Ding Zhao
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Courtesy Appointment, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science Department, Robotics Institute
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Courtesy Appointment, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science Department, Robotics Institute
Ding Zhao is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is also associated with the Computer Science Department, Robotics Institute, CyLab Security & Privacy Institute, and Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. He is a visiting researcher at Google Brain/Robotics. Leading the CMU Safe AI Laboratory, Zhao aims to create trustworthy AI that is robust, safe, generalizable as well as explainable, verifiable, and human-centric. His long-term goal is to develop fundamental theories and practical technologies to safely deploy AI to address some of the world's most pressing problems.
Zhao is recognized nationally and internationally for his research on trustworthy AI, with applications in intelligent autonomy and healthcare. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, George Tallman Ladd Research Award, MIT Technology Review 35 under 35 China Award, Ford University Collaboration Award, Carnegie-Bosch Research Award, Struminger Teaching Award, and industrial fellowship awards from Adobe, Bosch, and Toyota. He worked with leading industrial partners, including Google Brain, Amazon, Ford, Uber, IBM, Adobe, Bosch, Toyota, and Rolls-Royce.
2016 Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
2010 BS, Automotive Engineering, Jilin University
CyLab Security and Privacy Institute
CyLab Security and Privacy Institute researchers will present nine papers and teach one course at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025).
CMU
MechE's Ding Zhao demonstrated a new project used to evaluate the safety of autonomous vehicles for vulnerable road users when U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited Mill 19.
bullitin
MechE's Ding Zhao was quoted in bullitin about why robot dogs are likely to see widespread use.
Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering hosted the 2024 IEEE Vehicle Validation Conference, welcoming experts and innovators from around the world.