Faculty profile: Yu Zhou

As a child, Yu Zhou saw robots on television and like many children, became fascinated.

“You always see robots in cartoons as a kid. They can fly, they can talk, and of course it’s fascinating to a child. As you get older, you develop a curiosity and an understanding for how they work.”

Zhou, who earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, joined the SUNYIT faculty this fall as associate professor of mechanical engineering.

“It’s an exciting time to be here, with all the establishment of nanotechnology facilities here on campus,” he says. “I think people are still exploring [what the future will be with nanotech]. They are looking at how to apply the knowledge and have an understanding of it.”

Going from a specialization in robotics to teaching nanotechnology was not a large leap for Zhou, who says that robotics have a large overlap with the field of nanotechnology.

“Automation is a more classic term, but some people put it in a fancier way – robotic process,” he says of his specialty. “And robotics are at regular size and nanoscale.”

He points to the example of a simple automobile robotics system of a motor connected to four wheels. Zhou says giving the system a command of going in a straight line may not always yield the most accurate results that one would want, and you may not end up with the machine going in the straightest of lines.

“It’s a general phenomenon in all robotics systems,” he says. “This situation becomes more significant in small, nanoscale systems.”

As an interdisciplinary field, robotics encompasses mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software and programming, computer science, and even communications, Zhou says, and many of the techniques that are developed for one field can often be applied to others.

Combining the disciplines that make up robotics with the burgeoning fields of study in nanotechnology may seem like a lot for a student to take in all in one class, but Zhou hopes that he can use his own experiences to help students develop a strong understanding of the field’s core concepts.

“I’d like to make learning a little bit easier for students. Text books can be great, but sometimes it’s a little difficult for first year students to absorb all of the topics and information coming at them. You need to sometimes help them establish an understanding. I try to do so by thinking about when I first learned of a particular topic and what allowed me to understand it,” Zhou says. “If there’s one thing I want them to walk away with, it is an understanding of the basic foundations that we are talking about. It’s like in physics. If you understand the basic foundation of physics, the other elements, as you go along, are just added on to the basic axioms.”