Highlights

A Foundation Model of Numerical Intelligence with Cross-Disciplinary Generalization

We introduce UNified In-Context Operator Networks (UNICON), a foundation model of numerical intelligence. Trained once on graph-based numerical systems spanning hydrology, traffic, power systems, weather, land, ocean, soil, solar resources and human mobility, the frozen model infers the predictive relation shared across contextual examples and applies it to queries from the same system, approaching specialist performance even in disciplines absent from training. Combining UNICON with language-model agents to perform contextual ensemble learning (CEL) yields further gains, enabling it to surpass state-of-the-art specialists in a discipline unseen during training.

Chenghan Wu, Zongmin Yu, Liu Yang

VICX: Generalizable Robot Manipulation via Video Generation and In-Context Operator Network

VICX is a decoupled closed-loop manipulation framework for generalizable robot manipulation. A frozen video generation model produces vision-language-conditioned high-level visual plans, while a Video-to-Trajectory In-Context Operator Network grounds these plans into executable robot-state trajectories.

Song Chen*, Linyan Xiang*, Ying Zhou, Liu Yang

Evolving Ensemble of Agents

We introduce the Evolving Ensemble of Agents (EvE), a decentralized framework that organizes existing, highly capable coding agents into a live, co-evolving system for algorithmic discovery. Rather than reinventing the wheel, EvE fixes the base agent substrate and focuses entirely on evolving the cumulative guidance and skills that dictate agent behaviors. When applied to a research bottleneck in In-Context Operator Networks (ICON), EvE autonomously discovered a robust rescale-then-interpolate mechanism that enables reliable example-count generalization.
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Zongmin Yu, Liu Yang

In-Context Modeling as a Retrain-Free Paradigm for Foundation Models in Computational Science

We introduce In-Context Modeling (ICM), a retrain-free paradigm that infers physical relationships directly from observational fields. Rather than encoding system-specific behavior in fixed parameters, ICM assimilates measurements as physical context and performs inference through a single forward pass. Trained in a physics-informed, label-free manner using governing equations, a single model generalizes across unseen materials, geometries, and loading conditions.

Lingfeng Li*, Zhuoyuan Li*, Shun Li*, Kaixin Zhan, Huajian Gao, Changqing Chen, Liu Yang

In-Context Operator Learning with Data Prompts for Differential Equation Problems

Can we build a single large model for a wide range of PDE-related scientific learning tasks? We propose in-context operator learning framework with corresponding model In-Context Operator Network (ICON). A singe ICON model can act as an operator learner for a diversified type of differential equation problems, including forward and inverse problems of ODEs, PDEs, and mean-field control problems, without any fine-tuning.

Liu Yang, Siting Liu, Tingwei Meng, Stanley J. Osher

Full List

* Equal contribution    Corresponding author

A Foundation Model of Numerical Intelligence with Cross-Disciplinary Generalization
Chenghan Wu, Zongmin Yu, Liu Yang
arXiv, Jul 2026

Agentic Symbolic Search: Characterizing PDEs Beyond Hand-crafted Expressions, Meshes, and Neural Networks
Zongmin Yu, Liu Yang
arXiv, Jun 2026

Chain of Operators: An Inference-Time Harness for In-Context Operator Learning
Minghui Yang, Chenghan Wu, Ling Guo, Liu Yang
arXiv, Jun 2026

VICX: Generalizable Robot Manipulation via Video Generation and In-Context Operator Network
Song Chen*, Linyan Xiang*, Ying Zhou, Liu Yang
arXiv, Jun 2026

Self-Evolving Scientific Agent Designs Physically-Reasoned Whitebox Fluid Control
Boai Sun, Wenjin Guo, Zongmin Yu, Liu Yang
arXiv, Jun 2026

Evolving Ensemble of Agents
Zongmin Yu, Liu Yang
arXiv, May 2026 / GitHub

In-Context Modeling as a Retrain-Free Paradigm for Foundation Models in Computational Science
Lingfeng Li*, Zhuoyuan Li*, Shun Li*, Kaixin Zhan, Huajian Gao, Changqing Chen, Liu Yang
arXiv, Apr 2026

Escher-Loop: Mutual Evolution by Closed-Loop Self-Referential Optimization
Ziyang Liu*, Xinyan Guo*, Xuchen Wei*, Han Hao, Liu Yang
arXiv, Apr 2026

Graph In-Context Operator Networks for Generalizable Spatiotemporal Prediction
Chenghan Wu, Zongmin Yu, Boai Sun, Liu Yang
arXiv, Mar 2026

VICON: Vision In-Context Operator Networks for Multi-Physics Fluid Dynamics Prediction
Yadi Cao*, Yuxuan Liu*, Liu Yang, Rose Yu, Hayden Schaeffer, Stanley Osher
Transactions on Machine Learning Research, Jan 2026 / arXiv, Nov 2024

Gaussian Ensemble Topology (GET): A New Explicit and Inherently Smooth Framework for Manufacture-Ready Topology Optimization
Xinyu Ma, Chengxin Wang, Meng Wang, Xu Guo, Liu Yang, Huajian Gao
arXiv, Oct 2025

PDE Generalization of In-Context Operator Networks: A Study on 1D Scalar Nonlinear Conservation Laws
Liu Yang, Stanley J. Osher
Journal of Computational Physics, Dec 2024 / arXiv, Jan 2024

Fine-Tune Language Models as Multi-Modal Differential Equation Solvers
Liu Yang, Siting Liu, and Stanley J. Osher
Neural Networks, April 2025 / arXiv, Aug 2023

In-Context Operator Learning with Data Prompts for Differential Equation Problems
Liu Yang, Siting Liu, Tingwei Meng, Stanley J. Osher
PNAS, Sep 2023