News
Our Lab Receives Research Laboratory Grant to Develop Sophisticated Sensor Array
From RIT News February 19, 2024
We are developing an innovative sensor system inspired by harbor seal whiskers, aiming to revolutionize underwater detection and tracking. The team's interdisciplinary approach integrates expertise in flow physics, biomechanics, AI, and 3D printing to create compact, highly sensitive sensors capable of spatial recognition in marine environments. This project will be conducted in collaboration with the computer engineering department, which brings expertise in AI and vision-language intelligence. This groundbreaking endeavor holds the potential to advance scientific exploration in previously inaccessible underwater areas.
Researcher receives Naval Research Laboratory grant to develop more sophisticated sensor array
Research paper of the Flow Physics and Modeling Lab accepted in nature
January, 2024
This remarkable achievement reflects the collaborative efforts of the Flow Physics and Modeling Lab and our partners at the University of Southern Denmark, University of Vienna, and Odense University Hospital.
The paper, titled "Evolutionary novelties underlie sound production in baleen whales," explores the production mechanism of mysticete sounds. It combines excised larynx experiments on three mysticete species and computational models to demonstrate that mysticetes evolved unique laryngeal structures for sound production.
Stay tuned for further updates, as we will provide the link to the paper once it is available online. This research represents a significant step forward in our understanding of marine mammal communication and evolution.
Dr. Xue's research on seal whisker featured in RIT newsletter
Faculty member develops new sensor and signaling technology by exploring harbor seal whiskers
Dr. Zheng wins 2022 UMaine Presidential Award
From UMaine News, April 14, 2022
Zheng, who joined the UMaine community in 2012, conducts internationally recognized research in biofluid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics with the potential to inform a range of biological and medical applications. Zheng has developed and utilized advanced computer modeling techniques to improve understanding of the biophysics of various flow-related functions in humans and animals, including the mechanics of speech production.
His pioneering research in the past decade has led to the development of the first-of-its-kind high-fidelity multi-physics voice production model — computer modeling of phonation to better understand the mechanics of speech production. The biomechanical speech production simulations of flow-related phenomena to understand the underlying physics have long-term implications for the way physicians diagnose and treat speech disorders.
Zheng’s research also contributes to fundamental understanding of the relationship between vocal fold biomechanics and voice outcomes, informing voice disorder diagnosis and treatment. His long-term goal is to understand the mechanism that is responsible for the range, complexity and uniqueness of the human voice in order to provide personalized voice care.
Zheng’s biophysics research to improve human voice health and to develop innovative simulation-assisted voice care treatment technologies has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
His computational modeling and analysis of flow structure-acoustics interactions can have multiple applications beyond voice production, such as the detection of heart murmurs generated by the flow-induced motion of heart valves, and the reduction of noise due to the blade-vortex interactions in wind turbines. He has developed innovative computer modeling techniques to study the flow structure-acoustics interaction in the biolocomotion of fish and flying insects that could lead to development of swimming and flying robots, and in collaboration with UMaine researcher Qian Xue, Zheng is investigating the hydrodynamic sensing mechanism associated with seal whisker geometry.
UMaine names 2022 Presidential Award winners
Research paper of the CFMS group published in PNAS
March 28, 2020
Congratulations to Weili Jiang (equally contributed first author) from the CFMS group on publishing a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS, 2018 Impact factor 9.58)!
The title of this paper is High-fidelity continuum modeling predicts avian voiced sound production. The study is a collaboration with the Elemans Lab from the Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark. The CFMS applied the high-fidelity computational models developed in the lab to the vocalization of birds, which (quite surprisingly) shares similar mechanisms with mammal phonation. The Elemans Lab conducted the experimental research using dissected bird syrinx that provided strong validation of the simulation approach.
See what the authors have to say about the significance of the paper:
"Vocal communication is critical to the reproduction and survival of mammals and birds. Computational physics-based models can facilitate understanding the relation of voice physiology to sound, but there is currently an absence of thorough experimental validation. Here, we present and experimentally test a high-fidelity, continuum model for voiced sound production in birds that includes anatomically realistic geometries of the syrinx and associated vocal tract. We show that, driven by physiologically quantifiable inputs, our model accurately predicts vibration and sound parameters. These data strongly support the continuum model approach as an important component of a causal model of voiced sound production."
Dr. Zheng receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award to study human voice production
From UMaine News March 23, 2017
Creating a better understanding of how humans use and control their voice is the focus of a five-year study being led by Dr. Xudong Zheng, a researcher from University of Maine.
Mechanical engineering professor receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award to study human voice production