Penn Engineering
Thank you for attending the Penn Engineering China Forum! We look forward to seeing you next time.
See below for the 2025 program.
Vijay Kumar
Nemirovsky Family Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Science Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical and Systems Engineering
Vijay Kumar has been on the faculty at Penn since 1987, and began his term as Dean of Penn Engineering in 2015 after which he was reappointed for a second term in 2021. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University (1987) and a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (1983).
Kumar’s research interests are in robotics, specifically multi-robot systems, and micro aerial vehicles. His lab’s work has led to many startups in robotics, and he is the founder of Exyn Technologies. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Boon Thau Loo
Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives RCA Professor, Computer and Information Science and Electrical and Systems Engineering
Boon Thau Loo leads the NetDB@Penn research group and is an active member of the Distributed Systems Lab and the Penn Database Group. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2009), AFOSR Young Investigator Award (2012), Penn’s Emerging Inventor of the Year Award (2018), Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching (2021), the University Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (2022), and the International Student Advocate of the Year (ISAY) (2024) awarded by Penn ISSS. He earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006, an M.S. from Stanford University in 2000, and a B.S. with highest honors from Berkeley in 1999. He was honored with the 2006 David J. Sakrison Memorial Prize for outstanding dissertation research in EECS at UC Berkeley and the 2007 ACM SIGMOD Dissertation Award.
Wenchao Zhou is the Director of Data Product and Data Analytics at the Database Business Unit of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. Prior to joining Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, he was a tenured Professor at the Computer Science Department of Georgetown University. Wenchao is an expert and a veteran in Databases and Distributed Systems, with over ten years of academic and industrial experience. He has published over 70 papers at leading conferences (including SIGMOD, VLDB, SOSP, OSDI, and SIGCOMM). He has received multiple prestigious awards, including the NSF CAREER award, the SIGMOD Jim Gray Dissertation award (honorable mention), and two best paper awards. Wenchao received his Bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University and his Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, all in Computer Science
He Hu is an associate professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Integrated Circuits, Tsinghua University, and the deputy director of the Tsinghua International Innovation Center in Shanghai. The main research directions are high-performance CPU, DSP, GPGPU, computing and storage integrated computer architecture, biological neuromorphic computing, etc. He won the first prize of Beijing Science and Technology Award. He has published more than 60 academic papers and obtained more than 20 national invention patents. Tsinghua University open source GPGPU project leader. Director of Wingtech Industrial and Automotive Semiconductor Chip Research Center of Tsinghua University, responsible for teaching VLSI CAD and LSI testing methodology courses at the School of Integrated Circuits of Tsinghua University.
Professor He will give a talk, and its topic is “Ventus: Open-sourced GPGPU Instruction Set Architecture and Hardware Software Implementation.”
Weng Yulai holds a Bachelor of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Sun Yat-sen University, 2009-2013 and a Master of the Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, 2013-2016. He once served as the Director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center of the Youth League Committee of the Research Institute of Tsinghua University. Weng Yulai holds a Double-major Master of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, University of Pennsylvania, 2016-2020. During his study, he founded the University of Pennsylvania Robotics Entrepreneurship Association (PREC) and conducted research, study and work at the GRASP Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania, which ranks among the top three globally in the field of robotics. Under the guidance of Professors Mark Yim and Jianbo Shi, he has a profound understanding and research of robot systems and computer vision. In September 2019, he took the lawn robot as his graduation thesis topic and the direction of his entrepreneurship.
Zhou Qiang, Chairman and CEO of Guangyu. He graduated from Fudan University with a doctoral degree. Previously, he served as the Chief Strategy Officer at Enflame, where he was responsible for AI chip strategy, applications, and marketing. Prior to that, he was the General Manager of the Intelligent Products Division at Moore Threads, overseeing chip R&D and marketing for products including automotive cockpits & ADAS, AIPC, and robots. Mr. Zhou has also held positions at various companies such as AMD and Verisilicon, where he was responsible for chip SOC system development, system architecture, and management roles. He has led teams to design numerous CPU chips, AI SOC chips, automotive AP chips, and their respective systems. He is recognized as one of the earliest experts in China to engage in AI chip design and software/hardware applications, possessing extensive experience in mass production.
Xiaojun Liang, Deputy Director of Intelligent System Research Institute at Pengcheng Laboratory
Dr. Liang obtained his bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University and PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is now an associate research fellow and doctoral supervisor of Pengcheng Laboratory, and has been selected as the Young Talents Project of Guangdong Province. His main research interest is knowledge automation and industrial AI system, and he has undertaken a number of national scientific research and innovation projects.
Ms. Wang serves as the co-Founder of DNE Capital, the investment platform of DNE Group, a leading new economy infrastructure developer and operator in China. She also serves as the chairperson of DF New Energy, a startup platform of distributed solar power station. Ms. Wang was with Warburg Pincus in Asia since 2010 and later joined D&J China, the predecessor of DNE Group which was co-founded by Warburg Pincus, as its Chief Investment Officer. Prior to that, she was with Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity in Hong Kong and Merrill Lynch Investment Banking in New York. Ms. Wang holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from the City University of Hong Kong/Fudan University. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Goodwin Gaw has been the Chairman, Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Gaw Capital Partners since 2005. Mr. Gaw is also a member of the investment committee of Gaw Capital Partners. Mr. Gaw has over 25 years of real estate investment and management experience in the United States and Asia. Mr. Gaw has also served as the Vice Chairman of Pioneer Global Group (SEHK: 224), a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited since 1994, and Founder and President of Downtown Properties, LLC, a multi-faceted real estate investment, management and development company, since 1991. Mr. Gaw was awarded “Industry Figure of the Year” by Global PERE Awards in 2013, 2015 and 2018.
Mr. Gaw holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Science in Construction Management from Stanford University.
Robin Ren is a prominent figure in the tech and automotive industry, best known for his significant contributions to Tesla’s global expansion, particularly in China. He joined Tesla in 2015 as VP of Asia Pacific operations and later became VP of Worldwide Sales in April 2018. Ren played a crucial role in securing the deal for Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, making Tesla the first foreign automaker to wholly own a car manufacturing factory in China. Born and raised in Shanghai, Ren holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. After leaving Tesla in June 2020, where he last served as VP of Business Development, Ren co-founded the Linda Ye and Robin Ren Family Foundation with his wife, focusing on sustainability, education, and Asian health initiatives. Currently, Ren describes himself as a “Believer, stakeholder and investor in the sustainable future”
Zhi “Mark” Yang (GEN’00, WMP’21) (center left) Co-founder, Penn Engineering Alumni Club of China Managing Partner, SSoT Technologies Limited Contact WeChat: @zhixuanyang
Yishen “Ian” Lee (GEE’16) (center right) Co-founder, Penn Engineering Alumni Club of China Vice President, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Co., Ltd WeChat: @ian_yishen_li