Hao Sun

Hao Sun is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at Renmin University of China (RUC). He is also a Research Affiliate at MIT and an Affiliate Professor at Northeastern University (Boston, MA). He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Columbia University in 2014 and did his Postdoc training at MIT during 2014-2017. He was a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh (2017-2018) and at Northeastern University (2018-2021) before joining RUC. His research interests lie in "mathematical and physical foundation of AI and its interdisciplinary applications", with a particular focus on (1) interpretable machine/deep learning, (2) knowledge representation learning and reasoning, (3) physics-informed deep learning, (4) symbolic reinforcement learning and reasoning, (5) data-driven discovery of governing laws, and (6) smart and resilient infrastructure. His research aims to create fundamentally new and transformative AI-enabled strategies for scientific discovery of underexplored physical systems and tackling grand engineering challenges. Dr. Sun has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles published in top-tiered journals (e.g., Nature Communications) and computer science conferences. His work has been widely reported in various national and international major media over 40 times, including MIT News, Fox News, ASCE Civil Engineering Magazine, etc. Dr. Sun was named to the prestigious 2018 Forbes "30 Under 30": Science, a list of the world’s most inspiring young innovators, bright rising stars and the leaders of tomorrow who are transforming the world, in recognition of his accomplishment in applied machine learning and infrastructure informatics. He also received the 2019 Top Ten Outstanding Chinese American Youth Award. Dr. Sun serves on the editorial board of PLoS ONE as an Academic Editor.

EDUCATION

• Columbia University, Ph.D., 2014
• Columbia University, M.Phil., 2013
• Columbia University, M.S., 2011
• Hohai University, B.S.E., 2010

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Associate Professor with Tenure, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 2021-present
• Affiliate Professor, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 2021-present
• Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 2018-2021
• Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017-2018
• Research Affiliate, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 2017-present
• Teaching Fellow, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 2016-2017
• Postdoctoral Associate, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 2014-2017
• Research/Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, New York, NY, 2010-2014

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• mathematical and physical foundation of AI and its interdisciplinary applications
• interpretable machine/deep learning
• knowledge representation learning and reasoning
• physics-informed deep learning
• symbolic reinforcement learning and reasoning
• data-driven discovery of governing laws
• smart and resilient infrastructure.

TEACHING

• Interdisciplinary Thinking and Practice of Artificial Intelligence

HONORS AND AWARDS

• 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30: Science, 2018 (Citation: Hao Sun's research uses analytics and machine learning combined with internet-of-things enabled sensors to track of the health of buildings, and detect reparable damage before there's a bigger catastrophe. His team has built a prototype system, allowing them to observe ambient vibrations affecting the building and modeling its structural health.)
• 2019 Top Ten Outstanding Chinese American Youth Award (The theme of this selection campaign is: "Inheritance and Innovation".)