Prof. Zhang's research occupies the fast lane: the aerodynamics of airplanes and racing cars. But his major focus is helping to alleviate a huge problem that affects ordinary people: aircraft noise.

The expertise of Prof. Xin ZHANG, who joined HKUST in January 2015, lies in two research areas: aircraft aerodynamics and aeroacoustics, and racing car aerodynamics and performance. During his time at the University of Southampton, Prof. Zhang most notably was director of the Airbus Noise Technology Centre, the first of its kind in the world. He also pioneered the academic study of racing car aerodynamics; a significant number of Prof. Zhang's former students now hold key positions as senior engineers and designers in Formula One teams.

Prof. Zhang's role at HKUST is to develop the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as a center of excellence for aerospace engineering. The reduction of aircraft noise will be one of the key aspects of research: this is of great importance as noise generated by airplanes has a huge impact on people's lives and is detrimental to health.

HKUST is supporting Prof. Zhang's work with the establishment of a modern aeroacoustics research tunnel, a unique wind tunnel for aerodynamics and noise technology, set to open in September 2016. This unique world-class facility will play a major role in developing new noise reduction methods and technology.

Prof. Zhang is a graduate of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he gained a BEng in aerospace engineering in 1979. He won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, and he completed his PhD in fluid mechanics in 1987. In 2012 he and his team were part of Southampton University's submission that won the Queen's Anniversary Prize for work in engineering supporting high-performance sport. He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.