HKUST-IBM Technology Exploration Camp 2010, a series of successful summer day camps held over a two-week period in July, attracted over 700 secondar y students from 40 schools and over 40 teachers. The day
camps introduced students and teachers to the world of engineering to fire up their enthusiasm for its different fields and learn about the latest advances.
Activities ranged from visiting research facilities to hands-on engineering lab sessions. “We were delighted to see that this exciting, fun-filled learning
experience helped to develop stronger interest among students in technological advancement and the work of engineers,” said Prof Roger Cheng, Associate Dean of Engineering. The camps were the
latest collaboration between IBM and the School of Engineering after the 2008 Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering
(EXITE) Camp and Engineering Week programs in 2009.
04 05
Dean's Message
New Appointments
Research
Academic Excellence
Faculty Members
■ Prof Baoling Huang
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering PhD – University of Michigan
■ Prof Joseph Lee
Chair Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, HKUST PhD – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
■ Prof Wei Shyy
Chair Professor, Mechanical Engineering Provost, HKUST
PhD – University of Michigan
■ Prof Kam Tim Tse
Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering PhD – The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Adjunct Faculty
■ Prof Raymond Leung
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering PhD – The Chinese University of Hong Kong
■ Prof Neil Mickleborough
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering PhD – University of Tasmania
■ Prof Po Chi Wu
Professor, Mechanical Engineering PhD – Princeton University
■ Prof Wenwen Zhou
Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering PhD – National University of Singapore
Visiting Faculty
■ Prof Emily Au
Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management
PhD – The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
■ Prof James She
Assistant Professor, Electronic and Computer Engineering
PhD – University of Waterloo
■ Prof Charles Sodini
Professor, Electronic and Computer Engineering PhD – Purdue University
■ Prof Ming Ting Sun
Professor, Electronic and Computer Engineering PhD – University of California, Los Angeles
■ Prof Patrick Yue
Professor, Electronic and Computer Engineering PhD – Stanford University
Boosting the Telecom Industry
W i t h d e m a n d f o r r a d i o s p e c t r u m b o o m i n g i n t h e a d v e n t o f 3 G a n d W i F i , pioneering research by Prof Qian Zhang, Computer Science and Engineering, looks set to fuel future development of the telecommunications industry. Prof Zhang and her team are at the forefront of explorations into “cognitive radio”, intelligent technology that can flexibly manage dynamic spectrum resources and enhance usage by searching out idle spectrum. Currently, most countries employ a system where licensed users operate allocated spectrum. But only 10%-20% of the world’s radio spectrum is being used, according to Prof Zhang. In addition, licensed users often do not use their spectrum all of the time, which is a waste of resources when others are keen to have access to it. How to enhance the effectiveness of radio spectrum usage to enable other users to gain access to idle spectrums in different places and at different times has thus become a major global issue.
In explaining the challenge of radio spectrum allocation, Prof Zhang likened it to highway traffic control. “Highways usually have several lanes, but if some lanes are restricted for special use, there may be traffic congestion during peak hours,” she said. “When the number of vehicles increases radically, we not only need more traffic lanes but an effective method of managing traffic.”
The cognitive radio technology developed at HKUST has the capability to search for the optimal level of spare radio spectrum among primary users, who are licensed, to determine the appropriate ‘lane’ for secondary users, who are not licensed, to use for cost-effectiveness and to make sure they do not interfere with primary users. Secondary users can have stability of service as the cognitive radio device keeps on searching out usable spectrum among primary users.
“We are talking about a potential ‘spectrum market’” Prof Zhang said. “For instance, mobile phone companies (a secondar y user) may buy extra spectrum from TV stations (a primary user) during the Spring Festival when phone connections are the busiest in China. Users of mobile phones would then get stable services due to efficient traffic control. It creates a win-win situation for all.”
The innovative academic and her researchers have also designed a model to enable wireless service operators to par ticipate in double-tier spectrum auctioning, helping to boost income for these operators, and carried out an unprecedented survey and comprehensive analysis of spectrum usage in China. The next challenge for Prof Zhang and her team is to extend their research on their cognitive radio device. When fully developed it should be the size of a small chip, allowing it to be installed in mobile phones and other mobile devices. Cognitive radio is an active research area at HKUST with pioneering contributions from a number of faculty members in the Depar tments of Electronic and Computer Engineering as well as Computer Science and Engineering.
Prof Khaled Ben Letaief
Dean of Engineering
03 It has been an exciting and rewarding 15 months following my
appointment as Dean of the School of Engineering (SENG). During this time, SENG has continued to excel on a world scale, with strong showings in numerous international rankings. The School has increased its profile as a key destination for top international students, with applications from the mainland and overseas up 130% from the previous year and the quality of applicants rising to even higher levels. We have also been boosting our exchange program for SENG students to go out and see the world, rising from 7% in 2005 to 27% by 2009. Such a figure is extremely encouraging and well on our way to our target of enabling 50% of students to enjoy the eye-opening experience of life in another society to turn them into global citizens and boost their employability.
