Professional experience

Prof. ZHANG, Rui obtained a BS degree in physics in 2007 from the Department of Physics at Fudan University, China. Before he joined the Department of Physics at HKUST in 2020 as a PI, he worked with Liew Family Professor Juan J. de Pablo, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, the University of Chicago in the United States, where he collaborated with Horace B. Horton Professor Margaret Gardel’s group on actin filaments, an important type of biopolymers. Prior to his postdoc experience at the University of Chicago, he did his PhD with Prof. Joel Koplik on nano fluids simulations from 2009 to 2013 at the Benjamin Levich Institute and the Department of Physics at the City College, a senior flagship college in the City University of New York system. During his PhD, he also collaborated with Prof. Taehun Lee’s group on droplet impact simulations.

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Prof. Zhang has a broad interest in Computational Soft Matter Physics, with a focus on biologically relevant systems, such as biopolymers and bacteria suspensions. The overarching goal of his research group is to understand emerging phenomena in nature and borrow the wisdom to design biomimetic materials to help tackle human’s grand challenges in energy, health, and environments. Specifically, his group strives to develop theoretical frameworks and multiscale simulation tools, including molecular dynamics and computational fluid dynamics, to understand the complex dynamical phenomena in a wide range of soft matter and biophysical systems. His group is closely working with world-leading experimentalists to test model predictions, interpret new observations, and further design synthetic materials for practical applications. His current research interests include active matter, liquid crystals, multiphase and porous materials, and mechanical metamaterials. He is also interested in applying machine learning for certain materials design problems.