Dr. Zhou’s specialty is the development and application of engineering stability analysis and optimization techniques to lightweight composite structures. The key contributions of her doctoral work at UMBC lay in three areas of applied mechanics. First, a new model updating scheme based on the reference basis method was used to infer the material properties of a living wheat stem. Second, a new analytical description of the mechanical stability of this strongly anisotropic, nodally segmented thin wall tubular structure was developed. And third, a systematic analysis procedure was developed to identify new stem selection criteria for wheat breeders seeking to enhance stem strength and wind tolerance.

Since graduation, Dr. Zhou has received accelerated approval of her request for Permanent Residency in the United States. She is happily reunited with her husband and son, and currently living close to New York City. She is negotiating employment terms and hopes to join General Electric at their Global Research Center in the near future.