Dr. Cong's research interests include computer-aided design of VLSI circuits and systems, design and synthesis of system-on-a-chip, programmable systems, novel computer architectures, nano-systems, and highly scalable algorithms. He has published over 250 research papers and led over 30 research projects in these areas. Dr. Cong received a number of awards and recognitions, including the Ross J. Martin Award for Excellence in Research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989, the NSF Young Investigator Award in 1993, the Northrop Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award from UCLA in 1993, the ACM/SIGDA Meritorious Service Award in 1998, and the SRC Technical Excellence Award in 2000. He also received four Best Paper Awards selected for the 1995 IEEE Trans. on CAD, the 2005 International Symposium on Physical Design (ISPD), the 2005 ACM Transaction on Design Automation of Electronic Systems, and the 2008 International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA), respectively. He was elected to an IEEE Fellow in 2000.

Dr. Cong has served on the Technical Advisory Board of a number of EDA and silicon IP companies, including Atrenta, eASIC, Get2Chip, Magma Design Automation, and Ultima Interconnect Technologies. He was the founder and president of Aplus Design Technologies, Inc., until it was acquired by Magma Design Automation in 2003. Currently, he serves as the Chief Technology Advisor of Magma and AutoESL Design Technologies, Inc.

Dr. Cong has graduated 24 PhD students. A number of them are now faculty members in major research universities, including Georgia Tech., Purdue, SUNY Binghamton, UCLA, UIUC, and UT Austin. Others are taking key R&D or management positions in major EDA/computer/semiconductor companies or being founding members of high-tech startups.