Ding Zhao
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering | Computer Science Department | Robotics Institute | Machine Learning Department | Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
Ding Zhao is the Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He directs the CMU Safe AI Lab, where his research focuses on trustworthy AI, covering algorithmic, physical, and societal aspects. His work encompasses self-driving technology, household robots, autonomous medical robots, and privacy, fairness, and cybersecurity of autonomy. He has been actively working with world-renowned industrial partners including Google Deepmind, Amazon, Microsoft, Ford, Uber, IBM, Adobe, Bosch, Toyota, and Rolls-Royce. He also collaborates with leading healthcare providers including Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is endowed as the Dean's Early Career Fellow (2023-2025). From 2022 to 2023, he served as a visiting researcher with the robotic team at Google DeepMind. Ding Zhao has received numerous awards, including the George N. Saridis Best Transactions Paper Award from IEEE, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, George Tallman Ladd Research Award, MIT Technology Review 35 under 35 Award in China, Ford University Collaboration Award, Qualcomm Innovation Award, Carnegie-Bosch Research Award, Struminger Teaching Award, and various industrial fellowship awards from Google DeepMind, Adobe, Toyota, and Bosch. His work has garnered attention from media outlets like the New York Times, TIME, Telegraph, and Wired.
Professor Zhao got his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was fortuantely to be advised by Professor Huei Peng.
