David Hu (scientist)

David Hu (2019 Ig Nobel Prize)

David L. Hu (born circa 1979[1]) is an American mathematician, roboticist, and biologist who is currently an associate professor at the engineering department of Georgia Tech. His research centers on animal behavior and movement, and is noted for its eccentricity.[2]

Hu was born in Rockville, Maryland, and as high school student he was a semifinalist in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search.[3][4] His father was a chemist who enjoyed collecting and dissecting road kill, which inspired his son's curiosity regarding the science of living things.[5] He received his Bachelor's degree and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[6]

Hu is married to Dr. Jia Fan, a data scientist employed by AT&T with whom he has two children.[1] Hu's children have inspired some of his research projects. "From a diaper change with my son, I was inspired to study urination. From watching my daughter being born, I was inspired by her long eyelashes."[7]

Hu is known for focusing on irreverent and whimsical research subjects. In 2016 his work was criticized by Arizona Senator Jeff Flake as one of the twenty most wasteful federally funded research projects.[8] Hu responded to this criticism with a TEDx talk in which he embraced the label of "the country's most wasteful scientist" and criticized the senator's understanding of the scientific method.[1][9]

Recognition

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Hu has twice won the Ig Nobel Prize for Physics.[10] In 2015 he shared the prize with Patricia Yang for research on the duration of animal urination, in which Yang and Hu found that nearly all mammals evacuate their bladders in approximately 21 seconds plus or minus 13 seconds.[11] In 2019 Hu and colleagues won the prize for studying the means of production of the cubical feces of wombats.[12]

He was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2023, "for innovative experiments in biological fluid mechanics and a willingness to share them with young scientists".[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Gorman, James (5 November 2018). "The Mysteries of Animal Movement". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. ^ "David Hu Takes Home Ig Nobel Prize for 'Improbable Research'". Georgia Tech. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Cube-Shaped Poo and Georgia Tech's Second Ig Nobel Prize". Georgia Tech College of Sciences. Georgia Tech. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  4. ^ Erlichman, Janelle (24 January 1997). "Area H.S. Has 9 in Prestigious Westinghouse Semifinals". CNS Maryland.
  5. ^ Hu, David L. (June 13, 2018). "My Father, the Chemist, Teaches Anatomy". Scientific American.
  6. ^ Mallinson, Alissa Mariello (26 Feb 2015). "David Hu". MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering.
  7. ^ Frum, Larry (3 October 2019). "The American Institute of Physics Announces 2019 Science Communication Award Winners". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Senator Jeff Flake's List of Wasteful Government Research Studies". Fox & Friends. 10 May 2016. FOX News. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  9. ^ Hu, David (25 May 2016). "Confessions of a Wasteful Scientist". Scientific American. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  10. ^ "The Ig Nobel Prize Winners". improbable.com. Improbable Research. August 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  11. ^ Yang, Patricia; Hu, David; Pham, Jonathan; Choo, Jerome (19 August 2014). "Duration of urination does not change with body size". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  12. ^ Yang, Patricia; Hu, David (18 November 2018). "How do wombats make cubed poo?". Bulletin of the American Physical Society. 63 (13). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  13. ^ "2023 Fellows". APS Fellow Archive. American Physical Society. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
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