Associate Professor at University of Science and Technology Beijing, China
Dr. Yongnan Jia is an accomplished academic and researcher specializing in control science and engineering, with a keen focus on multi-agent systems and swarm intelligence. Currently serving as an Associate Professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, he has built a reputation for developing novel approaches in the modeling and control of complex systems, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His extensive interdisciplinary background combines physics, system architecture, and electronic science, enabling him to bridge theoretical concepts with practical applications in automation and robotics. Dr. Jia’s collaborations with international researchers, including his postdoctoral work under Prof. Tamas Vicsek in Hungary, underscore his global research engagement and expertise in collective behaviors and bio-inspired control systems.
Profile
Scopus
Education
Dr. Jia began his academic journey at the Beijing University of Technology, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Science and Technology in 2007. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Dynamics and Control at Peking University in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Long Wang. His doctoral work laid the foundation for his future research in robotic swarming and decentralized control. Furthering his academic development, he pursued postdoctoral research in both the University of Science and Technology Beijing and Eötvös Loránd University, gaining invaluable experience in biological physics and system engineering. This diverse educational path has provided him with both theoretical rigor and applied engineering expertise, essential for his ongoing innovations in distributed control and autonomous systems.
Experience
Dr. Jia’s professional experience reflects a seamless integration of academia and industry. Prior to entering academia full-time, he worked as a systems design engineer at the Institute of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Technology and the Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, where he focused on architectural system design. Since 2016, he has held several academic roles at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, progressing from postdoctoral fellow to lecturer, and then to associate professor in 2020. His leadership is further exemplified by his service as Vice Secretary-General of the Professional Committee on Intelligent Internet of Things System Modeling and Simulation under the Chinese Society for System Simulation. Dr. Jia has also contributed to several patented technologies and authored a technical book published by Springer, highlighting his commitment to both theoretical advancement and technological innovation.
Research Interests
Dr. Jia’s primary research interests lie in the domains of distributed control, multi-agent systems, UAV swarming strategies, and biologically inspired coordination mechanisms. His work is often situated at the intersection of cybernetics, robotics, and control theory, aiming to create scalable solutions for the coordination of autonomous agents in both aerial and underwater environments. He has developed advanced models that explore phase transitions in swarm behavior and applied dynamic Bayesian networks to UAV confrontation strategies. He continues to push the boundaries of how collective behavior can be harnessed for real-world applications in smart environments and intelligent transportation.
Awards
Dr. Jia’s innovative contributions have earned him multiple accolades throughout his career. In 2024, he received the Outstanding Paper Award at the China Conference on Intelligent IoT Systems. He was honored with the Excellence Award at the 2023 Air Force Aviation Innovation Challenge and secured the First Prize in the 13th Young Teachers’ Basic Teaching Skills Competition at his university. His previous honors include multiple prizes at the RoboCup China Open, the Innovation Award from Peking University, and recognition for his excellence in both academic and social endeavors.
Publications
Yongnan Jia, “A Scheme for Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management in Low Altitude Airspace,” Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, 2025, 46(11): 531399 – cited by 23 articles.
Yongnan Jia, Linjie Dong, Yuhang Jiao, “Medical image classification based on contour processing attention mechanism,” Computers in Biology Medicine, 2025, 191: 110102 – cited by 18 articles.
Yongnan Jia, Yu Guo, Weilin Zhang, “Coordination in strictly metric-free swarms: evidence for the existence of biological diversity,” Royal Society Open Science, 2025, 12: 241569 – cited by 15 articles.
Yongnan Jia, Jiali Zhao, Yu Guo, “Shape formation of swarm robots based on parallel strategy,” Engineering Research Express, 2025, 7: 015260 – cited by 9 articles.
Yongnan Jia, Jiali Han, Qing Li, “Noise-induced phase transition in the vicsek model through eigen microstate methodology,” Chinese Physics B, 2024, 33(8): 090501 – cited by 11 articles.
Qing Li, Lingwei Zhang, Yongnan Jia*, “Modeling, analysis, and optimization of 3D restricted visual field metric-free swarms,” Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2022, 157: 111879 – cited by 29 articles.
Yongnan Jia and Tamas Vicsek, “Modeling hierarchical flocking,” New Journal of Physics, 2019, 21: 093048 – cited by 45 articles.
Conclusion
In summary, Dr. Yongnan Jia represents a dynamic figure in the fields of control science and autonomous systems, merging academic excellence with engineering practice. His work on UAV coordination, intelligent systems, and swarm behavior modeling is not only theoretically robust but also highly applicable to future technological challenges. Through a combination of research, teaching, patent contributions, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Dr. Jia continues to influence both the academic community and the broader field of intelligent control systems.