The School’s success in the first recruitment exercise for the Research Grants Council’s PhD Fellowship Scheme has added to our international diversity. The School carried out an aggressive campaign to bring these top-flight young minds to HKUST and Hong Kong, resulting in SENG receiving the largest batch of students of Schools within HKUST and among engineering schools in the city.
I intend to continue this drive for development and global impact. The for thcoming year will be a critical one in our preparation for the Hong Kong-wide New Academic Structure education reform, which sees the star t of a four-year degree system across the city’s higher education institutions in 2012. Following the change, our students will come to us at a younger age, after six rather than seven years at secondary school. In 2012, we will also face the double cohort – accommodating the last year of the A-Level/three-year degree students alongside the fi r s t ye a r o f t h e H o n g K o n g D i p l o m a o f S e c o n d a r y Education/four-year degree students.
To m e e t t h e s e c h a l l e n g e s , we a r e r e - i nve n t i n g o u r undergraduate curriculum and student experience underpinned by an outcome-based approach to learning. We are boosting our co-curricular activities, and expanding our facilities, all of which will enable us to produce the all-round engineers equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century. We are also increasing our scope, with the addition of academics who will assist the School in pursuing a wider range of high-impact fields, for example, energy and healthcare.
The establishment of SENG’s Center for Engineering Education Innovation, or E²I, is another pioneering move for Hong Kong. Along with the School’s leading
reputation for research, the Center will help to position the School at the forefront of engineering education scholarship and student development, as explained by Prof Edmond Ko, head of the new center, in this issue of In Focus. We are extremely for tunate to have Prof Ko to lead this venture given his expertise in the field, and the Center will surely assist the School in reaching a new level of excellence by propelling forward engineer ing education and all our students as well as pedagogical research in Asia.
Other moves include encouraging a multidisciplinary approach t o b r i n g o u r w o r l d - c l a s s f a c u l t y t o g e t h e r t o s e e k transformational solutions to what I call the “grand challenges” facing humanity, such as healthcare as populations age, the development of megacities and environmental protection; SENG’s new annual Research Excellence Awards, which recognize outstanding junior and distinguished senior faculty members; international par tnerships between east and west, including three-way collaboration with mainland institutions; and a website revamp to communicate more fully how engineering drives change and to demonstrate the exhilarating potential that an engineering career can have.
It has always surprised me that the national and global recognition HKUST receives as a world-class university is still not totally reciprocated in its home town. However, such perceptions are changing as our alumni successfully make their presence felt in a wide range of areas. As the University enters its 20th anniversary year, here at the School of Engineering we are determined to play our part by building a technology and engineering powerhouse that is fully recognized as a leading global education and research institution here in Hong Kong and beyond.
Seeing the Big Picture
Academic Excellence
Academic Excellence
07
Academic Excellence
08
Beyond Labs & Lectures
With all-round development an integral par t of a HKUST education, School of Engineering (SENG) students are encouraged to take part in a variety of activities outside the regular curriculum, including competitions. Such contests are important as they enable students to apply what they learn at HKUST, encourage independent thought and widen their perspectives by associating with peers in other local and overseas institutions.
The annual Robocon Hong Kong Contest is one such popular event. The inter-institutional competition for higher education students encourages the design and construction of robots which must then complete a task. This provides students with real experience of a challenging project, including cooperating with others, problem-solving and time management.
The strong capabilities of SENG students to succeed in such a challenge can be seen in the School’s high-performing track record in the contest’s seven-year history. Since 2004, SENG teams have won the Hong Kong Championship twice, First Runner-up once and Second Runner-up four times. They have represented Hong Kong in the international final in 2005 and 2008 and brought home the Second Runner-up award in 2005.
Participants are enrolled in the credit-bearing Engineering Special Project course, run by SENG professors, to enhance their skills in robotics. In addition, a tradition of experienced Robocon team members coaching newcomers has developed, boosting team management skills and personal development as well as helping fellow students.
However, it is also emphasized to students that success is not simply a matter of winning or losing but should be judged on dedication, determination to tackle problems and the drive for excellence.
Preparations for the 2011 Robocon contest are already underway, with recruitment of students in September followed by coaching in the form of tutorial classes. The numbers of students signing up have shown a major increase and now encompass all SENG depar tments and the School of Science, an indication of the enthusiasm for robotics at HKUST and the benefits that participating in such contests can bring. To give students a taste of the competition and gain hands-on experience, an internal contest was held in November in the Atrium on campus. The event also captured the attention of other HKUST students and increased their interest in how to
build robots.
Teaching Excellence
Students
Reveals Way to Individual
Enterprise and Team Spirit
Campus News
PTC-G13933
24
Editors: Diana Liu, Dorothy Yip Contributing Editor: Sally Course Address: School of Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Phone: (852) 2358-5917 Fax: (852) 2358-1458 Email: [email protected] Website: www.seng.ust.hk Facebook: www.facebook.com/SENG.HKUST
Alumni relationships are invaluable assets to the School and alumni. To foster the growth of our alumni network, please keep us informed of your recent news and send us your updated contact information via email to [email protected].
Stay connected and keep in touch!
