Dr. Zhang seeks to advance basic science involving heat transfer and thermodynamics and apply the result to cutting-edge technological problems. After spending three years as a guest scientist in the Optical Technology Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), he started an academic career in 1995 at the University of Florida, where he established a strong research program in thermal radiation and microscale heat transfer, including the development of a Microscale Thermal Radiation (MicroRAD) Laboratory for research and teaching and the creation of several new courses in microscale thermal science and advanced measurement technology. He began at Tech in Fall 2002 as an Associate Professor.