NRT PhD Trainees—2022-2023
Cohort starting in 2022-2023
Matthew Ferguson
Matt is a PhD student in Optics. As an undergraduate, he studied optical engineering. He has extensive industry experience in optical design and modeling. He has done some internships at Photon Engineering in Arizona, and at Corning Tropel in Fairport, NY. Matt has also done a co‐op at ASML in Wilton, CT.
Research interests: Matt wants to focus his research on the application of freeform optics and metasurfaces to AR/VR optical systems. He will be researching how the two can be combined to further the performance and capabilities of AR/VR.
LinkedIn: Matthew Ferguson Info
Yunfan Gong
Yunfan is a doctoral student at the Warner School of Education. She is interested in the design and implementation of social and tactile augmented reality to support undergraduate STEM learning and K‐12 after‐school science clubs. She worked as a research assistant on a project of incorporating an AR table in chemical engineering labs. This work helped engineering students with authentic settings, visualization enhancements, and physical tools for collaboration.
Research interests: Currently Yunfan is working on a discovery research project that studies practicing and pre‐service science teachers' justice‐centered ambitious science teaching practices.
LinkedIn: Yunfan Gong Info
Paul Jolly
Paul studies with Michele Rucci in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He came from an electrical engineering background primarily focused on developing a gaze-contingent VR environment in Unity for psychophysical experiments, which helped guide the overall design of a retinal prosthetic.
Research interests: At Rochester, Paul is working on developing a head-mounted version of the digital dual-Purkinje image eye‐tracker. With this high‐precision device, he plans to study how eye movements shape the visual input signals to the retina during natural head‐free tasks.
LinkedIn: Paul Jolly Info
Chi Zhang
Chi is a PhD student in Optics. Previously, he worked on an AR/VR‐based visualization platform for folded optical systems. In this work, he concentrated on bridging optical design software with the Unity frontend. In this project, he developed practical programming skills and a basic understanding of human‐object interaction in argument reality.
Research interests: Chi is currently studying focal zoom system designs using freeform optics.
LinkedIn: Chi Zhang Info
Zhihong Zhang, MS, RN
Zhihong is a doctoral student at the University of Rochester School of Nursing. She is specifically interested in examining resilience in symptom trajectory in older adults with advanced cancer receiving cancer treatment. Zhihong is also an active member of the Oncology Nursing Society, Sigma Theta Tau, and Eastern Nursing Research Society.
Research interests: Resilience, geriatric oncology, patient-reported symptoms.
SON website: School of Nursing PhD Student Bios