Our Faculty

Background

Jian Zhou joined the Mechanical Engineering Department as an assistant professor in fall 2023. Prior to this, he conducted postdoctoral research on nanoengineering at Argonne National Laboratory and received his PhD in mechanical engineering from Binghamton University. His thesis work pioneered the bio-inspired flow microphone, which has been commercialized by Soundskrit.

He currently directs an interdisciplinary nanoengineering research group that develops new paradigms of nanodevices, multiscale nanoengineered materials, and precision sensing, control and imaging tools. The research efforts are aimed at addressing crucial societal challenges in health, energy, information and security. His research has garnered recognition and featured in esteemed journals, magazines and news media, including PNAS, Nature Physics, Scientific American, The Washington Post and the BBC.

Research Lab: Nanoengineering Research Group

Selected Publications

• Zhou, J., Huang, R., Moldovan, N., Stan, L., Wen, J., Jin, D., Nelson, D. R., Košmrlj, A., Czaplewski, D. A., and López, D., Rippled metamaterials with scale-dependent tailorable elasticity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122 (2025).
• Zhou, J., Lai, J., Menda, G., Stafstrom, J.A., Miles, C.I., Hoy, R.R. and Miles, R.N., Outsourced hearing in an orb-weaving spider that uses its web as an auditory sensor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (2022).
• Zhou, J., Jiang, J., Walko, D.A., Jin, D., López, D., Czaplewski, D.A. and Wang, J., On-chip picosecond synchrotron pulse shaper. arXiv: 2211.03567 (2022).
• Zhou, J., Moldovan, N., Stan, L., Cai, H., Czaplewski, D.A. and López, D., Approaching the strain-free limit in ultrathin nanomechanical resonators. Nano Letters, 20 (2020).
• Zhou, J. and Miles, R.N., Sensing fluctuating airflow with spider silk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (2017).

Selected Research Highlights

• Scientific American: These Spiders Use Their Webs Like Huge Silky Ears
• The Washington Post: Do spiders hear? Some can use their webs to detect sound
• PNAS: Spider webs as auditory sensors
• Cornell News: Orb-weaver spider uses web to capture sounds
• Binghamton News: New study shows spiders use webs to extend their hearing
• BBC: Insects and mobile phone
• Nature Physics: Spidey sense
• Binghamton News: Spider silk microphones

Research Interests

• Nanoengineering and NEMS
• Nano mechanics and manufacturing
• Acoustics and vibration
• Bio-inspired engineering

Related News Stories

• New research examines how nanoscopic ripples affect material properties
• Thinner than hair, stronger than steel — and able to hear? How spider silk research led to a new kind of microphone