Join us for an alumni industry roundtable, where accomplished CISE alumni return to campus to connect with current students. This event is designed to bridge the gap between academic life and professional careers by giving students direct access to those who’ve walked the same path. Panelists will share insights into their current roles, the key milestones and challenges that shaped their careers, and practical advice for students hoping to break into their field.
Alumni Speakers:
- Brenda Zhuang is a Consulting Engineer and Development Manager at MathWorks, where she leads a team building software tools that automate the deployment of embedded applications (including motor control, signal processing, and deep learning) to microprocessors and FPGAs. She contributes to key features across the Simulink and Embedded Coder product families and has been with MathWorks since 2007.
Brenda is active in the international research community around numerical simulation and design automation, and serves on the technical program committees of several international conferences spanning control theory, modeling and simulation, and TinyML. She has designed and led hands-on workshops on emerging technologies such as drones, robots, and hyperspectral cameras, presenting at venues including MATLAB EXPO, the Grace Hopper Celebration, and various IEEE society conferences.
She holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Boston University, where her research focused on optimal scheduling approaches for smart sensor networks.
- Yanfeng Geng is a Quantitative Research Team Lead on the Systematic Equity Strategies (SES) team at Fidelity Investments, where he leads projects spanning alpha research, portfolio construction, risk modeling, and strategy design. The SES team manages approximately $50 Billion enhanced index funds. Yanfeng also partners with the Head of Research on the development of quantitative investment products and solutions, and provides thought leadership across global equity portfolio and risk management.
Before assuming his current role, Yanfeng was a Senior Quantitative Analyst at Geode Capital Management. Prior to that, he was a Senior Software Development Engineer at Amazon.
Yanfeng earned his BS from the University of Science and Technology of China and his Ph.D. from Boston University, where he was advised by Professor Christos Cassandras.
