I am a research scientist at Reality Labs Research @ Meta. My current research focuses on body motion tracking and synthesis for digital avatars in the Metaverse. I also contributed to the hand tracking feature in Quest and Quest 2. In a previous life, I was an R&D engineer at Industrial Light & Magic, where I developed animation and rigging tools for both the body and the face of either realistic or imaginary creatures. I am interested in building accessible and intuitive tools to commodify creative expression and storytelling as immersive 3D experiences. Sometimes I am lucky enough to publish early research ideas. Check out my research projects and Google Scholar for more information.

I received my Ph.D. degree in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology in December 2011, under the advice of Dr. C. Karen Liu. My thesis is on animation algorithms for virtual avatars to interact naturally with forces, terrains, and rigid objects in a physically plausible manner. Before attending Georgia Tech, I spent a year at the University of Southern California with Karen after getting a master's degree from the University of Virginia in 2006, where I worked with Dr. David C. Brogan on momentum-based bipedal balance control. I also hold a B.S. degree in computer science from Peking University in Beijing, China.