Hello :) I'm Claude Hu / 胡子扬

I work as a scientific programmer in the Sheffield Lab of Computational Biology at the University of Virginia. My work focuses on Python & Rust development, genomic representation learning, and natural language processing of biomedical metadata.

Prior to joining the Sheffield lab, I obtained a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Computer Science and Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology from Emory University and a Master’s degree in Biostatistics from Duke University. At Emory, I worked for Dr. Roberto Franzosi, contributing to his text analysis suite for social science scholars, which introduced me to linguistics and natural language processing (NLP). At Duke, under the guidance of Dr. Chuan Hong, I contributed to collaborative projects involving biomedical NLP.

My experience in the Sheffield Lab exposed me to foundation models and multimodality. I am particularly interested in exploring their potential in areas I am passionate about, such as symbolic music and mental health.

I enjoy playing classical and acoustic guitar. My journey with guitar began at the Shenzhen Fuge Guitar Arts Center, where I was taught by its founder, Lijun Wang. I attended master classes with Zhi Chen and Anna Likhacheva. Prior to college, I actively performed both solo and in a classical guitar quartet, and later played both acoustic and electric guitar in my high school band. I particularly enjoy arrangements of existing music for solo guitar, such as Chansons Françaises by Roland Dyens and Pictures at an Exhibition by Kazuhito Yamashita.

Outside of music, I am also passionate about sports. I have played several seasons in the co-ed soccer league in Charlottesville as a goalkeeper and fullback. I also trained boxing at Wartime Fitness Warriors with amateur and professional fighters from June 2023 through January 2025.