Wenrui Hao named Huck Chair in AI Mathematical Modeling
Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics, has been named the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in AI Mathematical Modeling. He is one of three Penn State faculty to be named Huck chairs by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences in recognition of their research endeavors and track records of service to key Huck units.
The Huck chairs were established in 2002 by Penn State alumni J. Lloyd Huck and Dorothy Foehr Huck to provide research faculty with prestigious positions and resources to advance their work in the life sciences.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to have the vision and backing of the Hucks, whose endowment makes initiatives like these Huck chairs possible,” said Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. “[The newly appointed chairs] are not just outstanding researchers, they are valued leaders in our graduate programs and research ecosystem. We are so grateful to have them as part of our Huck team and to support their research excellence and dedication to our broader community.”
Hao was appointed the new director for the Center for AI and Mathematical Biology last year and is a member of the Neuroscience Institute and the Bioinformatics and Genomics grad program.
Hao focuses his research on health-related computational modeling: digital twin modeling, where he creates a dynamic virtual model of a patient or group of people to simulate disease progression in order to analyze and improve potential treatment options; virtual clinical trials, using digital tools and technologies to recruit participants, collect data and monitor outcomes without requiring in-person visits; personalized treatment predictions for Alzheimer’s disease; and data-driven computational modeling of aneurysms.
Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State in 2016, Hao was a postdoctoral fellow in the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University from 2013 to 2016. He earned a doctoral degree in applied mathematics at the University of Notre Dame in 2013; a master's degree in computational mathematics at Nankai University in Tianjin, China in 2008; and a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, China in 2005.