ACL 2023)
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Broader impacts of NLP research. What should the role of NLP technologies be in impactful applications, and how do NLP research practices affect democratization? (see ACL 2026, ACL 2023)
I strive to promote diversity and opportunity in STEM by volunteering with Queer in AI and Macomb Science Olympiad, and I recently served as a D&I Chair at ACL 2025.
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Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science and Engineering
2024, University of Michigan
Dissertation: Coherent Physical Commonsense Reasoning in Foundational Language Models
Advisor: Dr. Joyce Chai -
Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering
2021, University of Michigan
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Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science
2018, Lawrence Technological University
Publications, preprints, and related materials. * indicates equal contribution. See my Google Scholar for the most updated list.
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2020
Other talks and guest lectures.
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2017
Courses I've taught or will teach. If you want to learn more, feel free to send me an email!
COSC 480/592: Computer Vision
Fall 2026Primary Instructor, Eastern Michigan University
Special Topics course about the AI sub-field of computer vision, which aims to extract information from visual data. Topics include basic machine learning and visual processing algorithms, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), generative models, vision-language models, and societal impacts.
Computer Science
COSC 311: Algorithms and Data Structures
Fall 2026Primary Instructor, Eastern Michigan University
Introductory course for algorithm complexity analysis and related topics through common data structures and core operations. Topics include time complexity, linear data structures, sorting, trees, and graphs.
Computer Science
LING 321/COMPFOR 250: Alien Anatomy: How ChatGPT Works
Fall 2025Primary Instructor, University of Michigan
Non-computer science major introductory course about generative AI large language models (LLMs) co-led with Andrew McInnerney. Topics included language modeling, basics of machine learning and neural networks, neural language models and transformers, and the applications and impacts of LLMs.
Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science
EECS 595/LING 541/SI 561: Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Fall 2022Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan
EECS 595/LING 541/SI 561: Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Fall 2021Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan
EECS 595/LING 541/SI 561: Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Fall 2020Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan
Graduate introductory NLP course led by Joyce Chai. Topics included linguistics and machine learning basics, statistical and neural language models, and their applications in common tasks like information extraction, machine translation, and dialogue systems.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)History of academic appointments.
Eastern Michigan University
August 2026 - PresentAssistant Professor of Computer Science
Ypsilanti, MI, USA
Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science, University of Michigan
October 2024 - August 2026Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Postdoctoral research fellowship focused on interdisciplinary research in generative AI and cognitive science.
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Computer Science & Engineering Division, University of Michigan
August 2019 - September 2024Graduate Student Research Assistant (GSRA) & Graduate Student Instructor (GSI)
Research and teaching assistantships during PhD; GSI roles were during Fall 2020, 2021, and 2022 semesters.
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Michigan State University
August 2018 - July 2019University Fellow
Financial support award during first year of doctoral study (before moving to University of Michigan).
East Lansing, MI, USAOther appointments I've held in industry.
Amazon Alexa AI
June 2021 - August 2021Applied Scientist Intern, Natural Understanding/Teachable AI
Completed a research project on multi-hop reasoning advised by mentors Qiaozi Gao and Govind Thattai.
Sunnyvale, CA, USAAmazon Alexa AI
June 2020 - August 2020Applied Scientist Intern, Natural Understanding/Teachable AI
Completed a research project on embodied instruction following advised by mentor Qiaozi Gao.
Sunnyvale, CA, USAUniversal Logistics Holdings, Inc.
January 2017 - July 2018Junior .NET Developer and Data Analyst
Warren, MI, USADominion Technologies Group, Inc.
June 2016 - December 2016Junior Programmer
Roseville, MI, USADominion Technologies Group, Inc.
September 2015 - June 2016Technical Assistant
Roseville, MI, USA- Outstanding Area Chair, ACL Rolling Review (2026)
- Top Reviewer, NeurIPS 2025 (2025)
- Top Reviewer, ACL Rolling Review (2025)
- Winner, Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge, Amazon Science (2023)
- Fall 2022 GSI Award, University of Michigan Computer Science and Engineering Division (2023)
- NLP @ Michigan Best Poster Award, Michigan AI Lab (2022)
- Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence, Lawrence Technological University College of Arts & Sciences (2018)
- Certificate of Appreciation for Inspiring Future Scientists, Macomb Science Olympiad (2017)
- Avi Bhattacharya: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2026 - Present)
- Miles Gilberti: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2025 - Present)
- Mlen-Too Wesley: Master's, Georgia Institute of Technology HAAG (2025)
- Bailey Russo: Master's, Georgia Institute of Technology HAAG (2025)
- Itamar Bar-Yossef: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2024 - 2025)
- Megan Su: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2024)
- Ruixuan Deng: Master's, University of Michigan (2024 - 2025)
- Fengyuan Hu: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2023 - 2024)
- Zheyuan Zhang: Master's, University of Michigan (2023 - 2024)
- Xiaoyang Hu: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2022 - 2023)
- Wenfei Tang: Master's, University of Michigan (2022 - 2023)
- Haoyi Qiu: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2021 - 2022)
- Brianna Epstein: Undergraduate, University of Michigan (2020 - 2022)