Education

Ph.D., Department of Statistics and Probability Aug. 2013 – Jun. 2018
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Advisor: Dr. Lyudmila Sakhanenko
M.S., Graduate Institute of Statistics Sep. 2007 – Jun. 2009
National Central University, Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Advisor: Dr. Tsai-Hung Fan
B.S., Department of Mathematics Sep. 2003 – Jun. 2007
National Central University, Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

Research Interests

Work Experience

Isuzu – Technical Center of America, Inc. (ITCA) Jan. 2021 – Present
Lead Engineer, Autonomous – Advanced Engineering Jun. 2024 – Present
– Deployment of perception components on TesorRT:
   FCOS object detection, FCOS segmentation, and SORT tracker.
– Research on Transformer based Perception tasks.
– Research on manifold (matrix Lie group) for autonomous vehicle localization.
Sr. Engineer, Autonomous and Artificial Intelligence – Advanced Engineering Jan. 2022 – May. 2024
– Lead the development of perception component including: object detection, object tracking, and visualization.
   Implement ROS visualization for MVXNet using Kitti dataset: MVXNet demo.
   Develop structure aware single-stage 3D object detection.
   Develop LiDAR object detection and tracking. See: 3D-LiDAR multi-object tracking.
   Develop multi-object tracking. See: Multi-object-tracking.
– Develop localization component including: wheel odometry, GNSS/IMU processing,
   and Fast-LOAM. These outputs are later fused in the Robot Localization package.
   Develop Visual SLAM. See: Visual SLAM.
– Acting scrum master of the autonomous driving team.
– Make key contributions to software architecture design and software stack integration.
– Provide technical support and career growth direction for team members and supervise interns.
Autonomous Driving Engineer – Powertrain and Vehicle Research & Development Jan. 2021 – Dec. 2021
– Develop core sensor component for centralized sensor fusion for both cameras and LiDARs.
– Curb detection using 3D LiDAR point clouds: Moriyama dataset demo.
– Object detection using 3D LiDAR point clouds: Moriyama dataset demo.
– Point clouds 3D map construction using Fast LOAM and OctoMap: Moriyama dataset_demo.
– Software stack management with release tags and version control by git submodules.
– Component integration and testing in both simulation and on the real truck.
Aptiv – Global Technology Company Jul. 2018 – Jan. 2021
Algorithm Engineer – Scene Perception Algorithm Team Oct. 2020 – Jan. 2021
– Mainly develop unit test cases in vectorCAST for different components
Algorithm Engineer – Fused Road Model (FRM) Team Sep. 2018 – Sep. 2020
– Develop fusion algorithms for object trail processing:
   NGSIM dataset demo for road shape estimation and lane centerline prediction.
– Design FRM state machine and mode manager.
– Error handling for vision, object fusion, and vehicle state inputs.
– Maintain input Rosbag pipeline.
– Develop FRM analysis pipeline and dashboard.
– Coverity Static Analysis including AUTOSAR and MISRA C++.
– Develop unit test cases in Google Test and component test for FRM component.
– Sporadically acted as the scrum master for FRM.
Algorithm Engineer – Autonomous Driving Behavior Team Jul. 2018 – Aug. 2018
– Develop a prediction and cost function based algorithm to perform cooperative social behavior.
– Work in Ottomatika code migration from urban pilot to highway pilot.
– Sporadically give numerical methods of statistical lectures.
– Examples: Polynomial Smoothing, Spline Interpolation
Michigan State University Aug. 2013 – May. 2018
Teaching Assistant – Department of Statistics and Probability Jan. 2017 – May. 2018
– One semester of a graduate-level of Statistics class.
– One semester of senior-level of Probability and Statistics for Business classes.
– Two semesters of entry-level of Statistics classes.
Research Assistant – Computational Mathematics Science and Engineering Jan. 2016 – Dec. 2016
Supervisor: Dr. Yuying Xie and Dr. Mark Reimers
– Research in neuroimaging data for brain activity.
– Movement correction, denosing, and registration for images.
– Analyze the amplitude and phase for images by Fourier analysis.
Teaching Assistant – Department of Statistics and Probability Aug. 2013 – Dec. 2015
– Summer instructor of an entry-level Statistics class.
– One semester of graduate-level of Statistics classes.
– Three semesters of senior-level of Probability and Statistics classes.
Academia Sinica Aug. 2010 – Jul. 2013
Research Assistant – Institute of Statistical Science
Supervisor: Dr. Jeng-Min Chiou
– Mainly research in functional data.
– Functional clustering and classification.
– Functional linear model and its prediction and applications.
– Missing value imputation and outlier detection for functional data.
– Programming Assistant (Chiou, J.-M, Annals of Applied Statistics, 2012)
Military Service, Taiwan Aug. 2009 – Aug. 2010
Corporal – Beigan Township, Lienchiang County
– The duties include training, safety, and communications.
National Central University Feb. 2004 – Jun. 2009
Network Administrator – Graduate Institute of Statistics Jul. 2007 – Jun. 2009
– Manage and maintain the e-mail server based on FreeBSD operating system.
– Design an alumni website for graduate alumnus.
– Maintenance and elimination of common breakdown of the PCs in computer laboratory.
Network Administrator – Mathematics Computation Laboratory, Department of Mathematics Feb. 2005 – Jun. 2007
– Manage the e-mail server and design some rules to block spam mails.
– Design a network sync upgrade system of more than 80 computers over 2 classrooms
– Devise a web-based roll call and sign-in system.
Network Assistant – Mathematics Computation Laboratory, Department of Mathematics Feb. 2004 – Jan. 2005
– Provide software supports and computer consulting for freshmen.
– Supervise the networking, system analysis, and trouble shooting.

