Dr. Jun Zhang's Project Wins a Prestigious National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant

Dr. Jun Zhang, a professor of physics and mathematics at NYU Shanghai, has been awarded a prestigious National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant of RMB 1.05 million for four years. Zhang's collaborator on the grant is Professor Jie Zhou from ECNU. The proposal for this grant is entitled "Electric field induced convection of charge-carrying spheres: Experimental and numerical studies."

"The proposed project aims to study how individual moving objects, such as many fast-walking people on a busy pedestrain crossing, spontaneously form large-scale 'streams' or 'avenues', which is very efficient for all the individuals to move through a finite space. Similar phenomena are observed in many physical systems as well as in many social settings such as traffic flows and in animal schools and flocks. Our project is designed to identify, characterize, and even predict the emergence of these large-scale structures," says Zhang. 

Zhang also works as professor of physics and mathematics at NYU in New York City. Since 2001 he has been the co-director of the Applied Math Laboratory in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He holds a PhD in physics from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

Zhang’s research interests lie in the field of physics of fluids and complex systems, which includes biomechanics or bio-locomotion (organismal swimming and flying and walking), geophysical fluids (thermal convection, continental dynamics, and erosion), solid-on-solid friction, urban heat-island effect, and self-organization phenomena at different scales.