Stanley Ling, a new faculty member at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, hopes to broaden the world of engineering by answering fundamental questions.
Published on: November 28, 2022; Updated on: November 28, 2022
By Hannah Cambre, hcambre@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-2930
How can I design an engine that offers excellent gas mileage while producing as little pollution as possible? This is the type of question that keeps modern mechanical engineers up at night. For Stanley Ling, the question is a little different. His goal is not to design the most efficient engine in the world – he prefers to understand the fundamental theory of how energy and heat transfer work so that other scientists have the tools to answer their pressing questions.
As a young boy growing up in China, Ling loved math and physics, but his career path was shaped by more than fun. “I didn’t want to do research out of curiosity and for fun,” he explains. “I chose engineering because I want to solve problems.”
After completing his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at Beihang University in 2004, he decided to pursue his doctorate in the United States. In 2010 he completed his doctorate. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Florida, where he stayed for two more years to conduct postdoctoral research. Soon he realized he wanted to see more of what the world of mechanical engineering had to offer. This is what brought him to Paris.
“We didn’t have a lot of people doing fluid mechanics, so we were lucky to have Stanley, who is doing it at an exceptional level internationally.”
Hossein Haj-Hariri, Dean of USC College of Engineering and Computing
At the Jean Le Rond d’Alembert Institute of Sorbonne University, Ling had the opportunity to continue his postdoctoral work alongside high-calibre researchers in one of the most renowned research schools in Europe. The university’s laboratories are linked to national research centers. Ling therefore had access to the resources and researchers that helped make the Sorbonne a respected name in fluid mechanics and computer modeling.
It was a transformative experience, which will shape the trajectory of his career. He says, “I decided that, yeah, I wanted this for the rest of my life.”
From Paris, Ling moved to Texas, where he began his college career at Baylor University. At the critical juncture of tenure assessments, Ling decided to take a risk and seek out a university where he could push the boundaries of his research even further.
Ling found this opportunity at the University of South Carolina, where he was deeply impressed with high-performance computing capabilities. There are two main approaches to mechanical engineering: one relies on measuring results using equipment in a laboratory, while the other uses very advanced computer simulations to predict results. Ling’s research builds on the latter.
Using simulations, Ling hopes to address fundamental questions about physics that still preoccupy engineers — those questions that have not been answered by repeatedly reproducing physical results in a lab. He believes that simulations are essential for providing the knowledge needed to solve a multitude of application questions, and that better computers allow better results to be obtained from simulations.
Ling is excited about the future of mechanical engineering and the research he will do at USC. In particular, he is eager to use the additional computer resources that the College of Engineering and Computer Science plans to acquire next year. He enjoys working alongside his colleagues in the college’s large mechanical engineering department on pressing issues in fluid mechanics.
Travis Knight, Director of the Mechanical Engineering Department, says, “He found a number of collaborations early on, and that speaks to the value of what he brings in terms of research capabilities and diversity of applications.
Hossein Haj-Hariri, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, is also eager to add Ling to the impressive list of high-calibre faculty members the college has recruited since 2016. After launching a a highly successful aerospace engineer who also draws heavily from at the mechanical engineering faculty, Haj-Hariri knew he needed someone to fill a critical gap. Ling was the perfect candidate.
“We didn’t have a lot of people doing fluid mechanics, so we were lucky to have Stanley, who is doing this at an exceptional international level,” says Haj-Hariri. He is confident that in addition to the college’s state-of-the-art labs and impressive facilities, Ling and instructors like him will be an asset to aspiring engineering students at the university, as well as to its research profile and collaboration with the body. professorial. It will also continue the college’s recent record for hiring world-class researchers.
“Once you know we’re hiring people of this caliber, it becomes easier,” says Haj-Hariri. “When we bring people in for interviews, they want to be here.”
Editor’s Note: Ling joins the College of Engineering and Computer Science with colleagues Golareh Jalilvand, assistant professor of chemical engineering; Forest Agostinelli and Christian O’Reilly, assistant professors of computer science and engineering; and Kristen Booth, assistant professor of electrical engineering.
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Subjects: Faculty, Academics, Research, College of Engineering and Computer Science
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