About
Huajing Zhao, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Tulsa. She previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the NERVE Center from the University of Massachusetts Lowell with Professor Holly Yanco. She received her Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from UCLA under the supervision of Professor Veronica Santos. She earned her B.Eng. in mechanical engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, an M.Eng. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. in robotics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Her research focuses on robotic manipulation, assistive robots and human-robot interaction, with interests in tactile sensing, learning and reproducible robotic systems. Her doctoral research explored robotic systems for safety and care in human-centered tasks, including the development of a tactile-driven reinforcement learning framework for assistive button fastening, which is the first robotic framework designed for garment fastening assistance. She is interested in developing frameworks that integrate robot sensing and human feedback to improve situational awareness, adaptability and interaction in complex human-centered environments. Her long-term research vision is to advance safe, adaptive and trustworthy robots that can assist people with activities of daily living, particularly in healthcare and service settings.
Awards & Honors
- Best Paper Award, AAAI Fall Symposium, “Unifying Representations for Robot Application Development,” 2025
- Amazon Fellow, Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence, Amazon and UCLA Engineering, 2022
- Best Student Poster Finalist Award, Automotive Research Center Annual Review, 2018
- Fung Institute Mission Award for Capstone Project, UC Berkeley, 2017
- Fung Excellence Scholarship & Fellow Merit Award, UC Berkeley, 2016
- Undergraduate Merit Student Award, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2015-16
- First Class People’s Scholarship, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2012-16
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
- Dissertation: “Robots in Service of Safety and Care: Multimodal Systems for Human-Centric Tasks”
- M.S., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- M.Eng., University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests & Areas of Expertise
- Robotics
- Assistive robots
- Tactile sensing
- Multi-modal perception
- Reinforcement learning
- Human-robot interaction
- Trustworthy robotics
- Grasping and manipulation
- Benchmarking and modularity