2008 - Jingjin Yu

Jingjin Yu describes his research in “shadow information spaces” as training robots to play a massive, multi-player game of hide and seek.  But his work has far more serious and life-changing implications – from identifying and protecting military targets to rescuing potential victims trapped in a burning building.

Robots are very efficient at some tasks, but are lost when it comes to other tasks that human beings complete almost instantaneously.  As a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Jingjin aims to improve how robots extract the most relevant information from their sensors to become more efficient at tracking actual and potential number of targets in various scenarios.  Since taking his first course in robotics, Jingjin has been enthralled with how automation of the smallest process can have such a huge impact. 

When not researching, Jingjin enjoys playing badminton, so much so that he has travelled across the country for various tournaments.  In addition to his Master’s in Computer Science from UIUC, Jingjin holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China.