Masaya Taniguchi

Research interests [edit]

• Learning Dynamics and Training-History Dependence
• Curriculum Learning and Data-Order Control
• Learnability and Expressivity of Language Models
• Neuro-Symbolic AI and AI for Mathematics
• Automated Theorem Proving and Formal Verification
• Natural Language Processing
• Formal Semantics and Grammar of Natural Language
• Combinatory Categorial Grammar
• Substructural Logic and Proof Theory
• Cyclic Proof Systems and Lean Formalization
• Programming Languages and Proof Assistants

Research areas [edit]

Education [edit]

1. Ph.D. (Information Science) — JAIST (School of Advanced Science and Technology) Apr 2020 - Mar 2023
2. M.S. (Information Science) — JAIST (School of Advanced Science and Technology) Apr 2018 - Mar 2020
3. B.S. (Mathematics) — Gakushuin University (Faculty of Science) Apr 2014 - Mar 2018

Experience [edit]

• JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow at RIKEN Apr 2026 - Present — Explainable AI Team, AIP
• Visiting Researcher at MBZUAI Jan 2026 — Department of NLP
• Visiting Researcher at Tohoku University Oct 2025 - Mar 2026 — Language AI Center
• Special Postdoctoral Researcher at RIKEN Apr 2023 - Mar 2026 — Natural Language Understanding Team, AIP
• JSPS Doctoral Research Fellow DC2 at JAIST Apr 2021 - Mar 2023
• Doctoral Research Fellow (DRF) at JAIST Apr 2020 - Mar 2021
• Research Assistant at NII Aug 2016 - Sep 2021
• Instructor at Gakushuin University Computer Centre Apr 2015 - Mar 2018
• [Declined] JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship (PD) at Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Apr 2023

Projects & grants [edit]

• Theoretical Research on Constrained Categorial Grammar Based on Incremental Parsing — JSPS (KAKENHI 26KJ0414), Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (PD); Principal Investigator Apr 2026 - Mar 2029 — 3,510,000 JPY total (2,700,000 direct; 810,000 indirect) link
• AI for Science Collaboration in Japan and APAC: Counterexample Generation and Exploration of Formal Systems — Google DeepMind (AI for Science Collaboration), RIKEN-side Principal Investigator; collaboration and research support Jul 2026 - Dec 2026
• 記号処理とニューラルな直感の融合による数学的発見: AI4Mathグランドチャレンジの策定 — National Institute of Informatics (NII) (Open Collaborative Research, Research Planning Meeting), Principal Investigator Jul 2026 - Mar 2027
• HUMAI Program Encouragement Grant A — The Nippon Foundation (HUMAI Program), Principal Investigator; encouragement grant Jun 2026 - Mar 2027 — 350,000 JPY
• 数理物理統合AIの創成 (AI4MP; AI for Mathematics and Physics) — JST (ARiSE), Research participant (Masashi Sugiyama group) Current (confirmed Oct 2026)
• SUZUKI Mathematical AI Informatics — JST (ERATO JPMJER2601), Research collaboration (Automated Mathematics Group / Sho Sonoda group) Ongoing (2026) link
• 量子計算と機械学習の双方向発展を実現するシステム構築 — JST (CREST), Research participant (Sho Sonoda group; project PI: Mio Murao) 2025 – 2030 link
• 形式言語に対する一意な文法の学習に関する研究 — Tohoku University (TCPAI Grant), Research collaborator with Ryo Yoshinaka Sep 2025 - Mar 2026
• Computational Analysis of Human Language Faculty: Bridging Grammaticality Judgments and Categorial Grammar — JSPS (KAKENHI 24K16077), Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists; Principal Investigator Apr 2024 - Mar 2029 — 4,810,000 JPY total (including indirect costs) link
• CCG/SMT: Higher Order Algorithm for Tree Structure — RIKEN (Incentive Research), Engineering; Principal Investigator; institutional research budget Apr 2024 - Mar 2026 — 3,000,000 JPY
• Incremental Parsing and Theorem Proving — RIKEN (Special Postdoctoral Researcher Research Budget), Engineering; independent institutional research budget Apr 2023 - Mar 2026 — 3,500,000 JPY
• Polymorphic Combinatory Categorial Grammar for Incremental Parsing — JSPS (KAKENHI 21J15207), Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (DC2); Principal Investigator Apr 2021 - Mar 2023 — 900,000 JPY (direct costs) link

Teaching [edit]

