Mengze ‘Maverick’ Zou

About

Hi there, I am Mengze. You can also call me Maverick. True to this nickname, I strive to be unique, always seeking to break away from repetition.

“The greatest tragedy for a designer is spending a lifetime drawing blueprints, only to see most of them end up in a drawer.” This was a casual remark made by one of my professors during my bachelor’s studies in landscape architecture, but it had a significant impact on my career planning. My subsequent experiences in the landscape architecture field made me realize that due to the high construction costs and the rapidly changing economic and political environment, even the top architects face a high rate of rejected designs. As a result, I shifted my creative passion toward interdisciplinary design projects that are smaller in scale but more likely to be realized. My core pursuits became feasibility, impact, and innovation.

Today, I see myself as an inventor rather than a designer or engineer in a specific field. My greatest joy is discovering overlooked but valuable problems and using my design methodologies and engineering skills to create unprecedented solutions. I then collaborate with professionals from relevant fields to implement these solutions and make a tangible impact.

In the field of disaster rescue, most research focuses on developing more advanced equipment such as ground-penetrating radar or on post-disaster PTSD treatment. However, my latest project, EMBERS, explores an area previously overlooked by other researchers. This project considers a human-centered approach, investigating why willpower has repeatedly created life-saving miracles, such as surviving over 100 hours without food or water, and how to replicate such miracles. Through reviewing literature, interviewing rescue experts and earthquake survivors, I discovered a scientific explanation for the will to survive: Positive Mental Attitude (PMA). PMA helps individuals maintain stable bodily functions and lower energy consumption, enabling longer survival.

In the context of physical isolation caused by debris, establishing communication between the trapped individuals and the outside world can significantly help maintain PMA. Based on feedback from communication technology experts and processes including collapse simulation, RF simulation, power consumption calculation, device selection, PCB design, interaction and product design suited for entrapment scenarios, as well as user testing and iteration, I developed a card-sized portable communication device based on ultra-low frequency RF signals. This device helps trapped individuals stay informed about rescue progress and alleviates their sense of loneliness by letting them know they are not alone, thereby aiding in maintaining PMA. Currently, the project is collaborating with an NGO to conduct experiments and iterative optimizations in more complex rubble environments.