Han Hu

Professor photographed at her desk

Han Hu, assistant professor, mechanical engineering, College of Engineering. Han has been directing the Nano Energy and Data-Driven Discovery Laboratory since he joined the University of Arkansas in Fall 2019.  His research covers electronics cooling, spacecraft thermal control, and AI-enabled advanced sensing and signal segmentation. He has mentored 19 Engineering Honors scholars in research projects and business plan competitions. Many students have received prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Goldwater scholarship, Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), DART Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, and ASEE Midwest Section Conference Best Student Paper and Poster Awards (2022, 2023).

Han embraces a student-centered teaching philosophy that prioritizes the needs, interests, and active participation of students in the learning process. For example, his Machine Learning for Mechanical Engineers course has a strong focus on project-based learning and peer assessment to make students take an active role in their education and foster critical thinking, collaboration, and project management skills. In this course, students can study a problem of their interest with support for algorithm/package selection, programming and debugging, and proposal and report writing. Several students have turned their course projects into publications or honors thesis.

Han's research outcomes and mentorship has been recognized by the thermal fluids and engineering communities. At UofA, he received the Outstanding Mentor Award (2022 - 2023), the Faculty Gold Medal (2023), and the MEEG Outstanding Service to Students Award (2023).