Ping Zhao, Hefei University of Technology

Prof. Ping Zhao is the Associate Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering at Hefei University of Technology. She has earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2009 and her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in the United States in 2013. Over the years, she has primarily engaged in research in the fields of mechanisms and robotics. She has been the PI of 7 national and/or provincial research grants, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, key projects under the National Key R&D Program, and the Anhui Provincial Key R&D Program. She has been recognized as a top young talent in Anhui Province's high-end talent cultivation initiative. In the fields of mechanism science and medical rehabilitation robotics, she has published over 30 papers as the first or corresponding author and has received the Best Paper Award at the ASME International Conference on Mechanisms and Robotics. As the primary inventor, she has applied for and been granted more than 20 invention patents, including two U.S. patents. Several of these patented technologies have been successfully implemented in various health and elderly care institutions, such as Anhui Ivy Smart Elderly Care Co., Ltd., Anhui Jing'an Group Yangqin Yuan, and Shanghai Tianyu Elderly Care Company, achieving positive outcomes and promoting the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. She actively applies her research findings to teaching and talent development, earning one special prize, two first prizes, and one second prize in Anhui Province's Teaching Achievement Awards. She participates in academic exchanges both domestically and internationally, serving as a session chair and associate editor for several academic organizations and journals, including ASME, IEEE, and Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, and is committed to enhancing the international influence of Chinese scholars in related fields.