Department of Mechanical Engineering

Xu receives 2050 Challenge Fellowship

 

Zhonghua Xu, a PhD mechanical engineering student studying under Assistant Professor Qingze Zou, has received a Waters 2050 Challenge Graduate Fellowship.

The College of Engineering established the fellowships to support PhD students whose research addresses engineering issues related to sustainability and quality of life over the next four decades. Jim Waters, vice president of Caterpillar Production Systems Division and a 1981 graduate in electrical engineering, and his wife, Karleen,recently donated funds to assist the college in meeting its priorities. A portion of their donation is being used for the fellowships, and the College of Engineering general fund provides the remaining support.

Xu’s research is part of a project funded by the NSF Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry. He is working to develop novel control techniques to achieve rapid mapping of nanoscale broadband viscoelasticity (NBVS) spectroscopy using a scanning probe microscope. Rapid NBVS mapping has applications to cellular biology, helping scientists gain a better understanding of such things as the cell healing process.

Related information

College of Engineering awards 2050 Challenge Fellowships

The 2050 Challenge

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