Before I came to the U.S. for my Ph.D study, I had worked as an engineer  in an electronic company for ten years. Located in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, this company is one of the major resistor and potentiometer manufacturers in China. The products include: metal-film resistors, oxide-film resistors, and high-voltage potentiometers. These electronic components are mainly used in TV sets. This company provided more than half of the demanded resistors of the Changhong Electric Co., Ltd, the largest TV manufacturer in China.

Between 1989 and 1993, I worked in the company's routine laboratory as a technician and an assistant engineer successively. My main responsibilities included: supervising, guiding and training the eight-laboratorian lab staff; Cooperating with the workshops to improve the product quality; helping engineers from the governmental labs to do appraisal and modeling experiments.

In 1993, after recommended by the company and passing the national exam, I was sent to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT)  of Japan to study telecommunication technology. I studied different telecommunication methods in the NTT Suzuka Training Center, and visited several NTT facilities and some of its component providers in Japan.

Between 1993 and 1999, I worked in the technology developing section as an assistant engineer and an engineer successively. During those six years, I did the following work: Negotiated as project manager with foreign companies for potential cooperation; Acted as interpreter at meetings between the foreign partners and the factory officers; translated foreign technical materials and provided new technology information for the factory directors; Compiled Feasibility Reports for potential projects.