McNeese Professor Named ASME Fellow

Dr. Ning Zhang, professor of mechanical engineering at McNeese State University, has been named a Fellow of the 2019 class of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

ASME is a nonprofit organization created to promote multidisciplinary engineering through professional outreach, education, training and development, publications and research, and the establishment of industry codes and standards.

Founded in 1880, ASME has more than 100,000 members in over 140 countries. Less than 4% of ASME members attain the rank of fellow, which is awarded to outstanding researchers with significant contributions to the field.

“This fellowship means a lot to me,” says Zhang. “The McNeese administration has been very supportive of my research, and, while McNeese is not a major research institution, this honor shows that research conducted by professors and students here at McNeese does make a positive impact on the engineering community.”

Zhang earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University. While at McNeese, his research has focused on fluid engineering issues that affect coastal areas in Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas, including coastal erosion, flood and storm surge management, and sediment and salinity transport.

Zhang has also worked with students to develop software that uses computer modeling to test dynamic fluid scenarios and solutions. He has received several endowed professorships and a Pinnacle Excellence Award that have funded his research.

In addition to presenting his research at conferences and organizing technical symposiums for ASME, Zhang chaired the organization’s Computational Fluid Dynamics Technical committee from 2012 to 2016 and he is the current chair of the Fluids Engineering Division Honors and Awards committee. He is also an associate editor for the Journal of Fluids Engineering.