Faculty
Dr. Eric Jing Du is professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, and affiliate and graduate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Department of Industrial and System Engineering, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at University of Florida. Before joining University of Florida in January 2019, he was a faculty member at Texas A&M University (2015-2018) and University of Texas at San Antonio (2013-2015). He has also worked in the industry as a senior data analyst at Zachry Industrial for three years. Dr.Du’s primary area of research is human-robot collaboration for complex industrial operations. His ongoing projects involve the use of Mixed Reality and haptic stimulation to enhance physical embodiment in robot teleoperation. With his colleagues, Dr.Du has secured more than $12 million in federal funding from National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), with more than $5 million directly attributed to him. Dr. Du has published more than 180 referred journal and conference papers, including several best paper awards from high impact journals. Dr.Du is the elected Secretary of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Visualization, Information Modeling and Simulation (VIMS) committee, and serves on the editorial board of three journals. Dr.Du received his PhD degree in construction engineering from Michigan State University (2012), master’s degree in Enterprise Management (2007) and bachelor degree in Civil Engineering (2004), both from Tianjin University in China.
Post-Doctoral Research Associates
Tianyu Zhou, PhD Tianyu Zhou is a post-doctoral researcher at the ICIC lab. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida in 2023, and the Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2019, both from the University of Florida. Before that, he received the Bachelor degree in Process Equipment and Control Engineering from Dalian University of Technology. His research interests include VR training for human-robot collaboration, and VR as a tool for intuitive and natural Human-Robot Interaction in the civil engineering workplace. email: zhoutianyu@ufl.edu
Pengxiang Xia, PhD Pengxiang Xia received his PhD degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida in 2024. He received his BS degree in Energy and Environment System Engineering (Refrigeration and Cryogenics) from Zhejiang University. He is a collaborative scholar with a strong aptitude for acquiring new knowledge. His research focuses on the interactions and collaborations between humans and machines in civil engineering, specifically using virtual reality tools to simulate these interrelations. email: xia.p@ufl.edu
Yang (Gilbert) YE, PhD Yang Ye is a post-doctoral research associate at the ICIC Lab and will join Northeastern University as an assistant professor in spring 2025. He earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida in 2024. He received his B.Sc. in Building Engineering and Management from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his M.Sc. in Computational Science and Engineering from Imperial College London. His research focuses on augmenting human capabilities in engineering and management within civil engineering works through Virtual Reality and Human-Machine Collaboration. email: ye.yang@ufl.edu
Ph.D. Students
Fang XU Fang Xu is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. He received his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2020 from University of Florida, and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Mechanics from Taiyuan University of Technology, China. He is an open-minded and passionate learner, trying to blend in the community of researchers. His research is now focusing on augmented reality (AR) systems and robotics. Email: xufang@ufl.edu.
Thanakon Uthai Thanakon is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. He received both his Bachelor and Master of engineering degrees in Civil Engineering from the Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. His research interests focus on application of Building information modeling and Artificial intelligence for optimizing resources and schedule in linear projects. email: thanakon.uthai@ufl.edu
Jiahao WU Jiahao Wu is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. He received his Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 2022 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Zhejiang University. His research now focuses on drone simulation in Virtual Reality and human-machine trust. Email: jiahaowu@ufl.edu
Bowen Sun Bowen Sun a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. He received his Master of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2022 from the Carnegie Mellon University and Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering from Chongqing University. email: bowensun@ufl.edu
Zhen “Jennifer” Zhang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. She received her BS in Geological Engineering from Central South University, and MS in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is good at time series data analysis, deep learning and computer vision. Email: zzhang4@ufl.edu.
Master’s Students
TBD
Undergraduate Students
Tri Nguyen Tri is an undergraduate student in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. He is currently studying Civil Engineering with minors in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and is looking to pursue a graduate degree in Computer Science. His research interests involve areas of machine learning, articificial intelligence and mixed reality (VR/AR). email: tri.nguyen@ufl.edu. His intern with ICIC is supported by NSF REU funds.
Haohui “Susana” Bao Susnana is an undergraduate student in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the University of Florida. She is currently studying Computer Science with a minor in Digital Arts and Sciences and a certification in AI. Her research interests involve areas of Artificial Intelligence and Robot Simulation using Virtual Reality. email: haohui.bao@ufl.edu. Her intern with ICIC is supported by NSF REU funds.
Jhonathan HERRERAJhonathan is an undergraduate student in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering at the University of Florida. He is currently Studying Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics. His research interests involve areas of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality (AR). email: herrerajhonathan@ufl.edu
Alumni of ICIC Lab
- William “Billy” Vann, PhD in Civil Engineering, UF (2023).
- Paul Wei, Lab Undergraduate Researcher (REU). BS in Computer Science, UF (2022).
- Ying Xu, Lab Undergraduate Researcher (REU). BS in Computer Science, UF (2022).
- Yuezhu Lin, Lab Undergraduate Researcher. BA in Information Systems, UF (2022).
- Qi “Judy” Zhu, PhD in Civil Engineering UF (2022). National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) https://siqiyaoyao.me/home/
- Yangming Shi, PhD in Civil Engineering UF (2020), Post-Doc researcher UF (2021). Assistant Professor, Colorado School of Mines https://www.shiyangming.com
- Yubo Wang, M.S. in Computer Science UF (2021). Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Nhi Dinh, B.S. in Computer Science UF (2021).
- Jerry Yiu, Ph.D. in Computer Science TAMU (2020).
- Zishuo Li, M.S. in Civil Engineering TAMU (2019). Facebook
- Yaohua Ma, M.S. in Computer Science TAMU (2018). CGG
- Kun Tan, M.S. in Construction Science TAMU (2018). China Overseas
- Jingjie Zhang, PhD in Statistics TAMU (2020). eBay
- Nishith Singh, M.S. in Construction Science TAMU (2017). Sanveo
- Sachin Singh, M.S. in Construction Science TAMU (2017). Sanveo
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