Xuedong Zhu (Sander lab) received his B.Eng. in Biological Engineering with an emphasis on genetics and chemistry at Jilin University, China in 2017. His dissertation was about polymer dots synthesis and their applications in biomedical imaging. He was first introduced to neurophotonics as a first-year BME rotation student in Dr. Michelle Sander’s lab in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, where he worked on the infrared nerve stimulation (INS) projected. He officially joined the lab at the end of first year and is focusing on understanding the biophysical mechanisms of INS and investigating novel optical systems for external neurostimulation. He expects to graduate in 2022.