Jian Zhou is currently a postdoctoral appointee in the Center for Nanoscale Materials & Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. Under the co-mentorship of Drs. Daniel López, David Czaplewski, and Jin Wang, he is working on the fundamental mechanics of nanometer-thick materials and devices. He received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Binghamton under the guidance of Prof. Ronald Miles. His thesis research pioneered the bioinspired flow microphone, a new scheme to detect sound that has been commercialized by Soundskrit. He will join the Mechanical Engineering department at the State University of New York at Binghamton as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2023.

Research Interests

nanomechanics, micro/nanomanufacturing, M/NEMS, vibration, acoustics

Selected Research Highlights

• Nature Physics: ​“Spidey sense.”
• PNAS: ​“Spider webs as auditory sensors.”
• BBC: ​“Insects and mobile phone”
• Scientific American: ​“These Spiders Use Their Webs Like Huge Silky Ears.”
• The Washington Post: ​“Do spiders hear? Some can use their webs to detect sound.”
• Binghamton News: ​“Spider silk microphone.”
• Cornell News: ​“Orb-weaver spider uses web to capture sounds.”

Selected Publications

*corresponding author; ^†equal contribution

• Jian Zhou*, Junpeng Lai, Ronald R. Hoy*, Ronald N. Miles*. ​“Orb-weaving spiders can hear using their webs.” TheScienceBreaker (2023) (invited paper).
• Peco Myint, Miaoqi Chu, Ashish Tripathi, Michael J. Wojcik, Jian Zhou, Mathew J. Cherukara, Suresh Narayanan, Jin Wang, Zhang Jiang. ​“Multislice forward modeling of Coherent Surface Scattering Imaging on surface and interfacial structures.” Optics Express 31, 11261-11273 (2023).
• Hoover Pantoja-Sanchez, Brian Leavell, Bianca Rendon, W.A. Priyanka P. de-Silva, Jian Zhou, Gil Menda, Ronald R. Hoy, Ronald N. Miles, Neil D. Sanscrainte, and Ximena E Bernal. ​“Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls.” (revision in J. Exp. Biol.)
• Jian Zhou^†*, Junpeng Lai^†, Gil Menda, Jay A. Stafstrom, Carol I. Miles, Ronald R. Hoy*, Ronald N. Miles*. ​“Outsourced hearing in an orb-weaving spider that uses its web as an auditory sensor.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119, e2122789119 (2022).
• Jie Zhang, Yingjie Li, Siyi Cheng, Jian Zhou*, Shuo Wang, Dongyuan Zhao, Chao Shi, Fuyin Ma, Xiaoming Chen*, Jinyou Shao. ​“Orb-web-inspired polymer-carbon nanocomposite mesh-film for acoustic sensing.” ACS Applied Nano Materials 5, 14654−14662 (2022).
• Jian Zhou^†, Jinxing Jiang^†, Donald A. Walko, Dafei Jin, Daniel López, David A. Czaplewski, and Jin Wang. ​“On-chip picosecond synchrotron pulse shaper.” arXiv:2211.03567 (2022).
• Donald Walko, Jinxing Jiang, Jian Zhou, Burak Guzelturk, Xiaoyi Zhang, David A. Czaplewski, and Jin Wang. ​“Measuring the x-ray flux from MEMS devices for timing applications.” Proc. SPIE 12240, pp. 1224009-1. (2022). 
• Jian Zhou*, Nicolaie Moldovan, Liliana Stan, Haogang Cai, David A. Czaplewski, and Daniel López*. ​“Approaching the strain-free limit in ultrathin nanomechanical resonators.” Nano Lett. 20, 5693–5698 (2020).
• Jian Zhou, Boxiao Li, Jian Liu, Wayne E. Jones Jr, and Ronald N. Miles. ​“Highly-damped nanofiber mesh for ultrasensitive broadband acoustic flow detection.” J. Micromech. Microeng. 28, 095003 (2018).
• Jian Zhou, and Ronald N. Miles. ​“Directional sound detection by sensing acoustic flow.” IEEE Sens. Lett. 2, 1501204 (2018).
• Ronald N. Miles, and Jian Zhou. ​“Sound-induced motion of a nanoscale fiber.” J. Vib. Acoust. 140, 011009 (2018).
• Jian Zhou^†, and Ronald N. Miles^†. ​“Sensing fluctuating airflow with spider silk.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114, 12120-12125 (2017). 
• Jian Zhou, Ronald N. Miles, Shahrzad Towfighian, ​“A novel capacitive sensing principle for microdevices.” ASME 2015 IDETC-CIE 57113, V004T09A024 (2015). 
• Jian Zhou, Tao Jiang, Jiwei Jiao, Ming Wu. ​“Design and fabrication of a micromachined gyroscope with high shock resistance.” Microsyst. Technol. 20, 137-144 (2013).
• Jiang, Tao, Jian Zhou, and Fei Feng. ​“Study on designs of stoppers for MEMS devices in shock environment.” Appl. Mech. Mater. 184, 510-515 (2012).

Commercialized Patents

• Ronald N. Miles, and Jian Zhou. ​“Fiber microphone.” US Patent 11,006,219 (2021). 
• Sahil K. Gupta, Stephane Leahy, Iman Moazzen, Ronald N. Miles, and Jian Zhou. ​“Directional microphone and system and method for capturing and processing sound.” US Patent App. 16/960,673 (2020).