Ying Zhang (Ph. D.)

"The art of science is to discover difference amid commonality and to discover commonality amid difference."
-- Zhang Ying

 

Research

Professional Services

Projects

Publications

Awards

Curriculum Vita

Dr. Ying Zhang is a member of research staff at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) since January 1999. After received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in November, 1994, she joined  Xerox Wilson Center for Research and Technology in Rochester, NY, as a technical specialist/project manager for three years, later transferred to Xerox Architecture Center in Palo Alto, California. At PARC,  she led software architecture for the distributed control of modular reconfigurable robots, and was a major technical contributor to PARC's NEST (Network Embedded System Technology) project, focused on sensor networks. Currently, she is a Co-PI for LANdroids, a DARPA program on mobile relay networks. Dr. Zhang is the information director and an associate editor of the ACM Transaction on Sensor Networks, and has served as TPC, guest editors, and NSF review panelist on sensor networks.

Ying was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China. After received her bachelor and master degrees from Computer Science, Zhejiang University in 1987, she continued her graduate study at UBC, Vancouver, Canada. She lives now with her husband and two children in Silicon Valley, California. In addition to her work, she has been practicing Yoga and is enthusiastic in learning difference classes of dance.

Research

The principle that guides my research, as Chairman Mao once taught us, is "From Practice to Theory and then from Theory to Practice". Instead of looking for an application that would fit to a possible solution, I like to discover a problem in the real world and find a best solution that solves the problem. I am interested in communication architectures and protocols for real-time embedded systems, as well as programming, control and optimization for dynamic, modular reconfigurable systems.

• Sensor Networks: I have focused on the constraint-based routing framework with adaptive learning-based meta-strategies for dynamic networks, and localization systems for tracking and mapping. I have also developed component-based architectures for routing and localization.
• Modular Robots: I have been working on software architectures on modular reconfigurable robots, including CAN-based communication protocols, distributed agent-based components, and programming languages for locomotion.
• Hybrid Systems: I have developed a formal model for representing discrete-continuous hybrid systems, and a formal behavioral specification for dynamic real-time systems, as well as requirement verification and constraint-based control for such systems.

Professional Services

Editorial

• 2005 - present: Associate Editor ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks
• 2004 - present: Associate Editor International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing (InderScience Publishers)
• 2004 - present: Information Director ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks

Guest Editors

• 2008: Special Issue on "Distributed Systems of Sensors and Actuators" Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing
• 2005: Special Issue on "Wireless Sensor Networks" International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing (InderScience Publishers)
• 2003: Special Issue on "Wireless Sensor Networks" Telecommunication Systems (Kluwer Academic Publishers)

Technical Program Committee

InfoCom10, ICCCN09, DCOSS09, InfoCom09, EmNets08, CCNC08, (SS IVPWSN), ICDCS08,  ISSNIP07, CISN07, InfoCom08, RTSS07, Special Issue on Wireless Sensor Networks, Real-Time Systems Journal, WASA06, AHUC06, DCOSS06, ICDCS06, RTSS05, WirelessCom05, AINA06/PCAC06, EmNetS-I

Tutorial

• 2003: Exploring and Programming Modular Reconfigurable Robots, IROS03, Las Vegas (results)

Web Chair: SenSys2008

Publicity Chair:IPSN2009, IPSN2008,  IPSN2007

Publication Chair: MELT09, IPSN2003

Workshop Co-chair:

2008: The First ACM International Workshop on Mobile Entity Localization and Tracking in GPS-less Environments (MELT 2008)

1999: International Workshop on Constraints in Control

Panelist: NSF NeTS04, NSF NeTS06

Projects

• Sensor Networks

            STAM (System of Tracking And Mapping)

            Rmase (Routing Modeling Application Simulation Environment)

• Modular Robots

            PARSL/PARPA (Phase Automata Robot Script Language / Phase Automata Robot Programming Environment) [zip]

            PBSim (PolyBot Locomotion Simulator) [run applet (install Java 3D first)] [zip]

            RDSim (Rhombic Dodecahedron Self-Reconfiguration Simulator) [run applet (install Java 3D first)] [zip]

            MDCN (Massively Distributed Control Nets)

            ASM (Attribute Service Model)

• Others

        Ubiquitous Meeting Facilitator (UMF)

          Amber/Matlab Interface (Automatically generates stubs and makefiles for Matlab interface to C)

Publications

• Sensor Networks
• Modular Robots
• Hybrid Systems
• PhD Thesis
• Patents

Awards

Best Paper Award, 2007: "Localizing Tags using Mobile Infrastructure", 3rd International Symposium on Location and Context Awareness, written by Y. Zhang, K. Partridge and J. Reich

PARC Team Excellence Award, 2006 (Fujitsu ITS Team)
PARC Excellence Award, 2006 (NEST)
PARC Special Recognition Award,  2004 (NEST)
PARC Excellence Award, 2003
PARC Outstanding Performance Award, 2003 (TIPP)
Xerox Team Excellence Award, 2000 (Modular Robotics Team)
Xerox Achievement Award, 1999
Xerox DAE/ASD Team Excellence Award, 1998
Xerox Achievement Award, 1998
Xerox CR&T Appreciation Award, 1997
Xerox Achievement Award, 1997
Postgraduate fellowship from NSERC, 1994 --- 1995
University Graduate Fellowship from UBC, 1991 -- 1992
University Graduate Fellowship from UBC, 1989 -- 1991
University Student Scholarship from Zhejiang University, 1984
University Student Scholarship from Zhejiang University, 1983
First Class Award (Second Place) in Nanchang City’s High School Student Competition in Physics, 1979

Curriculum Vita

EDUCATION

• November 1994, Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• November 1989, M.Sc. in Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• July 1987, M.Sc. in Computer Science, Zhejiang University, P.R. China
• July 1984, B.Sc. in Computer Science, Zhejiang University, P.R. China

EMPLOYMENT

• Jan. 99 --- Present: Member of Research Staff (MRS II) at Palo Alto Research Center
• Dec. 97 --- Dec. 98: Member of Research Staff (MRS II) at Xerox Architecture and Document Systems Technology Center
• Mar. 95 --- Dec. 97: Technical Specialist/Project Manager at Xerox Wilson Center for Research and Technology
• Jan. 95 --- Mar. 95: Postdoctor in Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Sep. 94 --- Dec. 94: Lecture in Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Jun. 93 --- Sep. 93: Summer Internship at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
• Jan. 88 --- Oct. 94: Research Assistant in Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Jan. 88 --- Oct. 94: Teaching Assistant in Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Sep. 87 --- Dec. 87 Instructor in Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, P.R. China

Ying Zhang's CV

last updated by Ying Zhang 04/10/2009

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