Hao Zhang

Hao Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS), University of Massachusetts Amherst. He directs the Human-Centered Robotics Laboratory (HCRLab), focusing on lifelong collaborative autonomy, robot adaptation, and human-robot teaming. His research integrates robotics, AI, and machine learning to develop algorithms for real-world applications like manufacturing, autonomous driving, and environmental monitoring. He holds an NSF CAREER Award and DARPA Young Faculty Award, among other recognitions.

Dr. Zhang earned a PhD from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2014) and an MS from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2009). His work addresses challenges in unstructured environments through innovations like self-reflective terrain adaptation and graph-based perception systems. He actively promotes equity in robotics through his PROGRESS outreach program.

His research sponsors include NSF, DARPA, and industry partners such as Toyota. Publications span conferences like RSS, ICRA, and IROS, with best paper awards. He serves on editorial and program committees for top-tier journals/conferences including RA-L, NeurIPS, and AAAI.