• Research mentor at RIKEN AIP
  • Undergraduate research on data-order effects and optimizer dynamics (Kyoto University) (Apr 2026 - Jul 2026)
  • RIKEN student-trainee research mentoring (2024 - 2026)
  • University of Illinois Springfield internship: research supervision and academic-credit assessment (Fall 2024; Spring 2025)
  • JAIST minor research project (May 2025 - Present)
  • Hierarchical generalization in language models: research mentoring from project development through EMNLP 2026 submission (Oct 2025 - Present)
• Teaching Assistant at JAIST
  • Algebra for Computer Scientists (Jun 2021 - Aug 2021)
  • Mathematical Logic (Oct 2021 - Dec 2021)
  • Formal Language and Automata (Apr 2019 - Jun 2019; Apr 2020 - Jun 2020; Apr 2021 - Jun 2021; Apr 2022 - Jun 2022)
  • Mathematics for Information Scientists (Jun 2019 - Aug 2019; Jun 2020 - Aug 2020)

Awards [edit]

• JSAI 2026 Annual Conference Excellence Award (team award; team member) — The Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (2026)
• NLP 2026 Special Committee Award for 多段算術推論タスクにおける思考の連鎖の忠実性 (coauthor) — The Association for Natural Language Processing (2026)
• FT-LLM 2026 Mathematics Task: 1st in the Open Division and 2nd Overall (TohokuNLP team member) — FT-LLM 2026 (2026)
• YANS 2025 Encouragement Award for 方言音声認識における古典的手法の再考 (coauthor; recipient: Kosuke Matsuzaki) — YANS (2025)
• NLP 2024 Young Researcher Encouragement Award for 言語モデルの思考連鎖的推論における探索戦略の動的変化 (coauthor; recipient: Yoichi Aoki) — The Association for Natural Language Processing (2024)
• NLP 2024 Young Researcher Encouragement Award for 算術推論問題における自己回帰型言語モデルの内部機序 (coauthor; recipient: Keito Kudo) — The Association for Natural Language Processing (2024)
• YANS 2023 Helpfeel Sponsorship Award for 日本語学習のための形態意味中心の動詞活用 (coauthor; recipient: Kosuke Matsuzaki) — YANS / Helpfeel (2023)
• Outstanding Performance Award (Doctoral Course) — JAIST (2023)
• Tokyo Industrial Education Encouragement Award — TITECH HST, Tokyo (2014)

Certifications [edit]

• Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination — Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (2011)
• Hazardous Materials Engineer's License, Class B, Group 4 — Japan Fire Engineering Qualification Center (2013)

Financial support [edit]

• ACM SIGPLAN Professional Activities Committee (PAC) Grant — ACM SIGPLAN (2026) — ICFP 2026 travel support, USD 1,500 (professional-activities support)
• JAIST Scholarship M Program — JAIST (Apr 2019 - Mar 2020) — top 25% of second-year master's students
• JASSO Scholarship — Japan Student Services Organization (Apr 2018 - Mar 2020) — Exemption from refund due to outstanding performance
• JAIST Support Foundation Scholarship Grant — JAIST Support Foundation (Apr 2018 - Mar 2019) — top 2 students in first-year master's program

Physical skills [edit]

• Kendo 3rd dan grade — Japanese Martial Arts, issued by All Japan Kendo Federation 2013

Social contributions [edit]

• Volunteer education support — Seirei Aiji En Orphanage, Ishikawa, Japan (Jul 2021 - Feb 2023)

Academic work [edit]

• Screener (Engineering), RIKEN Summer School 2023, 2024
• Reviewer, Journal of Logic, Language and Information (JoLLI)
• Secondary reviewer, The 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)
• Lead Organizer, KSE 2026 Special Session: AI4Math — Neuro-Symbolic Integration for Mathematical Discovery and Reasoning 2026
• Organizer, TPP 2026 (22nd Theorem Proving and Provers Meeting; Nov 16–17, forthcoming) 2026
• Organizer, SLACS 2027 (forthcoming) 2027
• Organizer, Logic Winter School III 2025
• Mentor, Google Summer of Code, Haskell.org 2026
• Reviewer, ICML
• Reviewer, NeurIPS 2026 AI4Math Workshop 2026
• Commented on 数学セミナー2021年2月号 "直観主義論理上の逆数学◎根元多佳子"

Non-academic work [edit]

• "特集 Vimの基本大全 第3章 ファイル操作", Software Design (Jul 2022)

Acknowledgements [edit]

• Gitpod — Professional Open Source license
• GitHub — GitHub Copilot