Hi, I am an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Virginia. My research is highly interdisciplinary, bridging systems engineering, public health, and data science. I work closely with collaborators across epidemiology, economics, sociology, and computer science to develop both theoretical insights and real-world solutions to complex societal challenges.

Previously, I completed my Ph.D. in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, advised by Professor Lauren Gardner. I was also affiliated with the the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) and the Infectious Disease Dynamics Groups (IDD). Before joining Johns Hopkins, I earned my Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh and Tianjin University.

I currently have two openings for fully-funded PhD positions at the Department of Systems and Information Engineering at UVA. I am looking for students with a background in Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, or Applied Math. Interested applicants may contact me at qdc4kc@virginia.edu with a copy of your CV and a brief statement of research interests.

Research Interest

The spread of infectious diseases is not merely a biological phenomenon but a complex interplay of biological, social, and environmental factors. This complexity and the multidisciplinary nature of disease spread underscore the crucial need for engineers with domain knowledge in Public Health to approach these challenges from a system-level perspective. Recognizing this imperative, my research has evolved to bridge the fields of Systems Engineering and Public Health, where I develop cutting-edge computational and AI-driven methods to tackle broader societal challenges, particularly in the realm of Public Health. Specifically, my work focuses on:

• Data-Driven Decision Making
• Multimodal Machine Learning for Public Health
• Modeling Human Behavior in Complex Systems

The figure below illustrates my research vision, “From Data to Decisions: Engineering Pathways to Equitable and Resilient Public Health Systems.”

Miscellaneous

I have a Maltese named KnowKnow.