Weihang Zhu, Ph.D.
Professor of Mechanical Engineering TechnologyComputer-aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM), Smart Manufacturing, 3D Printing
The fundamental research in computational geometry has led to much result in surface and volumetric object modeling. It has found its applications in design and manufacturing, medical simulation, virtual reality and haptics. High performance computing can be achieved with desktop parallel computing by using graphics hardware acceleration, which will result in a transformative change in the field of parallel computing. We have successfully introduced hardware acceleration into our algorithms and implementation and achieved significant improvement in geometric processing speed. Our research efforts have resulted in many publications in this field. We also work with local schools and education service center for region 5 to help them obtain research experience in advanced design and manufacturing, convert what they learn to engineering curriculum in K-12 education.
Haptic-augmented Learning for Engineering Education
Research indicates that students often have difficulty in understanding science and engineering concepts and instructors, likewise, have difficulty in conveying these concepts without effective teaching tools. Computer-mediated instructional technologies, typically in Virtual Environments, hold great promise for use in educational settings in that they can increase students' access to knowledge and act as vehicles that may promote learning. Recent advances in Virtual Reality and robotics enable the human tactual system to be stimulated in a controlled manner through 3-dimensional (3D) force feedback devices, a.k.a. haptic interfaces. With the addition of haptic (sense of touch) feedback, Virtual Environment / Virtual Reality technology has much greater potential to profoundly change the nature of inquiry in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. In addition, the cost of 3D haptic interface with authentic force feedback continues to drop, which facilitates its wide adoption as the affordable next-generation human-computer interface.
Haptic, Robotics, Virtual Reality-based Medical Simulation, Augmented Reality, Brain-Computer Interface
Surgical simulation and anasthesia simluation projects (consulting with Industry). This is a Surgical simulator developed by Dr Zhu with mySmartSim Inc. With the advance of mobile computing technology and Augmented Reality (AR) hardware, AR is more promising than ever for many applications. The Zhu lab has acquired many latest VR/AR facilities. The group is also working on 3D printer design and optimization, and prosthetics for rehabilitation.
GPU-accelerated Computational Optimization
Our research group is working on Graphics hardware (a.k.a. Graphics Processing Units, GPU) accelerated computational optimization research. GPU technology is emerging as a desktop parallel computing platform that is available on many personal computers. We combine GPU technology with our research in meta-heuristics, such as Genetic Algorithms and Tabu Search, which are generic stochastic optimization algorithms for all kinds of applications in continuous optimization and combinatorial optimization.
Mobile Computing Research and Development
Our research group is interested in mobile computing research and development. One project is funded by National Science Foundation DUE-1140457 to develop and assess smartphone apps for Engineering Economics.The Lamar University team consists of Dr. Albero Marquez, Dr. Julia Yoo and Dr. Weihang Zhu.
Energy Manufacturing and Production Scheduling Optimization
Our research group is interested in energy efficient manufacturing and optimization. Topics include Natural Gas Pipeline optimization and Energy-efficient production scheduling in industry.
Mariner Safety
Our research group provides information technology support for the Mariner Safety Leading Indicators research in the Maritime Safety Research Initiative. The series of multi-years projects are in collaboration with American Bureau of Shipping. The Lamar University team consists of Dr. Brian Craig, Dr. James Curry and Dr. Weihang Zhu.
Port Management
Our research group is interested in simulation of port operations, maintenance, expansion, logistics and disaster recovery; and big data-driven fuel consumption optimization in ships. We are actively involved with the Center for Advances in Port Management.