About
Hi! I am Biru, a designer and engineer working at the intersection of architecture, AI, and creative technology. At MIT, I explore how computation and design can shape new ways of interacting with space, materials, and systems. My work has been recognized by the iF Design Award, A’ Design Award, and IDA, and supported by MIT innovation programs. I co-founded FOODres.AI, a 3D printer that turns food scraps into functional objects. My research has been published in Urban Climate and presented at ACADIA. I’m interested in building tools and experiences that push boundaries and make emerging technologies more accessible and expressive.
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Master of Science in Design Computation (with merit fellowship), GPA: 4.9/5.0
Master of Science in EECS
2023–2025
Harvard University
Master of Architecture Ⅰ
2017–2021
Nanjing University, School of Architecture and Urban Planning
Bachelor of Engineering, Major in Urban Planning, GPA: 3.8/4.0
2012–2017
Work Experience
Hosta AI: Software Engineer, 3D Computer Vision
2024
MIT: Winter Semester Workshop Instructor, Research Assistant
2024
Publications & Conferences
GeoNarrative: Transforming geospatial textual data into narrative storytelling visualizationMa, R., Cao, B., Yap, W., Gao, J., Peng, W., Nagakura, T., Duarte, F., Santi, P., & Ratti, C.Accepted full paper, IEEE VIS 2026.
2026
Nestwork: Conditional 3D Furnished House Layout Generation through Latent Heterogeneous Graph DiffusionMiao, S., Cao, B., & Zhuang, J.Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 27093–27103.
2026
Measuring shaded bike lanes for heat stress mitigation with deep learning: A case study in Amsterdam, NetherlandsCao, B., Sun, M., & Bardhan, R.Urban Climate, 57, 102126.
2024
ACADIA (Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture) 2024 Conference
Project Presentation: Street View Scene Reconstruction via Multi-View Sketches Using Deep Learning.
Honors & Awards
iF Design Award 2025 Winner
2025
2024 International Design Awards (IDA), Honorable Mention
2025
2024 IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge Cohort
2024
MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program 2024 Spring Funding
2024
Chancellor’s Innovation Fund 2023
2023
2024 Independent Activities Period (IAP) Mini-Grant
2023
MIT School of Architecture and Planning Merit Fellowship
2023
Xu Xin International Exchange Scholarship
2016
Activities
Harvard XR 2023 Extended Intelligence Conference, Planning Team Member
2023
China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, Volunteer
2019
Exhibitions
Special Exhibition of Yongning Temple in Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty, Luoyang Museum
"Peony Pavillion: An Object Play" Immersive Theatre, Harvard University
Skills
Design: UI/UX, AR/VR, 3D Modeling, 3D Printing, Prototyping
Software: Figma, Blender, Unity, Rhino+Grasshopper, AutoCAD, Cinema4D, SketchUp, Lumion, Adobe Creative Suite
Programming & ML: Python, C#, JavaScript (Three.js), HTML/CSS, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Open3D, PyTorch3D, COLMAP