Yunyi Jia

McQueen Quattlebaum Professor of Automotive Engineering

yunyij@clemson.edu
(864) 283-7226
4 Research Drive
Greenville, SC 29607

Director, Collaborative Robotics and Automation (CRA) Lab

Dr. Yunyi Jia joined Clemson in 2016 and is currently the McQueen Quattlebaum Professor of Automotive Engineering in the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at Clemson University. He directs the Collaborative Robotics and Automation (CRA) Lab, where the vehicle research lab is located in the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus and the robotics research lab is located in the Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) campus.

Dr. Jia's research focuses on AI, robotics and autonomous vehicles with applications in smart manufacturing and intelligent transportation. His work covers both fundamental and applied research in robotic manufacturing and on-road and off-road autonomous driving. Dr. Jia received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University in 2014 and he is a senior member of IEEE and a member of SAE, ASME and ACM.

Selected Honors and Awards:

• University Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement (URSAAA) Award (2026)
• Filipi Research Excellence Award (2025)
• TRB Committee Best Paper Award (2024)
• IEEE Automated Vehicle Validation Conference Best Paper Award 2nd, (2023)
• Most Accessed ASME Papers (2022)
• SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (2020)
• CECAS Faculty Collaboration Award (2020)
• NSF CAREER Award (2019)
• SAE Trevor O. Jones Outstanding Paper Award (2018)
• Ford Motor Company University Research Program (URP) Award (2018-2021)
• Bosch Community Fund Award (2017-2020)

Selected Student Honors and Awards:

• Automotive Engineering Undergraduate Researcher Award (M. Herrera-Gutierrez, 2026)
• College Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award (H. Su, 2025)
• Outstanding Automotive Engineering Teaching Assistant Award (Y. Yan, 2025)
• Outstanding Automotive Engineering Ph.D. Student Award (H. Su, 2025)
• Automotive Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award (Y. Zhang, 2025)
• Best Research Presentation Award in USDOT C2M2 Conference (P. Gupta, 2021)
• College Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award (L. Guo, 2020)