Congratulations to Chi Zhou, NSF CAREER Award recipient
Zhou holds a rare example of three-dimensional graphen, which was printed in Bell Hall.
Zhou is among nine early career researchers in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to receive the award this year
By Jessica Lyons
Published May 23, 2019
The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering is proud to announce that Assistant Professor Chi Zhou has been recognized for his excellence in research and education by the National Science Foundation with a CAREER award. The CAREER Award is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award in support of junior faculty and provides five years of funding. It is one of the most competitive awards within the NSF.
Zhou’s research project, entitled “3-D Printing of Multiscale, Multifunctional Porous Structures by Selectively Freezing Multidimensional Nanomaterials,” seeks to investigate a freeze nano 3-D printing (FNP) approach through selectively freezing and in situ ice-templating of nanomaterials to fabricate multiscale, multifunctional porous structures. This research will contribute a 3-D printing process that can fundamentally unlock structural and functional properties and lead to industrial applications in areas such as energy, health, environment, aerospace, automotive, and consumer products.
Zhou’s research will be integrated with educational and outreach activities to promote the democratization of additive manufacturing (AM) through integration of AM education at different levels. Its goal is to inspire high school students, attract freshman-level undergraduate students, train graduate students, and reach out to the general public through hands-on education and manufacturing innovation based on AM technologies. Zhou hopes to accomplish these goals by developing and publishing an open-source 3-D printing system, developing web-accessible lectures, creating a 3-D printing symposium and organizing a workshop for TINKER – a UB student-run engineering camp for high school girls.
Zhou joined UB in 2013. Previously he was a senior research and development engineer at EnvisionTEC Inc. Zhou received his PhD in industrial and systems engineering with a focus in computer aided manufacturing from the University of Southern California in 2011. He is also the recipient of 2014 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer from SME and Young Investigator Award from UB. Zhou’s current research interests are in the areas of advanced manufacturing.
