Siyang Hao is a Research Associate at the University of Virginia, working within the ONR Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. His current work examines how phase differences between swimmers shape the hydrodynamic benefits of robotic fish schooling, supported by a closed-loop water tunnel facility he engineered around an automated, cyber-physical experimental workflow.

He received his Ph.D. in Engineering (Fluid Mechanics) from Brown University in 2025, advised by Prof. Kenny Breuer, with a thesis titled “Surfing on Vortices: Interactions of Flapping Flight in Vortex Wake”. The work combined wind tunnel experiments on live birds, bio-inspired robotic platforms, and the flapping-wing robot Flaproo — featured by National Geographic — to understand how flapping flyers interact with structured vortex wakes.

Siyang earned his M.Sc. in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2019, where he led the compliant flapping-wing ornithopter USC Raven, and his B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Beihang University (BUAA) in 2017, where he developed the Distributed Multi-Vectored Propulsion (DMVP) system.

Research Summary

His research interests span fluid mechanics & bio-inspired robotics, covering

• experimental fluid mechanics (PIV, hot-wire anemometry, automated wind and water tunnel testing)
• unsteady aerodynamics, vortex-wake and fluid–structure interaction
• animal locomotion, flight mechanics, and robotic flyers and swimmers
• flow control for wind energy and unmanned vehicles