Teaching Experience

Year Semester Role Course number with title and sections numbers (in parentheses)
2018 Spring TA STT 231 Statistics for Scientists (004, 005, 006)
2017 Fall TA STT 200 Statistical Methods (011, 012)
GA STT 873 Statistical Learning and Data Mining (001)
Spring TA STT 315 Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Business (015, 018, 019, 021)
2016 Fall RA* STT 442 Probability and Statistics II: Statistics (001)
STT 861 Theory of Probability and Statistics I (001)
2015 Fall TA STT 200 Statistical Methods (019, 020)
Summer Instructor STT 200 Statistical Methods (204)
Spring TA STT 224 Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Ecologists (001, 002, 003, 004)
2014 Fall GA STT 863 Statistical Methods I (001)
STT 886 Stochastic Processes and Applications (001)
Summer GA STT 421 Statistics I (101)
STT 430 Introduction to Probability and Statistics (101)
Spring GA STT 351 Probability and Statistics for Engineering (001H, 002)
STT 430 Introduction to Probability and Statistics (001)
2013 Fall GA STT 441 Probability and Statistics I: Probability (001, 002, 003)
RA*: Sporadically acted as teaching substitute for my advisor.

Publications

  1. Zhang, Y.-C. (2025+) Error State Kalman Filter on Matrix Lie Group. preprint.
  2. Zhang, W., Yu, W., Jia, Q., and Zhang, Y.-C. (2022) Exploration and Sweeping for Autonomous Sweeper Truck. Isuzu Technical Journal 134, 42-51.
  3. Zhang, Y.-C. (2021) Road Geometry Estimation Using Vehicle Trails: A Linear Mixed Model Approach. Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems Technology, Planning, and Operations 27, 127-144.
  4. Zhang, Y.-C., Sakhanenko, L. (2019) The Naive Bayes Classifier for Functional Data. Statistics & Probability Letter 152, 137-146.
  5. Chiou, J.-M., Zhang, Y.-C., Chen, W.-H., and Chang, C.-W. (2014) A Functional Data Approach to Missing Value Imputation and Outlier Detection for Traffic Flow Data. Transportmetrica B: Transport Dynamics 2, 106-129.
  6. Fan, T.-H., Wang, Y.-F., and Zhang, Y.-C. (2014) Bayesian Model Selection in Linear Mixed Effects Models with Autoregressive(p) Errors Using Mixture Priors. Journal of Applied Statistics 41, 1814-1829.

Research Talk

Referee Service

Honors/Awards

Computer Sills

Software Packages

Documents