About Dr. Yinlun Huang
Professor, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Director, Laboratory for Multiscale Complex Systems Science and Engineering
Project Director, NSF Sustainable Manufacturing Advances in Research and Technology (SMART) Coordination Network
Director, Sustainable Engineering Graduate Certificate Program, College of Engineering
Education
Ph.D., Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 1992
M.S., Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 1988
B.S., Zhejiang University, China, 1982
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 1992-1993
Research Interests
- Multiscale Complex System Modeling, Control, and Optimization
- Integrated Process Design and Control
- Process and Product Synthesis and Integration
- Sustainable Systems Engineering and Industrial Ecology
- Computational Nanocoating Design
- Large-scale System Analysis and Decision Making
- Information Processing and Computational Methods
- Systems Biology
Research Projects
Research Statement and other Highlights:
Economic globalization, depletion of nonrenewable resources, pollution of air, water, and soil, global warming, etc., have raised a very serious question to the global society: how can industrial development be sustainable? Sustainability is undoubtedly one of the most challenging areas of research in scope, scale, size, and sophistication. The Laboratory for Multiscale Complex Systems Science and Engineering that I am directing has focused on both the theoretical study on multiscale science and complexity and the applied research ranging from sustainable (nano)material design to industrial system restructuring for sustainable development.
Theoretical research:
We pursue the research in two paths: (a) aiming at enhancing product functionality and performance and improving process energy/material efficiencies and environmental quality at the macroscale (10-1~102 m and 100~103 sec), we extend our study down to material design at the micro- or even nanoscale (10-6~10-9 m and 10-6~10-9 sec), and (b) in view of product and process systems as basic elements at the macroscale, we move up to examine the triple-bottom-line issues of sustainability of the industrial zones/regions at the megascale (103~104 m and 107~108 sec). The research through either path is featured by its multiscale complexity. We are developing a theoretical foundation for quantitative sustainability and qualitative sustainability using multiscale science and complexity theory.
Applied research:
Our active projects are in the areas of: (i) design and application of hierarchical, multifunctional, environmentally benign nanocomposite materials, (ii) integrated design, control, and optimization of sustainable energy-chemical poly-generation systems, and (iii) industrial-zone-focused sustainability via large-scale modeling, analysis, and decision making under uncertainty. All the studies are through industrial collaboration.