Dr. Zhenghui Sha and Dr. Joydeep Biswas have been selected for the inaugural class of Chief of Naval Research Fellows. UT is the only institution with two fellows among the 12 selected nationwide. The CNR Fellows program brings these academic research professors to ONR for a one-year fellowship in support of critical naval focus areas, with a stipend of $150,000 per Fellow and $50,000 in travel support.
During the next year, Biswas, an associate professor of computer science, and Sha, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, will work with the Office of Naval Research to strengthen connections between academia and the U.S. Navy.
Biswas will focus on how AI and autonomous systems are evaluated before adoption in naval operations. Sha will focus on AI-assisted design and multi-robot manufacturing, including approaches that could support on-site part building and ship repair.
“This was an extremely rigorous, competitive selection process, and we are pleased to partner with some of the best and brightest minds our nation has to offer,” said Chief of Naval Research Rachel Riley. “We look forward to collaborating with these innovative thought leaders to strengthen the warfighting capabilities of the Navy and Marine Corps.”
This year, SiDi Lab has four members attending the conference, including Siyu Chen, Bam Thonkmak, Yuewan Sun, and Xiang Li. We also met our SiDi Alumna, Dr. Yinshuang Xiao, attending the conference for the first time as an independent researcher with her student. All of us were active in organizing workshops, participating in hackathons and panels, and presenting papers and posters. Meanwhile, it was such a proud moment to see the achievements and awards bestowed on SiDi lab members. Upon returning to the UT campus, let me reflect and summarize this conference trip.
First, it was a pleasure and honor to be invited to give a talk at the panel session “Physical AI in Robotics and Manufacturing” organized by the AI/ML Technical Committees of the ASME CIE Division. I presented our lab’s recent work on Multi-Robot Cooperative Manufacturing and had a great discussion with the panelists, Dr. SK Gupta and Dr. Wenlong Zhang, and the audience about the challenges and opportunities for physical AI in robotics and manufacturing.
Second, Year 2026 marks the seventh year of the ASME Hackathon. This year, 46+ participants from 25+ institutions across 8+ countries took part in the competition. We also adopted a new two-stage competition mechanism: a 3-minute lightning-talk video round, followed by live final presentations at IDETC/CIE 2026. Special thanks to Yinshuang, who served as the Chair of the Hackathon this year and led the team to a successful event. Also, we thank our collaborators in both academia and industry, such as NIST and Autodesk, for their continued support. We look forward to the eighth hackathon event in Philadelphia next year at the IDETC/CIE 2027 conference!
Third, congrats to all the co-authors! We presented a total of seven papers this year. Check out the preprints below.
T. Sheffield, Y. Sun, G. Manogharan, Z. Sha, “Neural Topology Optimization with Movable Non-Design Features,” Proceedings of the ASME 2026 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Houston, TX. August 23–26, 2026.
S. Chen, Z. Sha, “Robust Competitive Bayesian Optimization,” Proceedings of the ASME 2026 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Houston, TX. August 23–26, 2026.
Y. Xiao, Saket Thakrar, Z. Sha, “Comparing Network Representations of U.S. Vehicle Customer Preferences: a Case Study of EV Consideration and Purchase Behavior,” Proceedings of the ASME 2026 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Houston, TX. August 23–26, 2026.
E. Koolman, A. Labbe, Z. Sha, A. Schauer, “Meeting Thresholds: Factors Influencing Success and Perceptions of Success in Generative CAD,” Proceedings of the ASME 2026 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Houston, TX. August 23–26, 2026.
Finally, we would like to congratulate Yinshuang for winning the ASME CIE Best Dissertation Award this year! This is a tremendous achievement, and we couldn’t be prouder of you! I received this award back in 2017, and I am thrilled to see one of our PhD students achieve this honor nearly ten years later. This accomplishment reflects the high standards we maintain in the SiDi lab for PhD training, and we are proud of the exceptional quality of our students’ work.
