Zhuoli Yin
Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering Program Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina
I build AI-augmented optimization systems for transportation, logistics, and sustainable computing, carrying the work from problem formulation and algorithm design to large-scale simulation and deployment. I lead the Yin Research Lab at USC.
I received my Ph.D. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, advised by Prof. Hua Cai, and my B.E. in Electronic and Information Engineering from Beihang University.
Research
Our lab works where operations research meets responsible AI. We study how intelligent decision systems generalize to new conditions, operate under finite computational budgets, and deliver net sustainability benefits when deployed at scale.
AI + optimization
Learning-augmented and generative-AI methods for combinatorial optimization and sequential decision-making.
Mobility + logistics
Data-driven planning and operations for shared mobility, urban transportation, e-commerce, and supply chains.
Sustainable AI systems
Life-cycle evaluation and system design that account for the environmental costs and benefits of AI.
News
I joined the University of South Carolina as an Assistant Professor and am recruiting Ph.D. students to join my research lab.
I defended my Ph.D. thesis, Learning-Augmented Optimization Systems. Many thanks to my advisor, Dr. Hua Cai, and my advisory committee.
At the 2026 IISE Annual Conference in Arlington, TX, I presented my latest work on the sustainable use of AI for optimization and joined the panel Does AI Belong at the Sustainability Table? A Live Multi-AI Panel on Technology, Conscience, and Climate.
I received the Estus H. and Vashti L. Magoon Research Excellence Award from the College of Engineering at Purdue University.
Our paper on VLM-guided optimization for large-scale TSP was accepted to ICLR 2026.
Our paper Arthur: An Artificial Intelligence Powered Teaching Assistant System for Engineering Economics Class was published in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education.
Earlier news
Our paper Enhanced global oil spill dataset from 1967 to 2023 based on text-form incident information was published in Scientific Data.
I joined Amazon as an applied scientist intern in New York City.
I presented three works at the IISE Annual Conference 2025.
I received a Graduate Research Grant from Purdue’s Institute for a Sustainable Future to support my research on the carbon footprint of AI models.
I passed my Ph.D. preliminary exam.
I was selected as a 2024–2025 IISE Future Faculty Fellow, mentored by Prof. Uday Venkatadri.
I attended the NSF Workshop on Sustainable Computing at Purdue.
I received the 2023–2024 Lee A. Chaden Fellowship in Industrial Engineering at Purdue.
Purdue Today featured our story on Arthur, an AI-powered teaching assistant for engineering education.
I lectured IE 343 Engineering Economics to about 150 undergraduate students.
Selected publications
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ViTSP: A Vision Language Models Guided Framework for Large-Scale Traveling Salesman Problems
ICLR 2026, International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2026
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Arthur: An Artificial Intelligence Powered Teaching Assistant System for Engineering Economics Class
IJAIED 2026, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 2026
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DeepBike: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Model for Large-Scale Online Bike Share Rebalancing
Preprint, Research Square preprint, 2025
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Enhanced global oil spill dataset from 1967 to 2023 based on text-form incident information
Scientific Data 2025, Scientific Data, 12(1), 2025
Industry
Applied Scientist Intern, Amazon
Developed next-generation AI-driven tools for resilient and dynamic transportation network design, leading the full lifecycle from conceptualization and multi-source data analysis to large-scale simulation, model training, and minimum viable product delivery.
Awards
- Estus H. and Vashti L. Magoon Research Excellence Award, College of Engineering, Purdue University
- IISE Doctoral Colloquium (three participants nominated per department)
- NSF IISE Annual Conference Student Travel Award
- Graduate Research Grant, Institute for a Sustainable Future, Purdue University
- IISE Future Faculty Fellow (15 selected per year)
- Lee A. Chaden Fellowship in Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
- Graduate School Summer Research Grant, Purdue University
- Honorable Mention Poster Award, Purdue Engineering Graduate Showcase
Service
Reviewing
Conferences: TRB Annual Meeting 2026, NeurIPS 2025, ISSST 2024. Journals: Journal of Cleaner Production, Networks and Spatial Economics.
Professional societies
- Support team, Purdue Research Symposium on Operations
- Session chair, IISE Annual Conference & Expo
University
- Student representative, faculty search committee, Purdue Industrial Engineering
- Vice President, Industrial Engineering Graduate Student Organization, Purdue