Members
Principal Investigator: Dr. Yayun Du
Dr. Yayun Du is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University, with an affiliation to the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE). Dr. Yayun Du got her Ph.D. in Robotics and System Control (Minor: Solid Mechanics) from University of California, Los Angeles. From 2022 to 2024, Dr. Du was a postdoctoral scholar at the Rogers Group at Northwestern University, where she led 5 projects, focused on developing multimodal and multiparametric wearable and implantable sensors with integrated edge AI for monitoring cardiopulmonary (e.g., aortic stenosis, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure), neurological (e.g., sleep studies, delirium, coma, and epilepsy), and vocal system health, as well as for disease diagnosis and drug delivery. Her work has led to the deployment of four types of sensors across seven hospitals, benefiting hundreds of users globally, from neonates to the elderly, in countries including China, Canada, Mexico, the U.S., and the U.K.
Currently, Dr. Du involves in commericializing the sensors she developed and serves as an Associate Editor for ICRA 2025. She has submitted several first-authored manuscripts to prestigious journals that are forthcoming. Dr. Du has also published in top robotics journals and conferences, including the IEEE-Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL), IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), and IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). Her work was a finalist for the Best Paper Award in Agri-Robotics and the Best Paper Award in Robot Mechanisms and Design at IROS 2021 (selected 4 out of 1261 for each category).
Selected Honors and Awards
- 2023 Humboldt Fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (25% - 30%)
- 2021 Finalists for Best Paper Award on Agri-Robotics, Best Paper Award on Robot Mechanisms and Design in IROS 2021 (4/1261 for each category)
- 2021 MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Rising Stars
- 2021 Supervisor of Honorable Mention Best Researcher in the National Science Foundation Summer-funded Undergraduate Researcher Program (SURP) 2021 at UCLA
- 2021 Chinese-American Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern California (CESASC) Scholarship
- 2018-2021 Graduate Division Fellowship from UCLA Graduate Division
- 2012-2016 National Scholarship from Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China with first GPA ranking (1/144) for four years in Department of Automotive Engineering
- 2015 Top Ten Students of Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai (10/12000)
- 2015 Outstanding Leader Award from Harbin Institute of Technology for academic excellence and fantastic student club activity organization
- 2014 Best-organized Volunteer Team Leader from Harbin Institute of Technology for establishing the first volunteer team of college students to teach in Tibet and building long-term cooperation with the local government
- 2013 First Prize from Heilongjiang Provincial Education Department in Mathematics Competition for College Students (Top 8%)
- 2013 First Prize from College Foreign Language Teaching Committee and College Foreign Language Teach- ing Research Association in National English Competition for College Students (Top 0.5%)
Graduate students
- We are actively hiring up to three super-motivated, hardworking, and talented Ph.D. students in Spring 2025 and Fall 2025. Come join us!
Undergraduate Students
- We welcome Master’s and undergraduate students who want to do cool projects and develop cool technologies on bioelectronics and robotics. Come join us!