Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ph.D. - Dartmouth College
Computer Science
B.S. - University of Minnesota
Computer Science and Mathematics
Contact Information
Office: 320 Fluor Daniel EIB
Office Phone: 864.656.7209
Email: luyangz@clemson.edu
Professional
Dr. Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Clemson University (joined August 2025). She recently completed her PhD in Computer Science at Dartmouth College, where she was advised by Professor Devin Balkcom. She previously earned double majors in Computer Science and Mathematics during during her undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota, conducting research with Professor Maria Gini.
Current research focuses:
Dr. Zhao was honored with the Neukom Outstanding Graduate Research Prize for her contributions to research, and her work has garnered attention in the media, with coverage from Tech Xplore, Dartmouth College’s official website, ScienceSprings and Communications of the ACM. Beyond academia, Dr. Zhao gained industry experience through research internships at Amazon Robotics, working on perception, localization, and path planning for Kiva robots in dynamic warehouse environments. At TuSimple, she optimized motion planning and decision-making algorithms for autonomous vehicles navigating local roads, addressing real-time navigation and safety challenges in urban and semi-structured environments. Additionally, Dr. Zhao co-organized the Tensegrity Robotics Workshop at IROS 2023 and reviewed papers for journals and conferences, including RA-L, ICRA, IROS, RoboSoft, BioRob and Construction Robotics.