About
An engineer turned strategy researcher. I like taking fuzzy problems apart, and I like actually building things.
I'm Alphonse Zhang (张靖宇), and I'm from Dalian.
A failed attempt to fix a laptop in my first year of university pulled me into laser soldering. Over the next four years my team turned a lab idea into equipment we could sell, and won national awards at the Challenge Cup and the Internet+ competition.
For my master's degree I studied power engineering and engineering thermophysics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, working on erosion in high-pressure hydrogen valves. During that time I interned at OPmobility on a 70 MPa hydrogen storage system.
In 2025 I joined Vertiv China as a strategy and market researcher. I follow data center infrastructure and the changes AI compute brings, and I help bring AI into everyday work. Outside work I take photos, play badminton, go hiking and sometimes play the guitar.
Education
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Huazhong University of Science and Technology
M.Eng., Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics
Research: flow erosion in high-pressure hydrogen valves
Selected honors
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China International College Students' Internet+ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition · National Gold Award
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Outstanding Poster Award, hydrogen energy conference
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Merit Student and Master's Academic Scholarship, HUST
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Challenge Cup National College Students' Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Competition · National First Prize
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Hubei "Changjiang Scholar" student honor
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China College Students' Self-Improvement Star (2021)
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Top 10, Hubei College Student Entrepreneurship Competition; Hubei Entrepreneurship Star
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China-US Young Maker Competition · National Finals, First Prize
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China Telecom Scholarship · Fei Young Award
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World Robot Contest · Runner-up (autonomous driving) and third place (humanoid relay)
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National Top 100 Research Report, college students' summer social practice
Media coverage
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Interview on the student team that built domestic laser soldering equipment
China Science Daily
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Guest on the show, sharing my undergraduate startup story
Hubei TV, "Young Entrepreneurs Talk"
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Coverage of the laser soldering startup
Chutian Metropolis Daily
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Sohu
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Report on the SKYWHALE startup story
Hubei Satellite TV
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Profile of Zhang Jingyu as a new-era "slash youth"
Tencent News
Skills & tools
- Industry research · Market sizing · Expert interviews · Storylines and management briefings
- Use-case analysis · Workflow design · Prompting and knowledge retrieval · Prototyping and ROI estimates
- Excel · Python · SQL / PostgreSQL · Power BI
- FLUENT · EDEM · AMESim · SolidWorks
- Photography · Video editing · Photoshop · Premiere
- Photography · Badminton · Hiking · Guitar