About Me

Google Scholar

I am a neurosymbolic AI researcher specializing in cognitive architectures and expert systems, with an interest in combining symbolic reasoning with machine learning to improve the accuracy, explainability, and adaptability of AI in physical and digital environments.

My research develops human-centered AI for decision-making, analytics, and intelligent operations. I investigate symbolic reasoning in cognitive architectures and their integration with neural models to build personalized cyber-physical AI systems. My work spans large language models for predictive maintenance, autonomous agents for product prototyping, and robotics for automated operations.

I obtained my Ph.D. in Informatics from the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University Park, advised by Frank Ritter. Before that, I received an M.Sc. in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences from Utah State University, where I studied agent-based modeling and connected learning with Hillary Swanson, Uri Wilensky, and Bruce Sherin.

Recent news

June 2026: Invited as a program committee for SBP-BRiMS 2026.

May 2026: Gave a talk at the 2026 Soar Workshop hosted by the Center for Integrated Cognition.

April 2026: Invited as a reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, and Frontiers in Computer Science.

March 2026: Selected as a sponsored participant in the Human-Computer Interaction Consortium (HCIC) by the College of IST.

Jan 2026: Invited as a reviewer for NeSy 2026.

Selected publications

  • CogDriver: The Longest-Running Autonomous Driving Cognitive Model Exhibits Human Factors.
    Christian Wasta, Siyu Wu, Frank E. Ritter.
    AHFE 2025, Cognitive Computing and Internet of Things
    🏆 Best student paper
    paper
  • VSM-ACTR 2: A Human-Like Decision Making Model with Metacognition for Manufacturing Solutions.
    Siyu Wu, Alessandro Oltramari, Frank E. Ritter.
    Journal of Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory 2025
    paper
  • Cognitive LLMs: Toward Human-Like Artificial Intelligence by Integrating Cognitive Architectures and Large Language Models for Manufacturing Decision-making.
    Siyu Wu, Alessandro Oltramari, Jonathan Francis, C. Lee Giles, Frank E. Ritter.
    Journal of Neurosymbolic AI 2025
    paper
  • LLM-ACTR: from Cognitive Models to LLMs in Manufacturing Solutions.
    Siyu Wu, Alessandro Oltramari, Jonathan Francis, C. Lee Giles, Frank E. Ritter.
    AAAI-MAKE 2025 Oral
    paper | slides
  • Neurosymbolic Cognitive Methods for Enhancing Foundation Model-based Reasoning.
    Kaushik Roy, Siyu Wu, Alessandro Oltramari.
    Handbook on Neurosymbolic AI and Knowledge Graphs 2025
    book chapter
  • VSM-ACT-R: Toward Using Cognitive Architecture For Manufacturing Solutions.
    Siyu Wu, Alessandro Oltramari, Frank Ritter.
    SBP-BRIMS 2024 Oral
    🏆 Best student paper
    paper | repo
  • Comparing LLMs for Prompt-Enhanced ACT-R and Soar Model Development: A Case Study in Cognitive Simulation
    Siyu Wu, Rodrigo F. Souza, Frank Ritter, Walter Lima Jr.
    AAAI Symposia 2023 Oral
    paper | repo | slides
  • Long Road Ahead: Lessons Learned from the (soon to be) Longest Running Cognitive Model
    Siyu Wu, Amir Bagherzadeh, Frank Ritter, Farnaz Tehranchi.
    ICCM 2023 Oral
    paper | repo | slides | simulation

Selected awards & fellowships

Work

Patents

  • System and Method for a Cognitive Architecture Utilized in Manufacturing.
    Siyu Wu, and Alessandro Oltramari
    Pending, Bosch LLC, 2024.

  • HARP: Human-like Robot Adaptation through Remediation and Memory Driven Planning.
    Dan Kushnir, and Siyu Wu
    Unissued patent application , Bell labs, Nokia, 2025.

Selected talks

Grants

Teaching