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Hi, I'm Mason.

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Mason Liu
PhD
Johns Hopkins
Engineering
2
Companies
Founded
NASA · NSF
Grant-Funded
Research
ATP
Tour Coach
(Shanghai QF)
#23
NCAA National
Ranking

Researcher, founder, athlete

I grew up in Beijing and moved to the United States during high school to train at IMG Academy. Over the past decade, my journey has taken me across science, sport, and technology — shaping a mindset focused on translating deep technical work into products, policy, and performance that create real impact.

I am a PhD candidate in Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University (Whiting School of Engineering), advised by Dr. Scot Miller. My dissertation — Quantifying Wetland Methane Fluxes in Arctic-Boreal North America — uses aircraft observations, atmospheric transport models, and Bayesian inverse modeling to constrain high-latitude greenhouse gas emissions. My research is supported by NASA ABoVE and an NSF NCAR Graduate Visitor Program Fellowship.

Prior to my PhD, I earned a Master of Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy) and a Bachelor's degree in Business Analytics (STEM) from George Washington University.

As a founder, I lead two companies. Advanced Universal Ventures commercializes DSIM, an event-driven power-electronics simulator that eliminates convergence failures and cuts simulation time by up to 95% — targeting EV, renewable-energy, data-center, and aerospace workflows. MigosMigo builds Rally, a cross-platform social app for racket-sport players worldwide, with partner matching, coach booking, community rankings, and gamified engagement.

Tennis remains central. I competed in NCAA Division I & III tennis, reached a national singles ranking of No. 23, and continue on the sideline: serving as tour coach on the ATP Tour — most recently guiding Mark Wallner and Jakob Schnaitter to the quarterfinals of the 2025 Rolex Shanghai Masters with a victory over the reigning Olympic champion.

Beyond the lab, court, and startup work, I create bilingual educational content on Bilibili and RedNote, reaching 7,000+ followers and 300,000+ views with 80+ original pieces on science, entrepreneurship, and sport.


What I'm building toward

Technology entrepreneurship and venture creation; commercialization of deep-tech research in power electronics, climate analytics, and AI; innovation in regulated industries — energy, healthcare, sustainability; design and scaling of social-impact ventures; AI-enabled product development and consumer technology platforms.

Deep-Tech Commercialization Power Electronics Climate Analytics AI / LLM Agents Energy & Sustainability Consumer Tech Social-Impact Ventures

Ventures I Lead

Two active companies commercializing deep-tech and consumer platforms. Click through to learn more.


Where my time goes

Research

Climate science, methane inverse modeling, and atmospheric remote sensing. First-author peer-reviewed publications and NASA- and NSF-funded projects quantifying how greenhouse gases move through the atmosphere.

Entrepreneurship

Founder & CEO of Advanced Universal Ventures (DSIM simulation engine) and MigosMigo (Rally sports app). Building deep-tech and consumer products from zero to market.

Tennis & Athlete Development

Coaching players from college to the ATP Tour. Thinking about how data, technology, and intentional practice help athletes compete at the highest levels — including a Shanghai Masters QF run in 2025.

Education & Mentorship

Creating content and communities that help students and young professionals find their own path — across languages, disciplines, and borders. 80+ bilingual educational pieces, 300K+ views.


Highlights

4.0
PhD & Master's GPA
#23
NCAA National Ranking
ATP
Tour Coach
1st Author
Peer-Reviewed Publications
ITA Scholar-Athlete
100+
NCAA Match Wins
300K+
Content Views
2
Companies Founded

Degrees

2023 — May 2027 (expected)

PhD, Geography and Environmental Engineering

Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering · 4.0/4.0 GPA
  • Dissertation: Quantifying Wetland Methane Fluxes in Arctic-Boreal North America
  • Advisor: Dr. Scot Miller · Graduate Student Service Award (2024)
2022 — 2023

MHS, Environmental Health and Engineering

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · 4.0/4.0 GPA · Outstanding Essay Award · Certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy
2018 — 2022

BS, Business Analytics (STEM) · Minor in Communications

George Washington University · 3.84/4.0 Major GPA

Awards & Grants

2026

NSF NCAR Graduate Visitor Program (GVP) Fellowship

National Science Foundation
2023 — 2027

NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Research Funding

NASA
2023

Outstanding Master's Essay Award

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2023

Graduate Student Service Award

Johns Hopkins University
2023

All-Centennial Conference First Team

Centennial Conference (Tennis)
2022 — 2023

Academic All-American

Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)
2022

Academic All-District

Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)
2018 — 2025

ITA Scholar-Athlete Award (6x)

Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)

Technical Skills

Programming

Python R MATLAB SQL (PostgreSQL) Swift Java C/C++ Bash / Shell

Data Science & Modeling

Bayesian Inverse Modeling Geostatistics Regression Classification Clustering Time Series Analysis Atmospheric Modeling LLM / Agent Integration STILT GEOS-Chem

Product & Engineering

Full-Stack Mobile & Web Event-Driven Simulation High-Performance Computing (HPC) AWS Linux / Unix Git / GitHub Xcode VS Code LaTeX

Languages

Chinese / Mandarin (Native) English (Native / Bilingual) Spanish (Elementary) French (Elementary)

Teaching & Mentorship

Aug — Dec 2026

Instructor of Record, The Science and Society of Climate Change

Johns Hopkins University
  • Independently designed and taught a 10-week course linking greenhouse gas science, climate risk, markets, policy, and AI-enabled climate solutions
  • Built an active-learning format with team exercises and a final presentation to strengthen participation and collaborative problem-solving
Jan — May 2024

Program Lead & Mentor, WISE Climate Data Science Mentorship

Johns Hopkins University
  • Mentored two high school students on a semester-long data science project evaluating Baltimore's Climate Action Plan
  • Featured in interviews with WebsEdgeScience and nstatv for contributions to science communication
Jan — May 2022

Mathematics Tutor

Stuart-Hobson Middle School · Washington, DC
  • Designed and delivered weekly math lectures for four middle school students, improving grades by an average of 10%
Jan 2021 — Present

Educational Content Creator

Bilibili & RedNote (Xiaohongshu) · Bilingual: English & Mandarin
  • 80+ original bilingual content pieces on environmental science, data literacy, and health
  • 7,000+ followers and 300,000+ views across platforms

Leadership & Community

2025

Peer Reviewer

Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (AGU)
Feb 2025

Team Lead — Carbon Tracer AI

Google Gemini Hackathon
  • Built an AI-powered app to quantify individual carbon footprints using Google APIs and LLM-based reasoning
May 2026

Team Lead & Full-Stack Developer — MCP Shield

IBM Bob Hackathon
  • Built an MCP security scanner that scores risk (0-100) across MCP configs, tool definitions, and prompt content with severity-level diagnostics
  • Developed a TypeScript/React dashboard and reporting flow that produces plain-language findings with JSON/Markdown exports
2021 — 2022

Vice President, International Students Association

George Washington University
  • Represented the organization to school officials and 20+ cultural groups
  • Managed 21 student leaders and raised $1,000+ in event funding

How to engage

Whether you're reviewing candidates, evaluating ventures, or exploring research collaboration — here are the fastest paths to what you're looking for.


Recent Work