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
- 2018-2021 Graduate Division Fellowship from UCLA Graduate Division
- 2015 Top Ten Students of Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai (10/12000)
Graduate Students
- Date Joined: January 2025
- Concentration: Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Project/Team: Firmware and Application Design
- "My goal is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the whole engineering system and work on things that are meaningful to people—something that can actually contribute to scientific progress."
- Date Joined: April 2025
- Concentration: Electrical and Computer Engineering (Graduated December 2024)
- Project/Team: Circuit Design
- “I joined Dr. Du’s lab to design circuits for best-in-class wearable and implantable medical devices.”
Undergraduate Students
- Date Joined: February 2025
- Year: 2nd Year
- Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Project/Team: Circuit Design
- "I joined the lab to turn hands-on experience into real-world impact."
- Date Joined: February 2025
- Year: 2nd Year
- Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering (Concentrations in Microelectronics and Embedded Computing & Cyber-Physical Systems)
- Project/Team: Circuit Design
- "I joined the lab because I am very interested in creating and designing technological devices to help others!"
- Date Joined: February 2025
- Year: 2nd Year
- Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Project/Team: Circuit Design
- "I joined Du Group to see real world applications of work that I have provided contributions to. It is especially redeeming because I know that we are helping real people."
- Date Joined: January 2025
- Year: 1st Year
- Major: Computer Science and Economics
- Project/Team: Application Design (Backend)
- "I joined Dr. Du's lab because her research stood out to me as one that could really help people. I was really fascinated by her work on wearable sensors as it has the potential for so much good for society, and I wanted to be part of that innovation."
- Date Joined: March 2025
- Year: 1st Year
- Major: Computer Science
- Project/Team: Robotics
- "I joined the lab because I wanted to learn more about how robotics could be applied in the medical field."
- Date Joined: January 2025
- Year: 2nd Year
- Major: Computer Science
- Project/Team: Application Design (Frontend)
- "I joined the Du lab because its mission to develop bioengineering sensors aligns with my goal to merge software innovation with real-world biomedical challenges."
- Date Joined: January 2025
- Year: 2nd Year
- Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering (Concentrations in Embedded Computing & Cyber-Physical Systems and Image & Data)
- Project/Team: Firmware Design
- "I joined Dr. Du's lab because it provided a unqiue opportunity to gain experience in a field of engineering that I am passionate about with a unique and impactful application of that field."