He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University at Beijing, China in 1996 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering in 2002 and 2005 from the University of Texas, Austin. His current research interests are in the general areas of process modeling, monitoring, optimization and control, with special interest in the application of data-driven modeling and analysis approaches to cancer informatics and bioinformatics in general. He is also interested in renewable/sustainable energy research and education. His research is funded by various federal funding agencies including NSF-CBET, NSF-DUE, NIH, USDA and DOT. He has over 30 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He was the 2009 recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Performance Award in Research from Tuskegee University.