Biography:
      Dr. Wenbing Zhao is a full Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at Cleveland State University (CSU), Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics from Peking University, Beijing, China, in 1990 and 1993, respectively, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Prior to joining Cleveland State University in 2004, Dr. Zhao worked as a post-doctoral researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara, and as a senior research engineer/chief architect at Eternal Systems, Inc. (now dissolved), which he co-founded in 2000.  
    Dr. Zhao has done research in several different areas, including fault tolerance computing, computer and network security, smart and connected healthcare, machine learning, Internet of Things, quantum optics and superconducting physics. Currently, his research focuses on smart and connected healthcare. Dr. Zhao’s recent research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Ohio Department of Higher Education, Ohio Advancement Office (via the Ohio Third Frontier Program), US Department of Transportation (via CSU Transportation Center), Cleveland State University, and private companies.
      In the field of smart and connected health, Dr. Zhao has focused on developing computer-vision based technology for human motion tracking and the integration of wearable sensing for daily life tracking and delivering realtime interventions. One of his highly successful projects is the development of a privacy-aware compliance tracking system (PACTS). The project was initially sponsored by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation while PACTS was designed to enhance compliance to best practices for nursing assistants in skilled nursing facilities. Lost productivity from lower back injuries in workplaces costs billions of US dollars per year. A significant fraction of such workplace injuries is the result of workers not following best practices. Previous studies have shown that a multifaceted approach would have to be used to improve the situation. Hence, this project integrates body mechanics training and a technology-based real-time intervention solution to reduce workplace injuries. In this project, Dr. Zhao pioneered a novel approach of integrating computer vision and wearable sensing to facilitate privacy-aware tracking of activities of consented users. This technology makes it possible to use the computer vision technology in venues where privacy of non-consented people (such as patients at the hospital and skilled nursing facilities) is essential. This patent pending technology has been deployed at a skilled nursing facility in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. In April 2018, Dr. Zhao was interviewed by a team of journalists of the Plain Dealer, the largest newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio, and reported the PACTS technology as a potential solution to reduce nursing home injuries in both the printed version of the newspaper and on the newspaper website.