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Education

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, George Mason University (Aug 2021 – Present)
  • Expected Graduation: Spring 2027
  • Advisor: Prof. Xuesu Xiao
• M.S. in Computer Science, George Mason University (Aug 2019 – May 2021)
  • Advisors: Dr. David Lattanzi and Dr. Amarda Shehu

Research & Work Experience

• Collaborative Researcher, Aug 2026 – Present
  • Microsoft Research Asia
  • Collaborators: Dongsheng Li and Dongqi Han
• Research Intern, May 2026 – Aug 2026
  • Microsoft Research Asia
  • Collaborators: Dongsheng Li and Dongqi Han
• Collaborative Researcher, Jan 2026 – Present
  • Rutgers University
  • Collaborator: Chengzhi Mao
• Collaborative Researcher, Oct 2025 – Present
  • University of South Florida & University of Maryland
  • Collaborator: Xiaomin Lin (University of South Florida)
• Graduate Research Assistant, Aug 2021 – Present
  • George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
  • Advisor: Xuesu Xiao
• Research Engineer Intern, May 2025 – Aug 2025
  • Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
  • Collaborator: Tinoosh Mohsenin
• Digital Innovation Research Fellow, May 2024 – Aug 2024
  • Unitree Robotics × Institute for Digital Innovation (IDIA)
  • IDIA fellowship in collaboration with Unitree Robotics.
• Visiting Researcher (Remote), Nov 2024 – May 2025
  • University of Oxford
• Summer Research Assistant, May 2020 – Aug 2020
  • Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)
  • In collaboration with George Mason University

Selected Publications

• Learning Scene-Aware Humanoid Locomotion through 3D Clutter from Immersive Human Demonstrations
  B. Wang, T. Xu, D. Kosukhin, Y.-H. Yeung, Y. Lu, X. Xiao — Submitted to IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2027

• CAVE-NAV: VLM-Based Autonomous 3D Navigation in Underwater Cave Environments
  Z. Wu, Y. Lu, Y. Zhang, M. Yu, X. Xiao, J. Shin, X. Lin — Accepted to OCEANS, 2026

• APPLV: Adaptive Planner Parameter Learning from Vision-Language-Action Model
  Y. Lu, B. Wang, Z. Wu, Y. Li, X. Lin, C. Mao, X. Xiao — Accepted to IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026

• CORAL: COntextual Reasoning And Local Planning in A Hierarchical VLM Framework for Underwater Monitoring
  Z. Wu, Y. Lu, X. Xiao, X. Lin — Accepted to IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026

• Accounting for Work Zone Disruptions in Traffic Flow Forecasting via Multi-Channel Attention-Based Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Networks
  Y. Lu, S. Zhu, A. Shehu, D. Lattanzi — IET Intelligent Transport Systems, 2026

• Autonomous Ground Navigation in Highly Constrained Spaces: Lessons Learned from the Fourth BARN Challenge at ICRA 2025
  X. Xiao, Z. Xu, S. A. Ghani, A. Datar, D. Song, P. Stone, A. Mazen, K. Yazdipaz, I. Mateyaunga, M. Faied, M. Krishnan, Y. Lu, T. Xu, N. Mohammad, W. Kim, J. Reasoner, R. Chandra, N. Bezzo — IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 33(1), 186–196, 2026

• Adaptive Dynamics Planning for Robot Navigation
  Y. Lu, M. Mao, T. Xu, L. Wang, X. Lin, X. Xiao — Accepted to IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026

Full publication list

Skills

• Programming: C++, Python, Java
• Machine Learning: PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, Scikit-Learn
• Robotics: ROS (ROS1/ROS2), Gazebo, Isaac Sim/Lab, OpenAI Gym
• Other: Singularity/Apptainer, HPC (Slurm), Docker, Git

Reviewer

Service period: 2024–2026

• IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
• IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL)

Leadership

Team Lead, GMU BARN Challenge 2025 Team