Norman Zhou, PEng

Norman Zhou is a Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Advanced Materials Joining and Processing in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and also cross-appointed into the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Waterloo Institute of Technology, the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology and Water Institute, at the University of Waterloo.

Professor Zhou is the Associate Director of the Centre for Advanced Materials Joining (CAMJ) at the University of Waterloo. CAMJ aims to develop innovative technologies for materials joining and processing, including micro- and nano-joining. CAMJ collaborates with leading companies in the industry for research and development, and also trains and works with students.

Professor Zhou’s expertise lies in the areas of advanced welding and joining technologies, nanomaterials fabrication in applications such as nanosensing and water treatment, and laser processing of shape memory alloys. His research has applications in several areas such as microelectronics, medical and health-related, and automotive industries. He is a fellow of CAE, AWS and ASM.

Professor Zhou has authored and co-authored over 400 refereed journal papers and several books, including “Microjoining and Nanojoining” and “Joining and Assembly of Medical Materials and Devices”. Professor Zhou is a co-founder of SmarterAlloys.com. He has trained over 50 MASc and 30 PhD graduates, and 60 PDFs/visiting scholars since 2000.

• Advanced Materials Joining, Microjoining, Nanojoining, Bonding Mechanisms, Joint Performance, Materials Science and Technology, Mathematical Modeling, Automotive, Medical Components and Devices, Nanotechnology, L​ightweight Materials, Nano-electronics, Nano-materials, Drinking water, Process Development & Optimization, Metallurgy, Computational Modelling, Process Monitoring, Welding (laser resistance welding etc.) for automotive applications, Brazing/Soldering, Additive Manufacturing, Water, Nanotechnology, Advanced Manufacturing

• 1994, Doctorate Metcallurgy and Materials Science, University of Toronto, Canada

• 1986, Master's Mechincal Enginering, Tsinghua University, China

• 1983, Bachelor's Mechnical Engineering, Tsinghua University, China

• 2017 in Advanced Materials Joining and Processing

• 2011 Fellow of ASM

• 2015 Fellow of AWS

• 2020 Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE)

• 1986 Excellent paper award

• 1991 University of Toronto Doctoral Open Fellowship

• 1992 Ontario Graduate Scholarship

• 1992 University of Toronto Doctoral Open Fellowship

• 1993 Ontario Graduate Scholarship

• 1994 Silver prize of graduate essay competition of CIM in 1994:

• 2003 Best Paper of Session in the 36th International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS, Nov. 18-20, Boston, MA)

• 2004 One of the leading papers and topical published in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

• 2005 Highly Commended Award 2006 by Emerald Literati Network on Fluxless Plasma Bumping of Lead-free Solders and the Reliability Effects of Under Bump Metallization Thickness

• 2005 Premier's Early Researcher Award by the Government of Ontario on Laser Welding of Advanced High Strength Steels for Automotive Applications

• 2005 Philips Best Paper, The 6th International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology (ICEPT 2005), August 30 - Sept. 2, Shenzhen, China

• 2003 Microjoining

• ME 436 - Welding and Joining Processes
  • Taught in 2025
• ME 735 - Special Topics - Welding and Joining
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• M.H. Razmpoosh, A. Macwan, E. Biro, D.L. Chen, Y. Peng, F. Goodwin, Y. Zhou, Liquid metal embrittlement in laser beam welding of Zn-coated 22MnB5 steel, Materials & Design, 375, 2018

• C. DiGiovanni, E. Biro, N.Y. Zhou, Impact of liquid metal embrittlement cracks on resistance spot weld static strength, Science and Technology of Welding and Joining, , 0000

• Shen, Daozhi and Zou, Guisheng and Liu, Lei and Duley, Walter W and Zhou, Y Norman, Investigation of splashing phenomena during the impact of molten sub-micron gold droplets on solid surfaces, Soft matter, 295, 2016

• Saha, DC and Biro, E and Gerlich, AP and Zhou, Y, Effects of tempering mode on the structural changes of martensite, Materials Science and Engineering: A, 467, 2016

• Lin, Luchan and Liu, Lei and Musselman, Kevin and Zou, Guisheng and Duley, Walt W and Zhou, Y Norman, Plasmonic-Radiation-Enhanced Metal Oxide Nanowire Heterojunctions for Controllable Multilevel Memory, Advanced Functional Materials, , 2016

• Russo, Paola and Liang, Robert and Jabari, Elahe and Marzbanrad, Ehsan and Toyserkani, Ehsan and Zhou, Y Norman, Single-step synthesis of graphene quantum dots by femtosecond laser ablation of graphene oxide dispersions, Nanoscale, 8863, 2016

• Pequegnat, Andrew and Panton, Boyd and Zhou, Y Norman and Khan, M Ibraheem, Local composition and microstructure control for multiple pseudoelastic plateau and hybrid self-biasing shape memory alloys, Materials \\& Design, 802, 2016

• Saha, DC and Biro, E and Gerlich, AP and Zhou, YN, Fiber Laser Welding of AlSiCoated PressHardened Steel, Welding Journal, , 2016

• OL Ighodaro, E Biro, YN Zhou, Comparative effects of Al-Si and galvannealed coatings on the properties of resistance spot welded hot stamping steel joints, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 64, 2016

• D.C. Saha, E. Biro, A.P. Gerlich, N.Y. Zhou, Fusion zone microstructure evolution of fiber laser welded press-hardened steels, Scripta Metallurgica, 18, 2016

• Profs partner on battery-free sensor with IoT applications
• Two profs elected to Canada's leading academic society
• Prof receives prestigious award from American Welding Society
• Startup takes top prize in nanomaterials pitch event
• Leak-detection startup books spot in pitch finals