Group on Intelligent Design of Autonomous Materials
at HKUST
PI: Rui Zhang
Rui is a physicist by training, interested in soft matter and specialized in computational modeling. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Prior to joining HKUST as a PI, he worked with Professor Juan de Pablo at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, where he had a successful collaboration with Professor Margaret Gardel's group in active liquid crystals. He pursued his PhD with Professor Joel Koplik in the Levich Institute and the Department of Physics at the City College of New York, where he focused on molecular dynamics simulations of nano-fluidic phenomena and collaborated with Professor Taehun Lee's group. Prior to his trip to the United States, he obtained a BS in Physics from Fudan University in China.
Members
Yulu Huang
PhD Candidate (Aug 2020 - )
Email: yhuangek[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Yulu obtained a B.Sc. Degree in Engineering Mechanics in 2017, and M.S. Degree in Solid Mechanics (thesis: study on toughening mechanism of graphene/metal bio-inspired nanocomposites) in 2020, both from Beihang University, School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering. Prior to joining HKUST, her research was focused on understanding the mechanism of bio-inspired nanocomposites and polycrystalline materials through molecular dynamics simulation. Her current research involves simulations of bacterial suspensions and liquid crystals.
Weiqiang Wang
PhD Candidate (Aug 2020 - )
Email: wwangch[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
2018.09-2020.07 Master student in the Department of Power Machinery and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology.
2014.09-2018.07 Bachelor student in the Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology.
Current research areas: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Active Liquid Crystals.
Shengzhu Yi
PhD Candidate (Aug 2021 - ), joint with Prof. Qihuo Wei, SusTech.
Email: syiaa[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Shengzhu obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in School of Biomedical Engineering in 2021 (Thesis: Origami/Kirigami Inspired Magnetic Soft Robots for Biomedical Applications), both from Sun Yat-sen University. Before joining HKUST, his research was focused on designing and fabricating magnetic robots by origami/kirigami methods. His current research involves simulations of liquid crystal defects.
Haijie Ren
Graduate Student (Sep 2022 - )
Email: hrenae[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Haijie received his bachelor's degree in Energy and Power Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2018. Afterwards, he got his master's degree in Computational Mechanics from Ecole Centrale de Nantes in France in 2020, with a CSC Scholarship awarded by the Chinese government. Haijie joined the China State Key Laboratory of Aerodynamics as a Research Assistant in 2020. He has worked on computational fluid dynamics and machine learning. Haijie's current research interests are liquid crystals and machine learning.
Wentao Tang
Graduate Student (Sep 2022 - )
Email: wtangam[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Wentao obtained a bachelor's degree in School of Material Science and Engineering in 2022 from South China University of Science and Technology. Afterwards, he got his master's degree in department of material science under the guidance of Prof. Satoshi Aya from South China University of Science and Technology in 2022. His current research involves simulations of smectic liquid crystals and blue phase liquid crystals.
Zeyang Mou
Graduate Student (Sep 2022 - )
Email: zmou[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Zeyang received her bachelor’s degree from Sichuan University in 2019 and master’s degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2022. Prior to joining HKUST, her research was focused on the singularity of multiphase flow. She systematically studied singular jets after a water-in-oil compound drop impact on a solid surface based on a combination of experiments and simulations. She was a research assistant in Zhang’s group from 10.2021 to 01.2022, studying the surface torques and stresses on particles immersed in liquid crystals, which relates to her current research projects - active systems with interfaces.
Jiusi Zhang
MPhil Student (Sep 2023 - )
Email: jzhanged[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Jiusi graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His capstone project, supervised by Professor Zhang, delved into the intricacies of topological defects and jamming transitions in biological tissue monolayers. This work was primarily conducted through simulations using the Active Vertex Model. Jiusi's ongoing research interests continue to focus on this area, exploring the dynamic behaviors and properties of biological systems through computational modeling.
Xiwen Chen
Graduate Student (Sep 2023 - ), joint with Prof. Ophelia Tsui
Email: xchenhe[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Xiwen earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in the Department of Physics from Xiamen University. During his academic journey, he focused on investigating the structure transition of nanomaterials through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and heat transfer in air with finite element simulations. As of now, his research primarily centers around simulating smectic liquid crystals and polymers using MD simulations.
YU Keming
Graduate Student (Sep 2023 - ), joint with Prof. Tiezheng Qian
Email: kyuam[at]connect[dot]ust[dot]hk
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Keming recieved a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics in University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's degree in applied mathematics in Imperial College London, with a master thesis on hydrodynamic instability. He has worked on both theoretical and computational fluid dynamics. His current interest is in active complex fluids and active turbulences.
Undergraduate students
CHENG Chun Hei (Edwin): Recipient of UROP Support Grant.
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LI Hung Yu (Billy): UROP student.
Alumni
Feng Zhe (Nov/2022 - Sep/2023), now at A*Star.
Chung Wing (Kyle) Chan (Sep/2021 - Aug/2023), now Research Assistant, HKUST (GZ)
Xinyu Wang, Postdoc (Jan/2021 - June/2023), now Postdoc at U. Michigan.
Chun Yin (Tony) Chau, IRE (Sep/2020 - Aug/2021), now PhD student at CS@HKUST.
King Long Fong, IRE (Sep/2020 - Feb/2021), now in Germany.