Zerong Huang (Jason)

Waiting for sunrise on a ridge at five thousand metres, and iterating on a problem until it finally gives way, take the same kind of patience. Engineering is iteration: almost nothing is right the first time — most designs only come good somewhere around the fifteenth version. Climbing is no different. There is no shortcut, only one step after another, until the ridge lights up.

I work on aerodynamic analysis, multidisciplinary design optimization, air traffic management and aircraft design — all of it about making flight more efficient and safer. I use AI to cover unfamiliar ground faster, and I am happy to spend a few more nights on a question nobody has answered yet.

Aerospace engineering MSE at the University of Michigan, BSc at Purdue. I have worked on engine fuel system fault diagnostics at GE Aerospace, and on the C919 test and validation platform at COMAC.

I hold a US private pilot licence. Outside class I try to make the most of the rest of life: backpacking, high-altitude climbing, photography, travel — none of it is time off from the engineering. It comes from the same impulse: wanting to know what it looks like higher up.