Dr. Rong obtained his B.S. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University in 2000, M.S. from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (USA) in 2003, and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University (USA) in 2008, all in Electrical Engineering. After getting his Ph.D., Dr. Rong joined Departmentof Micro/Nano Electronics of Shanghai Jiao Tong University as Assistant Professor. During 2014-2015, Dr. Rong joinedDepartmentof Mechanical Engineering of Stanford University as Visiting Assistant Professor. Afterwards, he worked as Senior Research Scientist in Grace Shine Inc. locatedin Silicon Valley. In 2017, he has joint appointment in Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI) as a senior project manager responsible for technology transfer of research achievements. In 2018, Dr. Rong joined the Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies (CenBRAIN Neurotech) in School of Engineering of Westlake University asResearch Full Professor. Dr. Rong is currently an expert in Science and Technology Project Review of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology, a member of the Hangzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Director of the Organizing Committee of the Westlake University Branch of Jiusan Society.

Dr. Rong’s research is on biosensors, nanophotonics, artificial intelligence, and applications in biomedicine, food safety, environment protection and biosafety. Under the current severe biosafety and food safety situation, he is particularly interested in fast onsite and efficient detection of pathogens such as SARS-Cov-2 virus. He is leading the implementation of a biosensor based on silicon nanomaterial andnanophotonics, featuring high sensitivity, short detection time and low cost. The detection system includes high throughput automatic detection interface for screening of large-scale populations, while another version of the device is a portable detector for onsite ad hoc screening, and a third version consists of a handheld detection system for self-test or home test. The biosensor is a general-purpose platform and has versatile applications in detection of different pathogens. Theobjectiveis to push forward ubiquitous, on-site, and rapid detection of pathogens that can be harmful to human health,foodand environment so that people will not be limited by access to equipment, technologies, operation conditions or personnel skills. Dr. Rong is also actively advancing frontiers in the application of artificial intelligence in the design and optimization of nanophotonic devices, and in the analysis of biosensor signal and data.