A Pioneer in Automation Receives NJIT's 2019 Excellence in Research Award
MengChu Zhou, a pioneer in automation science and engineering who optimizes systems, from manufacturing, to data centers, to transportation, to glean efficiencies and improve outcomes, is this year’s winner of NJIT’s Excellence in Research award.
Zhou, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, uses Petri nets – mathematical models that track discrete events in distributed systems – plus the internet of things, big data analysis and machine learning to build smart systems. He is currently working on information and control flows in semiconductor manufacturing that will increase productivity with cost- and time-saving improvements, among others.
On the efficiency side, Zhou is exploring methods to realize net zero energy data centers, which require vast amounts of electricity to run their systems and to cool them, by accurately predicting the timing of tasks and scheduling them optimally to computing servers. He is also working with mechanical engineers on technology that would use inexpensive, highly-scalable heat sources to power potentially huge vacuum generators. Applications include water treatment facilities at hydraulic fracturing sites and tunnels for extremely high-speed trains.
Atam Dhawan, senior vice provost for research, called Zhou “a pioneer in his field,” particularly for his work on Petri nets.
“For the past three decades, his work in automation science and engineering has improved manufacturing products and the processes for making them,” Dhawan said. “Importantly, his leadership in the field – as a prolific scholar, the editor of numerous influential journals, and a keynote speaker at conferences around the globe – has inspired others to push boundaries.”
Indeed, Zhou’s impact is felt well beyond NJIT’s campus.
He has been among the most highly cited scholars over the past several years and was ranked number one in the field of engineering in 2012 by Web of Science/Thomson Reuters. He has published more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including nearly 400 in IEEE Transactions and over 300 in conference proceedings, and has written or edited 12 books and co-authored 29 book chapters. He is the founding editor of the IEEE Press Book Series on Systems Science and Engineering, the editor-in-chief of IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica and an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems and the IEEE Internet of Things Journal.
NJIT President Joel Bloom called Zhou “the consummate professor.”
“He’s an outstanding researcher, a mentor to students and a friend to faculty,” Bloom said, while noting Zhou’s many accomplishments and peer recognition.
He is, for example, a fellow of IEEE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Federation of Automatic Control and the Chinese Association of Automation. He holds 12 patents for technologies ranging from robotic manufacturing systems to vacuum generation, with several more pending.
Zhou was the recipient of the Computer-Integrated Manufacturing University Leadership and Excellence in the Application and Development Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Norbert Wiener Award from the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society. Since joining NJIT in 1990, he has received the Excellence in Research Award from Newark College of Engineering in 2018, the Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Engineering Education Award in 2012 and the Harlan J. Perlis Award for Research in 1996.
“Thank you for what you are doing, not just for NJIT, but for what you are doing for the world,” said Marjorie Perry ’05, chair of the Board of Overseers.
Addressing his many well-wishers at the ceremony last night, Zhou began with what he called his four-word motto: “Work hard, play hard.” By work, he described his full-on commitment to his research area and the concentrated focus – and many, many hours – needed to achieve his goals. By play, he means tennis. A serious competitor, Zhou issued a humorous – but very real! – challenge to any potential takers in the crowd.
In addition to friends and family, he warmly thanked the university for giving him “the freedom to pursue his research interests” and his collaborators on campus for creating an environment that nurtures intensive research. “I consider myself very fortunate to work with you.”
Wrapping up the ceremony, Overseer Emil Herkert, a co-founder of the event in 2008, remarked: “Eleven years later, I am amazed by the amount of research that has evolved from NJIT. But not just evolved, how it has changed society.”
