Hongchao Zhang

Hi there! I’m a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Institute of Software Integrated Systems, Vanderbilt University. I work with Prof. Taylor T. Johnson, Prof. Meiyi Ma, and Prof. Ahmad F. Taha at the intersection of control, AI, formal methods, and cyber-physical systems (CPS), across various domains, including autonomous systems, water, transportation, and power. I earned my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Clark. My research focuses on the end-to-end verification and validation of CPS, with an emphasis on ensuring the safety and robustness.

Research Interest

• Cyber-physical Systems (CPS)
• Trustworthy AI
• Learning-enabled Systems
• Safety and Security

Education

• 2025 Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering,
  Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
  • Advisor: Prof. Andrew Clark.
  • Ph.D. Thesis: “Resilient Safe Learning of Autonomous Systems”
• 2020 M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering,
  Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
• 2018 B.E. in Automation Engineering,
  Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China

Professional Experience

• 09/2025-Present Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute of Software Integrated Systems, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
• 08/2022-08/2025 Graduate Research Assistant, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
• 08/2019-08/2022 Graduate Research Assistant, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA