October 12, 2020

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Yuwen Zhang

Yuwen Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was recently named a University of Missouri Curators’ Distinguished Professor. The University of Missouri Board of Curators unanimously approved this designation on Sept. 24, 2020.

“This is great news to be recognized for the highest academic rank in the University of Missouri System,” Zhang said. “I believe the College of Engineering is a critical part of the MU campus. With this designation, my hope is to bring recognition and visibility from the campus and also the system to the College.”

Curators’ Distinguished Professors are nominated by their departments or disciplines. These nominations are then reviewed by campus administration, and if approved, presented to the Board of Curators for approval. Only five MU faculty members were named a Curators’ Distinguished Professor across campus.

“Professor Zhang has established himself as an internationally recognized expert in the field of heat and mass transfer with applications in nanomanufacturing, thermal management, energy storage and conversion, and biomedical systems,” Interim Mizzou Engineering Dean Noah Manring said. “This honor from the curators of the University of Missouri affirms Professor Zhang’s international reputation.  We couldn’t be prouder of our faculty.”

The field of heat and mass transfer is important in engineering, according to Zhang, because there are many applications for its use and study, from traditional applications like power generation, refrigeration, and chemical engineering, to more advanced applications like electronics cooling, manufacturing and material processing, energy storage and bioengineering.

About Zhang

Zhang’s research interest is heat and mass transfer and its applications in manufacturing, thermal management, and energy systems. He has published more than 320 journal papers, over 180 conference papers, and seven books. Zhang has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in several topics, including thermodynamics, heat transfer and gas dynamics.

Zhang is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is an associate editor or editorial board member for over 10 industry journals. Zhang has served as a panelist or reviewer for the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA and many other agencies. He has been with Mizzou since 2003 and received his PhD from the University of Connecticut.