Rui Zhu
Assistant Professor
School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
The University of Oklahoma
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CONTACT
CONTACT
Email: rui.zhu at ou.edu
Office: Carson Engineering Center 116B
Actively recruiting self-motivated Ph.D. students. Please reach out to me with your CV and transcripts.
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 2021
M.S., Human Factors in Design, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2017
B.S., Industrial Design, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2014
RESEARCH INTERESTS
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Simulation, sensor-based modeling, and optimization of complex systems for process monitoring, outcome prediction, and decision support, with applications in healthcare, manufacturing, public policy, and engineering education:
Multiphysics simulation of complex systems
Predictive modeling under model uncertainty
Optimization of advanced sensing systems
Virtual reality (VR) simulation of complex systems
Eye-tracking data analytics in the VR environment
Natural language processing and automated content analysis
MEDIA COVERAGE
MEDIA COVERAGE
07/2025, OU News, "OU Researchers Use Artificial Intelligence to Help Local Manufacturers"
02/2025, OU News, "Zhu Receives NSF CAREER Award to Advance Cardiac Arrhythmia Research"
GRANTS
GRANTS
2025 - 2028, NSF Manufacturing Systems Integration (MSI), GOALI: Fostering Democratized Manufacturing with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Product Design and Production Planning (AI-PDPP).
2025 - 2030, NSF Engineering of Biomedical Systems (EBMS), CAREER: Decoding Cardiac Arrhythmias: Integrating Multiphysics Simulations and Deep Learning Models to Uncover Multi-physical Contributions and Arrhythmia Initiation.
2024 - 2025, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Responding to Opinion Spam in US Forest Service Rulemaking.
2024 - 2025, The Institute for Community and Society Transformation (ICAST) Seed Grant, Mitigating Deepfakes in Platforms and Organizations.
HONORS & AWARDS
HONORS & AWARDS
2025, NSF CAREER Award
2022, Best Track Paper, Work Systems & Services, IISE Annual Conference, Seattle, WA
2021, Best Track Paper, Human Factors & Ergonomics, IISE Annual Conference, Virtual
2020, Honorable Mention, INFORMS Conference on Service Science Best Student Paper Competition, Virtual
2019, Marcus Fellowship, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Penn State
Advised Student Honors
2025, Weixuan Dong, OU Gallogly College of Engineering (GCoE) Graduate Student Travel Award, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, Oct. 26-29, 2025
PUBLICATIONS (Advisee*)
PUBLICATIONS (Advisee*)
Journal Articles
Journal Articles
Y. Cui*, W. Dong*, Y. Li, A. E. Janitz, H. R. Pokala, and R. Zhu, “Explainable Transformer-based Deep Survival Analysis in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia,” Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 191(110118), Apr. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2025.110118
L. A. Perez, M. L. Jensen, E. Bessarabova, N. J. Talbert, Y. Li, and R. Zhu, “Public Segmentation and the Impact of Artificial Intelligence Use in E-rulemaking,” Media and Communication, vol. 13, June. 2025. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.9550
Z. Huang, W. Dong*, J. Kim, J. Hollenczer, H. Lee, M. Jensen, E. Bessarabova, N. J. Talbert, R. Zhu, and Y. Li, “Efficient Duplicate Comment Detection for Rulemaking Agencies with Unsupervised Deep Learning: A Cost-Effective and High-Accuracy Approach,” IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2024.3522837
Y. Cui*, Y. Li, C. Pan, S. R. Brown, R. E. Gallant, and R. Zhu, “Bayesian Inference for Survival Prediction of Childhood Leukemia,” Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 156(106713), Apr. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2023.106713
R. Zhu, F. Aqlan, R. Zhao, and H. Yang, “Sensor-based Modeling of Problem-solving in Virtual Reality Manufacturing Systems,” Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 201(117220), Sept. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2022.117220 (Best Track Paper, Human Factors & Ergonomics, 2021 IISE Annual Conference)
R. Zhu, B. Yao, H. Yang, and F. Leonelli, “Optimal Sensor Placement for Space-time Potential Mapping and Data Fusion,” IEEE Sensor Letters, vol. 3(1), pp. 1-4, Jan. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1109/LSENS.2018.2884205
B. Yao, R. Zhu, and H. Yang, “Characterizing the Location and Extent of Myocardial Infarctions with Inverse ECG Modeling and Spatiotemporal Regularization,” IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, vol. 22(5), pp. 1445-1455, Sept. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2017.2768534
Book Chapters
Book Chapters
R. Zhu, F. Aqlan, and H. Yang, “Optimal Resource Allocation for Coverage Control of City Crimes,” AI and Analytics for Public Health - Proceedings of 2020 INFORMS International Conference on Service Science, pp. 1-7. Berlin: Springer.
Peer-reviewed Conference Papers
Peer-reviewed Conference Papers
W. Dong*, Y. Li, and R. Zhu, “Deep-learning-assisted Cardiac Electrophysiology Simulation,” 2023 Winter Simulation Conference, Dec. 10-13, 2023, San Antonio, TX. https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC60868.2023.10408359
H. A. Sloan, R. Zhao, F. Aqlan, H. Yang, and R. Zhu, “Adaptive Virtual Assistant for Virtual Reality-based Remote Learning,” 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 26-29, 2022, Minneapolis, MN. https://peer.asee.org/41234
R. Zhu, F. Aqlan, R. Zhao, and H. Yang, “Eye-track Modeling of Problem-solving Skills in Virtual Manufacturing Environments,” 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, July 26-29, 2021, Virtual. https://peer.asee.org/37169
B. Yao, R. Zhu, and H. Yang, “Inverse ECG Modeling with Spatiotemporal Regularization for the Characterization of Myocardial Infarctions,” Proceedings of IEEE EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI), pp. 120-123, March 4-7, 2018, Las Vegas, NV. https://doi.org/10.1109/BHI.2018.8333384
L. Yang and R. Zhu, “Research on Nonlinear Evaluation Model for Cooling Fan Sound Quality,” Proceedings of the 22nd International Congress on Acoustics, Sep. 05-09, 2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina. http://www.ica2016.org.ar/ica2016proceedings/ica2016/ICA2016-0907.pdf
L. Yang and R. Zhu, “Subjective Evaluation of Cooling Fan Sound Based on Grade Scoring and Paired Comparison,” Proceedings of 2016 International Forum on Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, Apr. 16-17, 2016, Shenzhen, China. https://doi.org/10.2991/ifeesd-16.2016.15
R. Zhu and Z. Li, “An Ergonomic Study on Influence of Touch-screen Phone Size on Single-handed Operation Performance,” Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Systems, Dec. 16-18, 2015, Singapore. http://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20164009001
R. Zhu, “Research on Threshold of Chroma Contrast Identification,” Proceedings of 09th International Conference of Taiwan Association of Digital Media Design, Oct. 10, 2015, Taiwan. http://www.dmd.org.tw/doc/2015_conference_5.pdf
PH.D. STUDENTS
PH.D. STUDENTS
Weixuan Dong - Ph.D. Candidate (Fall 2022 - Present, co-advised by Dr. Yifu Li)
PH.D. Alumni
Yuning Cui - Ph.D. (Graduated Spring 2024, co-advised by Dr. Yifu Li). First position: Li Auto Inc.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
The University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma
ISE 3293, Applied Engineering Statistics: Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025
ISE 4633, Probabilistic Systems Models: Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last Update: 09/15/2025
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