Yunli Shao
Assistant Professor
School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering
yunli.shao@uga.eduAbout
Dr. Yunli Shao is an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia College of Engineering.
His expertise is in real-time modeling, control, and analysis of dynamical systems, including model-based and learning-based
optimal control, real-time optimization, and estimation and prediction under uncertainty. The primary application area is
vehicle and transportation systems, spanning powertrain and vehicle dynamics, automated and connected vehicles, traffic
simulation, and efficient operation at the system level. His work also includes the development of anything-in-the-loop (XIL)
methodology and platforms that surround real controllers and hardware with realistic simulated traffic environments for
accelerated control development and training.
Education
- Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2019
- M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2015
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2013
Professional Experiences
- Assistant Professor, University of Georgia College of Engineering, Athens, GA, Aug. 2023-present
- Research & Development Staff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville, TN, Dec. 2020-July 2023
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville, TN, Dec. 2019-Nov. 2020
Ph.D. Students
Yuan Gao
Joined Fall 2025
Zexuan Jia
Joined Fall 2025
Yu Sun
Joined Fall 2025
Undergraduate Students
Sarayu Reddy
Joined Summer 2025
William Varner
Joined Spring 2025Former Members
| Name | Position in Lab | Current Position |
|---|---|---|
| Hetian Guo | M.S. student, graduated Dec. 2025 | |
| Andrew Graham | Undergraduate researcher | Associate at Secretariat |
| Cameron Michini | Undergraduate researcher | System Engineer at RoviSys |
| Vikas Katari | Undergraduate researcher | |
| Ryan Fleming | Undergraduate researcher | |
| Jr Insular | Undergraduate researcher | |
| Benjamin Gross | Undergraduate researcher | |
| Arjun Sakthi | Undergraduate researcher | |
| Viren Shah | Young Dawgs high school researcher |