PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kevin Huang

Kevin Huang is a robotics researcher whose AI work includes generating training images and using neural networks to identify surgical tools in endoscopic images. He earned electrical engineering graduate degrees at the University of Washington in 2015 and 2017, and joined Trinity College as an assistant professor of engineering in 2017. His 2021 and 2022 papers explored synthetic surgical images and image transformations for surgical-tool segmentation. He moved to Smith College in 2023 and took part in its Robotics Outreach Initiative in 2025. As of October 2026, he is an associate professor of engineering at Smith and an affiliate professor in the University of Washington's Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Works
52
Citations
346
h-index
11
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2013

    An NSF research fellowship

    He receives a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2013. Working with advisor Howard Chizeck at the University of Washington, he studies correspondence between deformable three-dimensional shapes to support haptic feedback and robotic surgery.

  2. 2015–2017

    Electrical engineering at Washington

    With a B.S. in engineering and mathematics from Trinity College, he earns an M.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Washington in 2015 and a Ph.D. in 2017. His graduate work concentrates on systems, controls and robotics, including haptic feedback and virtual fixtures for remotely operated robots.

  3. 2017

    Assistant professor at Trinity

    In 2017, he joins Trinity College as an assistant professor of engineering.

  4. 2021

    Synthetic images for surgical tools

    He coauthors “Local Style Preservation in Improved GAN-Driven Synthetic Image Generation for Endoscopic Tool Segmentation” in 2021. The team uses generative adversarial networks to create synthetic surgical-tool images, improving U-Net segmentation of tools in endoscopic images.

  5. 2022

    U-Net for surgical-tool segmentation

    In 2022, he coauthors “Surgical Tool Segmentation with Pose-Informed Morphological Polar Transform of Endoscopic Images.” The study tests image transformations with the U-Net convolutional neural network on 8,360 endoscopic images from real sinus surgery.

  6. 2023

    Joining Smith College

    He joins Smith College's engineering faculty in 2023, after teaching at Trinity College and leading its undergraduate robotics research program. His research includes interfaces and security for remotely operated robots, legged robot locomotion, and image-based assistance for minimally invasive surgery.

  7. February 2025

    Robotics outreach at Smith

    In February 2025, he is part of Smith's Robotics Outreach Initiative, which organizes student teams to create robotics programs for learners in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

  8. As of October 2026

    Faculty at Smith and Washington

    As of October 2026, he is an associate professor of engineering at Smith College and an affiliate professor in the University of Washington's Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Career

  1. Since 2023Smith CollegeEngineering faculty
  2. NowUniversity of WashingtonAffiliate Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
  3. From 2017Trinity CollegeAssistant Professor of Engineering

Education

  1. 2017University of WashingtonPh.D. in electrical engineering
  2. 2015University of WashingtonM.S. in electrical engineering
  3. Trinity CollegeB.S. in engineering and mathematics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Huang and Sanehira Receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships ece.uw.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Kevin Huang | UW Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering ee.washington.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Year in Review, 2017-18 | Trinity College trincoll.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Local Style Preservation in Improved GAN-Driven Synthetic Image Generation for Endoscopic Tool Segmentation scholarworks.smith.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Surgical Tool Segmentation with Pose-Informed Morphological Polar Transform of Endoscopic Images scholarworks.smith.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Kevin Huang www1.smith.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Building Confidence One Robot at a Time smith.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Summer Science & Engineering Program smith.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.