People
Meet the Members of our Lab
Principal Investigator
Dr. Hongyue Sun
Director, DSSI Lab
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Email: hongyuesun@uga.edu
About
Dr. Hongyue Sun is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the DSSI Lab. Prior to joining the University of Georgia, Dr. Sun served as an assistant professor in Industrial Engineering at the University at Buffalo.
Dr. Sun holds a highly multidisciplinary background with a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech (2017), an M.S. in Statistics from Virginia Tech (2015), and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology (2012).
Research Excellence
Dr. Sun’s research has been broadly supported by the NSF, NIOSH, the U.S. Navy, and MxD. His work has been recognized with several best paper awards from INFORMS and IISE, as well as the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from SME. He is an active member of IISE, INFORMS, IEEE, and ASME.
Contact
- Email: hongyuesun@uga.edu
- Office: 1040B I-STEM Complex, Bldg 1
- Address: 302 East Campus Road, Athens, GA 30602
Meet the Team
Members of the DSSI Lab
PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering
Minsung is originally from South Korea and has been pursuing his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at UGA since Fall 2024. He received an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from University of Florida (2024). His research focuses on Responsible AI, algorithmic fairness, privacy, and detection of high-risk 3D-printed components like firearms.
- Projects: Ethical Manufacturing
PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering
Nitesh joined the Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineering at UGA in 2025. He earned his B.E. in Industrial Engineering from Tribhuvan University in 2023. His research is data-driven robotic autonomy and safety in smart manufacturing systems.
- Projects: Collaborative Robotic Disassembly, Robotic Hand / Teleoperator, Robotic Safety and Privacy
Undergraduate Researcher, Biochemical Engineering (College of Engineering)
Nehalya is a freshman focusing on technologies that benefit humanity. Her current project enhances security for network-connected 3D printers by identifying and mitigating cyber threats through a monitoring solution that improves reliability and safety in additive manufacturing environments.
- Projects: Ethical Manufacturing
Undergraduate Researcher, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Aarush is focused on optimization of real-world systems through applied research.
- Projects: Collaborative Robotic Disassembly
Undergraduate Researcher, Mechanical Engineering (College of Engineering)
Adam is an honors Mechanical Engineering student at UGA, focused on robotics and engineering research for robotic hand systems and their applications.
- Projects: Robotic Hand / Teleoperator
Undergraduate Researcher, Computer Systems Engineering (Driftmier College of Engineering)
Dawson is focused on embedded systems and their role in real-time control and hardware-software integration. He works on robotics in manufacturing with an emphasis on efficiency and precision improvements through automation, and develops automated systems to optimize industrial processes and enhance productivity.
PhD Student, ECAM
Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Manufacturing
- Projects: Smart Manufacturing
PhD Student, School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
My academic background is in Computer Science, and my current Ph.D. research centers on data modeling and privacy-preserving computation. I work on smart advanced manufacturing systems, with the goal of building secure and deployable manufacturing frameworks.
- Projects: Ethical Manufacturing, Carbon-Negative Biomass Manufacturing
PhD Student, ECE
I am a Ph.D. student studying data-driven modeling for complex multi-stage processes. My work combines deep learning, reinforcement learning, and Bayesian optimization to model and optimize manufacturing systems, with additional interests in model compression and privacy-preserving machine learning.
- Projects: Data-driven modeling for multi-stage processes
Undergraduate Researcher, School of Computing
I am a Computer Science major with a minor in Mathematics, working on collaborative robotic disassembly. My research interests include reinforcement learning, deep learning, and intelligent autonomous systems for real-world applications.
- Projects: Collaborative Robotic Disassembly
Lab Alumni, College of Engineering
I am interested in using computer vision for task automation.
- Projects: Collaborative Robotic Disassembly
Undergraduate Researcher, Electrical Engineering
Human-Robot Collaboration
- Projects: Collaborative Robotic Disassembly
Undergraduate Researcher, College of Engineering
John Braswell is a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Georgia focused on bridging the skill gap between academic curricula and real-world industry requirements. His work centers on developing educational frameworks that equip recent graduates with the practical technical expertise needed to excel in modern engineering environments.
- Projects: Educational frameworks for engineering training
Undergraduate Researcher, School of Computing & School of Engineering
I am interested in LLM applications for manufacturing. I have previously worked at the T+ID lab at Georgia Tech, the Serious Games Institute at GMU, and as an independent researcher under Dr. Yubo Su at Princeton.
- Projects: LLM applications for manufacturing
Undergraduate Researcher, Computer Engineering
Hi, my name is Penuel. I am a first year Computer Engineering student interested in simulation development, AI/ML, and software engineering. I’m currently developing a VR controlled digital twin of a UR5e and DOBOT magician lite inspection pipeline using Unity (C#), ROS, and python.
- Projects: Simulation
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/penuel-yeboah-476905291