About Me

Hello! I am an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at the University of Minnesota (UMN), Twin  Cities. Prior to joining UMN ISyE, I received my Ph.D.  and M.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan (UM), Ann Arbor, and bachelor's degree in Automation from Tsinghua University. I am also a Faculty Scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at UMN. 

I believe that application-motivated theory development is fundamentally important and has real impacts--this is what continuously inspires my research. In particular, I am fascinated by challenging optimization problems such as scheduling, routing, matching, and many others, where system uncertainties and dynamics need to be considered while making large-scale complex decisions. They often involve integer decision variables and nonlinear constraints embedded in sequential decision-making processes.

In short, my research interests include stochastic programming, integer programming, nonlinear programming, and applications of optimization techniques and statistical analysis in service systems including transportation and power systems.

Award and Honors

• RC Seed Grant Awards, UMN, 2023

• CTS Scholar Seed Research Grants, UMN 2020, 2022

• INFORMS Journal on Computing (IJoC) Meritorious Reviewer Award, 2021

• IISE Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award, Runner-up, 2020

• Institute on the Environment Mini Grants, UMN 2019

• Honorable Mention for the INFORMS Optimization Society Student Paper Prize, 2019

• Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement, UM 2019

• Murty Prize for Best Research Paper on Optimization, IOE Department, UM 2018

• Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering Fellowship (MICDE Fellowship), UM 2017

• Institute of Mathematics and its Applications workshop student travel award, 2016

• XIV International Conference on Stochastic Programming student travel award, 2016

• Rackham conference travel grant, UM 2015/2016/2017/2018

• Departmental Fellowship, IOE Department, UM 2015

• Rackham International Student Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School, UM 2014

Selected Services

• Area Coordinator, Optimization Online, 2022-present

• Track Chair, 2022 INFORMS Optimization Society Conference, March 2022.