He is one of the world's Highly Cited Researchers in Web of Science and has a total of more than 34,000 citations with an h- index of 89.
[9] Zhou earned his Ph.D. in Computer & Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1990.
Previous to his career as professor, Zhou worked at Beijing Institute of Computer Applications, where he was an assistant engineer responsible for the development of CAD/CAM for vehicles.
In 1991, Zhou provided the theoretical basis for Petri net synthesis methods that model systems with shared resources.
To simplify the optimal control design for any given automated system, his work invented the elementary and dependent siphons of Petri nets - important structural objects for characterizing deadlocks.
Thousands of researchers and engineers use his methods in various applications for automated system design, analysis, and control.
Factories which use Zhou’s methods are thereby able to both prevent deadlock and simultaneously operate at maximum productivity - a rare combination in complex automated systems.
Zhou has made contributions to the advancement of Petri net theory and their applications in automated systems.
His recognition includes four Fellow designations - by IEEE for contributions to Petri nets and their applications; by AAAS for distinguished contributions to Petri nets, discrete event systems, and their applications to manufacturing, transportation, workflow, disassembly, web services, and software design; by the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) for seminal contributions to the theory of Petri nets and their application in manufacturing, transportation, and web services; and by Chinese Association of Automation for contributions to the field of automation.