The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS) is pleased to announce that Zhaodan Kong, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis, has been appointed associate director of CITRIS at UC Davis.
Kong received his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University. In 2015, he joined the faculty of UC Davis, where he directs the Cyber-Human-Physical Systems (CHPS) Lab. His research focuses on collaborative assured autonomy for advanced aviation and integrating principles from control theory, artificial intelligence, formal methods and cognitive science to enhance safety, trust and transparency in emerging aviation systems.
Kong holds affiliations with the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS), a multicampus institution supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF); the multicampus, interdisciplinary NSF Center for Pandemic Insights; the UC Davis Air Quality Research Center; the UC Davis Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine; the UC Davis Center for Space Exploration Research and the NASA-sponsored Habitats Optimized for Mission of Space Exploration (HOME) Space Technology Research Institute; and the UC Davis Wildfires Research Working Group.
He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Vertical Flight Society and a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and IEEE.
“We are thrilled to welcome Zhaodan to the leadership team at CITRIS at UC Davis,” said Sam King, director of CITRIS at UC Davis. “Zhaodan’s focus on using novel research to solve society’s biggest problems and dedication to student mentorship epitomize the spirit of CITRIS.”
Kong’s relationship with CITRIS dates back to his first few months at UC Davis, when he met with former campus director Bahram Ravani.
“As I learned more about CITRIS, I found myself really drawn to its mission of turning research into solutions that make a difference in the real world,” said Kong. “That philosophy closely matches how I think about engineering, as a way to help people and address real societal challenges.”
In the years since, his ties have strengthened considerably: He received CITRIS Seed Awards in 2021 and 2022, and advised student teams for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 iterations of the CITRIS Aviation Prize competition. He also serves on the CITRIS Aviation leadership committee.
Earlier this year, Kong was named one of the five recipients of a 2025 CITRIS-CDSS Innovation Fellowship and AIC Award. He will use the award to develop a full prototype of his AI-assisted ground–air wildfire early warning system, FireFly — a project stemming from his 2022 Seed Award — for pilot deployment with the Grass Valley Fire Department.
“I’m truly excited to join the CITRIS family and to work closely with Sam King,” he said. “I look forward to supporting CITRIS faculty, staff and partners, and to helping strengthen CITRIS’s presence and impact at UC Davis and across the broader CITRIS community.”
Kong’s appointment as associate director began Jan. 14.