People / Students / Class of 2026
Joey graduated with a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and minors in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh and Sichuan University, earning consistent academic honors. He developed strong interest in AI in his junior and started practicing much coding in both Java and Python. Then he interned at iFlytek’s AI Research Department, where he streamlined data workflows by automating validation and cleaning processes in Python—reducing preprocessing time by around 30%—and optimized MapReduce tasks in Hadoop to significantly improve batch processing performance. He also contributed to API debugging and performance tuning by collaborating across functional teams to support large scale data acquisition pipelines.
His capstone project with FedEx focused on cleaning, processing, and analyzing RFID logistics data. He built Python pipelines to calculate dwell times and identify inefficiencies in warehouse processes, while also designing Excel-based dashboards for operations teams—demonstrating his ability to bridge data engineering and real-world industrial workflows.
Also, Joey and his partner did research on cyber-physical production systems under their professors. His work integrates the Value Methodology Associates(VMA) framework with deep reinforcement learning to evaluate the effectiveness of task reallocation under machine failure conditions. By designing a Deep Q-learning(DQN) model integrated with Siemens Plant Simulation, he helped improve simulated manufacturing throughput by 14.3% while reducing costs by 9.6%. He also implemented robust parameter tuning strategies to enhance convergence behavior and model generalization.
Beyond research, Joey has engaged in projects ranging from facility layout optimization to enterprise information systems. These projects strengthened his capabilities in industrial engineering and cross-functional collaboration. In his free time, He enjoys composing music, graphic design and road trips.(completed route 66 from Chicago to LA, G318 midwest part to Tibet etc.) And his passion is to do something related to musical AI based on different esthetics of music. Through MLDS program at Northwestern, Joey looks forward to deepening the machine learning skills and is excited to collaborate with peers from diverse backgrounds, work on different problems and explore more opportunities.
