Giving_to

Practical noise solutions from fundamental physics

By Prof Ping Sheng

Chair Professor, Department of Physics, Dr William M W Mong Professor of Nanoscience

Date:	19 Oct 2017

Time:	12:30 pm - 2 pm (Lunch included)

Venue:	HKUST Business School Central 15/F, Hong Kong Club Building 3A Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong

Enquires:	Miss Fanny Yue 2358 5019 / science.for.lunch@ust.hk

Noise is still a pernicious problem even in the 21st century. Researchers from HKUST have become the first university team in the world to develop a metamaterial that can address this long-standing conundrum, winning the Brillouin Medal for their achievements from the International Society for Phononics. Professor Sheng who leads the team, will explain an approach to the noise problem by using fundamental physics to delineate what is ultimately possible for sound absorption structures, with already-implemented examples to demonstrate how such “optimal” acoustic installation can now be designed to a minimal thickness as dictated by the laws of nature, as well as tailored to the types of noise involved. These relatively lightweight and inexpensive structures have many practical applications for use in vehicles, aircraft and city residential buildings, especially in tackling low-frequency noise such as the traffic hum.

Prof Ping Sheng
Chair Professor, Department of Physics, Dr William M W Mong Professor of Nanoscience

Professor Ping Sheng is Chair Professor of Physics and Dr William M W Mong Professor of Nanoscience at HKUST. He joined HKUST in 1994 as a Professor of Physics and was Head of the Physics Department from 1999 to 2008. He obtained his BSc in Physics from the California Institute of Technology, and his PhD in Physics from Princeton University in 1971. From 1979 to 1986 he worked with the Exxon Corporate Research Lab, latterly as Head of its Theory Group.

Professor Sheng is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Member of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials. He was named Technology Leader of the Year by the Sing Tao Group in 2002 and received the National Natural Science Award (second class) from the State Council of the People’s Republic of China in 2014. He has published more than 460 papers receiving some 31,000 citations, rated by Google Scholar with an h-index of 84. He has also made over 300 presentations at international meetings and conferences. His current research interests include acoustic metamaterials, superconductivity in carbon nanotubes, nanostructured graphene, giant electrorheological fluids and fluid-solid interfacial phenomena.