I am currently a research director at Meta. My work focuses on body motion tracking and synthesis for digital avatars in the Metaverse and for robots in the real world. I have 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 realistic and imaginary creatures. I am interested in building accessible and intuitive tools for creative expression and storytelling in immersive 3D experiences. Sometimes, I am lucky enough to publish early research ideas. Check out my research projects and Google Scholar to learn more about my work.

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.