CV

Education

B.E. in Vehicle Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2019
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 2024
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 2026 (expected)

PhD Thesis Research

Neuro-Mechanical Computational Model of Insect Antennae | Penn State
- 2024 – Present: PhD Research
- Supervisors: Professor Jean-Michel Mongeau
  - Developed a neuro-mechanical model of cockroach antennae by integrating a physics-based MuJoCo model with neural encoding of mechanosensory units.
  - Performed 22 extracellular nerve recordings of cockroaches.
  - Validated model predictions against extracellular nerve recordings and trained SNNs to classify tactile features from simulated spike trains.
Physically Intelligent Insect-Inspired Antennae for Tactile Perception | Penn State & CU Boulder
- 2023 – 2025: PhD Research
- Supervisor: Professor Jean-Michel Mongeau, Professor Kaushik Jayaram
  - Built a physics-based model of cockroach antennae (MuJoCo) to study how stiffness gradients and contact speed affect tactile sensing.
  - Designed insect-inspired robotic antennae and demonstrated improved tactile feature classification through tactile tensors, ML analysis, and sim-to-real robotic validation.
Biomechanics of Insect Antenna | Penn State
- 2023 – 2024: PhD Research
- Supervisor: Professor Jean-Michel Mongeau
  - Performed 16 cyclic bending experiments and 3 Micro-CT imaging, and developed 3 finite element models to study annulus-level mechanics of cockroach antennae.
  - Revealed a kinematic chain system and unique tip specializations that confer flexibility, prevent buckling, and shape proprioceptive strain sensing.

Other PhD Research

Fly Behavior Analysis for Wing Damage Compensation during Flight | Penn State
- Sept.2022 - Dec.2022: Research Assistant
- Supervisor: Professor Jean-Michel Mongeau
  - Acquired and analyzed 11 experimental datasets on wing damage in rigid tethered flies during flight, with a focus on studying wingbeat frequency changes following perturbations.
  - Performed 3D flight behavior reconstruction for 16 flies to derive wing Euler angles, using a custom 3D reconstruction software. These tasks assisted lab senior Dr.Wael Salem in his dissertation.
Fly’s Neuronal Activity Experiment Setup using Two-Photon Microscopy | Penn State
- May 2022 - Aug.2022: Research Assistant
- Supervisor: Professor Jean-Michel Mongeau
  - Designed adjustable-angle mounting for the semicylinder LED arena and a temperature control saline system for the fly holder in the two-photon microscopy area.

Prior Experience

Reconstructing Pediatric-Fall Induced Head Injuries | University of Michigan
- Aug.2019 - Dec.2019: Research Assistant
- Supervisor: Professor Jingwen Hu
  - Utilized Mimics software to generate 3 subject-specific CT-derived geometric models and finite element models.
  - Employed 29 reconstructed investigative fall data to derive injury predictive parameters using FEA in LS-DYNA (Ansys).
  - Published a conference paper in IRCOBI 2020 as the second author.
Design for in-wheel Motor Based Electric Wheels | Tsinghua University
- Dec.2017 - Aug.2019: Main Group Member
- Supervisor: Professor Zhichao Hou
  - Designed innovative in-wheel driving electric wheel prototype for electric vehicles for better vibration isolation.
  - Submitted patent applications for 10 novel concepts (9 Chinese patents and 1 PCT patent).
  - Developed 3 physical prototypes of the designed electric wheel, which were entered into prestigious competitions, including Tsinghua University (Apr. 2018), Beijing (May. 2019), and the National (Nov. 2019) Challenge Cup. Achieved special awards (2%, 3%, 1%, respectively) in all competitions.
  - Published as the first author in both SAECCE 2019 conference proceedings and the Journal of Automobile Engineering.

Summer 2018: Assistant Engineer
- Dongfeng Motor Corporation Technical Center
  - Helped with the Kinematics and compliance (K&C) testing for prototype cars.
  - Conducted statistical analysis on data obtained from bounce test, roll test, lateral and longitudinal compliance tests

PROGRAMMING: MATLAB, Python, R, LaTeX, JavaScript
Design and Simulation Packages:
- Machine learning: PyTorch, SNN, CNN, SVM, LDA
- FEA: ANSYS (LS-dyna), Abaqus, Hypermesh
- CAD: SolidWorks, AutoCAD
- Robotic Simulation: CoppeliaSim, MuJoCo, Madymo
- Data visualization and analysis: Avizo, Dragonfly, Mimics, Adobe Illustrator
Hardware: Arduino, Raspberry Pi
Skills: biomechanics, neuro-mechanical modeling, electrophysiology (ephys), 2-photon microscopy, spike sorting, machine learning (CNN, SNN), robotics prototyping, 3D reconstruction, finite element analysis (FEA), statistical analysis, control and optimization, multi-body dynamics