Faculty Member
Dr. Ningshi Yao
Dr. Yao is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University. She received her PhD from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2020, and the BS in Automatic Control from Zhejiang University, China, in 2014. Prior to joining Mason, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology from November 2020 to July 2021.
In her research, she developed a novel contention-resolving model predictive control method to co-design scheduling and control for resource-constrained systems, such as networked control systems, traffic intersection management, and human-robot collaborative systems. Her research interests include real-time scheduling, control theory, cyber-physical systems, machine learning, bio-inspired robotics, and human-robot interaction.
Graduate Students
Yidi Huang
PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Spring 2022
Bio: Yidi Huang obtained his master degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Florida (UF) in 2021 and his bachelor degree from Henan University of Science and Technology, China, in 2018. Before joining GMU, Previously, Yidi worked at General Electric Company as an internship for product software design.
Yidi has profound experience of 3D model building, data and image processing, and deep learning study. He has strong interest in researching deep neural network structure and computer vision. There are also some research that he worked previously about pattern recognition and natural language processing. His current research focuses on exploring binocular vision fusion to mimic human perception using artificial muscle-driven robotic eyes.
Renke Wang
PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Fall 2022
Bio: Renke Wang obtained her Master’s degree in Control Science and Engineering from Dalian University of Technology, China, in 2020, and her Bachelor’s degree in Automation from Dalian University of Technology, China, in 2017. event-triggered control, etc.
Renke’s previous research focused on stability analysis and control synthesis of control systems, which involved positive systems, switched systems, and Markov jump linear systems. The approaches utilized include dwell time, state-dependent switching, event-triggered control, etc. She is currently on exploring transformative approaches to design optimal schedules and controls for resource-constrained cyber physical systems.
Rajul Kumar
PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Fall 2023
Bio: Rajul obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from Delhi Technological University (formally Delhi College of Engineering) in 2021. Before joining GMU, Rajul worked as a Research Associate at Robotics center of Plaksha University on image processing via deep learning & drone based agricultural field remote sensing.
Rajul also has past industrial experience of working on collaborative robotic arm motion planning & obstacle avoidance as a GET in Mobile Robotics R&D department of Addverb Technologies Pvt. Ltd. during 2021-2022 Aug. His past research work also includes designing a wide range of control strategies like adaptive, fractional order and AI based intelligent control for aerial vehicles. His broad interest is in Bio-mimetic robots, Human-robot interaction and medical robotics.
Jinliang Zhao
PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Fall 2023
Bio: Jinliang Zhao obtained his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2017 and his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, in 2015. Before joining GMU, Jinliang worked at CRRC as a mechanical engineer for over 5 years.
Jinliang focused on mechanical engineering for over 10 years, especially structural analysis. Jinliang has implemented analytical methods such as FEA methods into the design of braking systems of locomotives and gearboxes of wind turbines. He also has experience of the dynamic analysis of mechanical systems. In GMU, he is devoted to the mechanical design and control system design of miniature aerial robots.
Undergraduate Students
Yojan Gautam
Undergrad student, Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Fall 2021
Bio: Yojan is majored in computer engineering and started working on the robotic blimps research since the beginning of Spring 2023. He has been working on vision perception, software development, and controller design for robotic blimps.
Chau Le
Undergrad student, Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Fall 2021
Bio: As an undergraduate student at GMU, Chau is passionately pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. Her journey has been enriched by the involvement in the Defend the Republic robotics competition, where she gained valuable hands-on experience. Her focus lies in hardware projects, where she works with sensors, develops drivers for microcontrollers and robotic components creating them from the solder connections to PCB development.
Jovin Antony Maria
Undergrad student, Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, since Fall 2021
Bio: Jovin is majored in computer engineering. He started working on the lighter-than-air robotics research since the beginning of Spring 2023. His current focus is on exploring analog sensing-and-actuation pairs for the robotic blimps.
Kabir Singh Jolly
Undergrad student, Computer Science, GMU, since Fall 2021
Bio: Kabir Jolly is a determined undergraduate at George Mason University pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. During his time at Mason, he interned at Arc XP – The Washington Post and SNO Consulting, where he improved application security through automation and earned his AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification.
Upon joining the team, Kabir enthusiastically undertook the responsibility of creating datasets for the team’s autonomous agents and now hopes to further his contributions to the field of AI through his passion for programming.
Alumni
PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, GMU, Graduated in Fall 2022
Bio: Dr. Sunil Kumar Rajendran holds Doctoral and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering specializing in Controls and Robotics from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Anna University, India. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University. His research interests include, but are not limited to, bio-inspired and soft robotics, underwater robotics, reinforcement learning, visual learning-based control, computer vision, control systems, and artificial intelligence. His current research involves designing, modeling, and developing learning-based control for a robotic eye and a soft robotic fish driven by artificial muscles.
Students Mentored
- [June 2022-September 2022] Chase Joyner, undergraduate student, Stanford University, Stanford, California
- [June 2022-August 2022] Diya Bhattacharjee, high-school student, Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, Maryland
- [June 2020-August 2020] Cynthia Li, high school student, Wheeler Magnet School, Marietta, Georgia
- [May 2019-July 2019] Yuki Gao, undergraduate student in New York Institute of Technology, New York City
- [Sep 2016-May 2017] Weiyu Liu, PhD student in Georgia Tech, Atlanta
- [Sep 2016-May 2017] Zhen Liu, PhD student in University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- [Sep 2016-May 2017] Peiyu Wang, Security Engineer at CertiK, New York City
- [Sep 2016-May 2017] Timothy Li, Applications Engineer at Tobii Tech, Mountain View
- [May 2016-Dec 2016] Hongrui Zheng, PhD student in University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
- [May 2016-July 2016] Emily Anaya, PhD student in Stanford, Stanford University