Graduate Student (Ph.D.) – Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UConn

By Shruthi Nagaraj – Communications/Administrative Coordinator, UConn SNE IAC

Yishu Bai is pursuing her Ph.D. studies from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Connecticut’s School of Engineering. She is also working as a student assessor and as the lead student at the Department of Energy funded Southern New England Industrial Assessment Center (SNE IAC) at UConn.

Yishu’s interest in the Electrical Engineering stream made her choose the same to further her education as a Ph.D. student in the field. Yishu did her undergraduate studies in Communication Engineering from Northeastern University at Qinhuangdao, China. She then completed her Master’s degree from University of Illinois at Chicago from the Department of Electrical and Communication Engineering.

She has always liked learning new things and equipping herself with skills that will make her more competitive as she readies herself to start her career after completing her graduation by next summer.

Currently, Yishu is working with Dr. Liang Zhang, her Ph.D. advisor, in the research topics – smart manufacturing, smart modeling, industry 4.0. Her research work includes modeling of the real-life factory floor into mathematical models, and based on the mathematical models constructed before, she does performance metrics analysis. Her favorite topics to study have been probability and Random Process and Factory Physics. She says that being a part of SNE IAC and doing energy audits helps her see various real factory working processes and gives her a better insight into the manufacturing industry. She also feels that some of the other skills like analyzing problems, writing reports, tracking work progress and time management, that she has acquired over the years are key for her work at the SNE IAC. She anticipates that her association with SNE IAC will help her get connected to the industry and advance in her career after graduating.

Yishu has also won several awards and recognitions for her work. Some of them are:

• Best student paper award finalist, 2019 IEEE 15th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• Department winner at the 6th Annual Student Association of Graduate Engineers Poster Competition.
• Department winner at the 7th Annual Student Association of Graduate Engineers Poster Competition.
• Second prize of the poster competition of ECE department in 2021.

UConn SNE IAC would like to wish Yishu Bai the best as she continues her graduate studies and work at SNE IAC as the head student.