by josh perry, editor
[email protected]

according to a report from virginia tech university (blacksburg, va.), assistant professor zhiting tian was the recent recipient of a national science foundation (nsf) faculty early career development award to continue her work in thermal modeling to predict thermal transport properties.

zhiting tian received an award from the nsf to continue her work on thermal transport.
(virginia tech university)

tian received $517,334 for a five-year project that includes “thermal modeling of hierarchical structures spanning the nano-, meso-, and macro-scales, where hierarchical incorporation of physics-based models at different length scales is needed.”

the project will also seek to validate the models through experimental data and the development of analytical models for thermal engineers and other researchers. according to the report, the project could “enable the creation of novel materials to push the extremes of heat conduction for numerous applications, including thermal energy conversion and management.”

in the article, tian said, “there are established theories for this at the macroscale and a lot of progress has been made at the nanoscale, but in the middle, the mesoscale transport is not well understood.”

tian, who received her doctorate from the massachusetts institute of technology (mit) in 2014, will also be working with the science museum of western virginia, vingina tech’s kid’s tech university and the center for enhancement of engineering diversity on outreach programs to encourage interest in thermal engineering.

according to the nsf website, the career program supports “early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”

tian works with the zt group at virginia tech, an interdisciplinary group of researchers using computational modeling and experimental characterization of energy transport.

learn more about the zt group and its work in the video below: