Zhen Xu
Director Of Augmented Reality Lab at China Nanhu Academy of Electronics and Information Technology
Ames, Iowa, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolZhen Xu is a director-level AR researcher and engineer with 13 years of experience bridging academia and industry in electrical and computer engineering. Based in Ames, Iowa, he leads the Augmented Reality Lab at China Nanhu Academy, translating sensor, microfluidics, and embedded systems expertise into practical AR and robotics solutions. His background spans C++, Java, MATLAB, Android, and AutoCAD, and he has hands-on experience with MEMS, electrophoresis, and system-level robotics at Quicktron and Bright Dream. Zhen is also an active open-source back-end contributor to the well-known Apache Calcite project, where he has fixed SQL query processing bugs and added features that improve streaming CSV and code generation for complex types. He holds advanced degrees from Iowa State University (MS, PhD-level work in EEE) and began his engineering foundations at Tsinghua, combining rigorous research methods with product-focused delivery. Colleagues value his ability to move between low-level hardware integration and high-level software systems to ship robust, multidisciplinary solutions.
13 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 3.78, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 3.78 at Iowa State UniversityBachelor of Science (BS), Automation Engineer Technology/Technician, Bachelor of Science (BS), Automation Engineer Technology/Technician at Tsinghua University
Github Skills (8)
apache-calcite10
javas10
big-data10
code-generation10
sql10
java10
calc10
unit-testing9
Programming languages (15)
Github contributions (5)
apache/calcite
Dec 2015 - Jan 2021
Apache Calcite
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:30 reviews, 10 commits, 17 PRs in 5 years 1 month
Contributions summary:Zhen primarily contributed to the Apache Calcite project by fixing bugs and implementing new features related to SQL query processing. Their work included addressing issues with OFFSET clauses, adding support for streaming CSV tables, resolving ambiguities in ORDER BY clauses, and improving code generation for specific data types like java.sql.Date. The user also addressed issues related to DISTINCT applied to VALUES and code generation for UNION operations.
geospatialapache-calcitesqlapachebig-data
zinking/Coursera
Jun 2015 - Jan 2023
Contributions:24 pushes in 7 years 8 months
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