Q&A with new faculty member Junyi Zhu

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Michigan is delighted to welcome new faculty member Junyi Zhu to the community. Zhu leads the Sensing, Intelligence and eXperience (SIX) Lab. He envisions a future where every individual will have a personalized health monitoring system.

Zhu recently received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, where he was a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) group.  He joined Michigan January 2025, and is currently teaching the undergraduate course EECS 373: Intro to Embedded System Design. This fall he will teach the graduate level course, “How to Make (Almost) Anything Interactive.” This course will introduce fabrication and sensing techniques on how to make tangible interactive objects from scratch, or apply interactive functions to existing daily objects.

Zhu is actively seeking both undergraduate and graduate students to join his group. 

Here is more information about Junyi Zhu, in his own words.

Tell us about your research.

My research lies at the intersection of novel sensing technologies, fabrication and human-computer interaction, with an emphasis on health and medical applications. For the work around health and medical related fields, my work spans three areas: (1) creating specialized, portable health sensing devices for richer, continuous biometric data collection for both dynamic in-field remote monitoring environment and in-clinic monitoring along with other medical procedures, (2) building personalized signal processing models tailored to individual patients’ health conditions, and (3) designing custom device form factors and measurement setups to ensure comfortable, accurate usage. In addition, I work on enabling new interaction technologies and enhancing personal fabrication techniques. 

How does your work impact the world around us?

My work enables new possibilities for consistent health monitoring, reducing reliance on infrequent doctor visits. Greater access to continuous data can help detect subtle health changes early and support more targeted interventions, especially for individuals underserved by traditional measurement techniques. Additionally, my research around low-cost personal health and medical sensing devices contributes to a more inclusive and accessible medical environment, ensuring these innovations can benefit a broad range of communities. Beyond healthcare, the underlying methods—such as advanced sensing and customized fabrication—create opportunities in other fields, including human-computer interaction and robotics. By adapting these designs for interactive devices or soft robotic systems, I hope to encourage interdisciplinary progress that benefits not just healthcare, but also broader technological innovation.

What do you enjoy most about your field?

I enjoy the opportunity to make a tangible difference in people’s lives by combining technology, design, and medicine. It’s incredibly rewarding to work hand-in-hand with doctors and patients—identifying unmet needs, developing custom devices, and then witnessing how these devices can improve diagnostic accuracy or empower a patient’s recovery at home. The creative aspect of designing new sensing forms and integrating them into everyday life is both challenging and exciting, and it opens doors to innovation far beyond traditional healthcare.

What’s your favorite thing about teaching?

I love seeing students transform theoretical knowledge into practical, tangible outcomes—whether they’re building interactive prototypes or experimenting with new sensing techniques. It’s deeply rewarding to watch them gain confidence as they merge creativity with solid engineering fundamentals. 

In courses I’ve helped design or teach—such as MIT’s Engineering Interactive Technologies (6.810), and Medical Device Design course (2.750 / 6.8460), UW’s Introduction to Embedded Systems (CSE/ECE 474), and Design of Digital Circuits and Systems (CSE/ECE 371)—I integrate lectures, labs, and hands-on projects. This blend energizes the classroom, allowing students to truly own their learning. At the University of Michigan, I’m excited to continue developing hands-on, project-based classes on topics like embedded system design, personal fabrication tools, and interactive devices.

What qualities do you look for when selecting PhD students to join your team?

I welcome students who display curiosity and a genuine eagerness to explore interdisciplinary ideas. I also value perseverance and communication skills, since effective teamwork and the ability to articulate ideas play critical roles in research. Above all, I look for a commitment to pushing boundaries and a willingness to learn from setbacks.

What is your approach to mentoring graduate students?

My goal is to create a supportive and stimulating environment, find the alignments between students’ interests and my research work, and guide them with my technical expertise to tackle concrete project tasks, while developing their own research interests and understanding of the field. I would generally start with a more hands-on advising style, e.g., weekly one-on-one meetings, then gradually calibrate that based on each student’s progress and preferences. For example, students with more research experiences who prefer a hands-off mentoring style would eventually switch to bi-weekly / monthly one-on-one meetings, and those who prefer more interactions with the advisor could have multiple meetings per week if needed. I think one big advance of being a junior faculty is that one would have more time and flexibility with their students. Just as I benefited from inspiring mentors during my undergraduate and graduate years, I look forward to passing along the sense of excitement, mutual respect, and shared discovery in every mentoring relationship.

Do you have any hobbies or anything else you’d like to share?

In my spare time (if any), I quite enjoy movies, well-aged whisky, and driving around the waterfront area for no particular reason. I’m a fan of creators like Wes Anderson, Jiang Wen, Han Han, Haruki Murakami, Stefan Zweig, Scott Fitzgerald, Xiaobo Wang, and I’m currently exploring Kurt Vonnegut’s work.