Zhikun Cai

Zhikun Cai is a Lead Software Engineer at Cadence Design Systems since September 2019, specializing in the development and enhancement of routing engines in C++ for the Electronic Design Automation software INNOVUS. Responsibilities include optimizing cost-driven pathfinding algorithms and implementing post-route features to address routing challenges. Prior to this role, Zhikun Cai served as a Beckman Graduate Fellow at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology from May 2017 to April 2018, focusing on protein dynamics using high-performance computing. Zhikun Cai holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2013-2019) and a Bachelor's degree in Applied Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (2009-2013).