Yue Zhao '14
Ph.D.Electrical Engineering
After graduating from UNL, Yue Zhao became a tenure-track assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and before moving to the University of Arkansas where he’s currently a tenured associate professor with the department of electrical engineering.
“The PhD. program at UNL gave me a boost and definitely got me ready for my career,” said Zhao, a recipient of a 2018 NSF CAREER award, the 2020 IEEE Industry Applications Society Andrew W. Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award, and multiple Outstanding Researcher Awards from the University of Arkansas. “The PhD. program and courses offered by the electrical engineering department as well as other departments in the college certainly exceeded my expectations.”
Based on his research opportunities as a graduate student, Zhao still works closely with John Deere as a research partner and is beginning a new project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to electrify articulated dump trucks.
“The research experience I got at UNL is the most important reason I chose to go into academia after I graduated,” added Zhao, recipient of the 2014 UNL Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant Award. “I appreciated the hands-on experience I got and the opportunities to work closely with industry partners, such as John Deere, during the PhD.”