Dr. Gengrui Zhang

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Gengrui (Edward) Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Concordia University, where he leads the Distributed Computing Systems (DISCOS) Research Group. His research focuses on advancing the development of high-performance, highly scalable, and highly available distributed systems. His work spans the full spectrum from theoretical foundations, mathematical analysis, and system design to efficient implementation and rigorous experimentation. He addresses real-world challenges in key areas such as AI-supporting distributed systems, blockchain, cloud computing, and data management. He is particularly interested in designing new algorithms and system architectures to enhance coordination, data consistency, fault tolerance, computational efficiency, and transactions in large-scale systems. Zhang obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2024 and has served as a program committee member for international conferences including IEEE DAPPS, ACM SYSTOR, ACM Middleware, IEEE ICDE, and VLDB. He actively collaborates with both academia and industry.

Research Interests

Requirements for Concordia University

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
IELTS
Listening
Required:6.5
Reading
Required:6.5
Writing
Required:6.5
Speaking
Required:6.5
Overall
Required:6.5
TOEFL
Listening
Required:20
Reading
Required:20
Writing
Required:20
Speaking
Required:20
Total
Required:90
Prerequisites
Undergraduate degree in cinematic arts or equivalent proficiency
Application Checklist
  • Statement of Purpose (500 words)
  • CV/Resume and Filmography
  • Three letters of reference
  • Transcripts
  • Portfolio (via SlideRoom)
  • Research-Creation Thesis Proposal
Specialization Notes

Administered by the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema; focuses on cinematic arts practice and research-creation.