Don't be the Missing Link ...
11
■ D e a n o f E n g i n e e r i n g P r o f
Khaled Ben Letaief received t h e 2 0 1 0 O u t s t a n d i n g E l e c t r i c a l a n d C o m p u t e r Engineer Award from Purdue U n i ve r s i t y i n t h e U S . T h e
prestigious annual award is bestowed upon Purdue Electrical and Computer Engineering alumni who have m a d e e x t r a o r d i n a r y c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t , p r o s p e r i t y, a n d t e c h n o l o g i c a l advancement. About 180 individuals worldwide to date have received this distinction out of more than 20,000 alumni and Prof Ben Letaief was the only 2010 recipient from outside the United States. Prof Ben Letaief gained a BS with Distinction, MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Purdue. He joined HKUST in 1993.
■ Prof Vijay Bhar gava, Electronic and
C o m p u t e r E n g i n e e r i n g , h a s b e e n e l e c t e d t o s e r v e a s t h e I E E E C o m m u n i c a t i o n s S o c i e t y President-Elect dur ing 2011 and as President during 2012 and 2013. The
IEEE Communications Society is one of the largest societies in the IEEE family, with over 50,000 members in 150 countries.
■ Prof Chak Keung Chan, Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineer ing, became f o u n d i n g H e a d o f t h e D i v i s i o n o f Environment on December 1, 2010 following a competitive international search and rigorous selection process.
P r o f C h a n h a d b e e n A c t i n g H e a d o f t h e n e w l y established Division of Environment and the Director of the Institute for the Environment since September 2009. He is renowned for his wor k in the area of aerosol chemistr y and air pollution, and is the executive editor of the major journal Atmospheric Environment.
■ Two ar ticles published by the research
g r o u p l e d b y P r o f M a n s u n C h a n , Electronic and Computer Engineering, a r e a m o n g t h e t o p 1 0 a r t i c l e s p u b l i s h e d i n t h e s a m e d o m a i n , according to BioMedLib. The ar ticles
are: “Modulatory Action of Potassium Channel Openers on Field Potential and Histamine Release From Rat Peritoneal Mast Cells” by C K Yeung, J K Law, S W Sam, S Ingebrandt, H Y Lau, J A Rudd, M Chan (Canadian Journal
of Physiology and Pharmacology, August 2009) and “The Use
of Microelectrode Array (MEA) to Study the Protective
Effects of Potassium Channel Openers on Metabolically Compromised HL-1 Cardiomyocytes” by J K Law, C K Ye u n g , B H o f m a n n , S I n g e b r a n d t , J A R u d d , A Offenhäusser, M Chan (Physiological Measurements, Februar y 2009). The BioMedLib search engine finds the best response to queries from millions of biomedical ar ticles in the US National Libr ar y of Medicine’s MEDLINE database.
■ Prof Vladimir Chigrinov, Electronic and
Computer Engineering, par ticipated as a panel speaker in the 3rd Russian Nanotechnology Conference 2010, organized by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano). The
conference is a key annual event combining topics such a s n a n o - e l e c t r o n i c s , n a n o - p h o t o n i c s , a n d nano-diagnostics, among others. During the conference, Russian officials, in par ticular Rusnano president Anatoly Chubais, expressed great interest in collaborating with Mainland China and Hong Kong.
■ Prof Mounir Hamdi and Prof Bo Li,
Computer Science and Engineering, have been elected Fellows of the prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer s (IEEE). Prof Hamdi and Prof Li are exper ts on networ king and communications. Fellowship of IEEE is one of the most prestigious honor s bestowed on i n d i v i d u a l s w i t h a n o u t s t a n d i n g record of accomplishments in the field of engineer ing. The Institute
cur rently has 395,000 member s in more than 160 countr ies and is the wor ld's lar gest professional association of its kind.
■ The Shanghai Stock Exchange has
appointed Prof Jeff Hong, Industrial E n g i n e e r i n g a n d L o g i s t i c s M a n a g e m e n t , a s V i s i t i n g S e n i o r Financial Economist. While there, Prof Hong will conduct research on risk identification and management.
■ Prof Xijun Hu, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
w a s e l e c t e d t o t h e B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s o f t h e Inter national Adsor ption Society in May 2010 in recognition of his outstanding achievements. Prof Hu was the first globally to propose using micropore size distr ibution to study multicomponent adsor ption equilibrium and kinetics.
■ P r o f J S K u a n g h a s b e e n e l e c t e d
President of the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineer ing (ISCCBE), one of the w o r l d ’ s l e a d i n g i n t e r n a t i o n a l professional societies for computation in civil, construction and structural engineering.
■ P r o f C h u n g Ye e L e e , I n d u s t r i a l
Engineering and Logistics Management, has received an Excellence Ser vice Aw a r d f r o m t h e P r o d u c t i o n a n d Operations Management Society. In November, he also delivered a keynote
speech on “Ocean Container Transpor t: Making Global Supply Chain Management Effective” at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences annual conference in the US.
■ Prof Ricky Lee , Mechanical
En g i n e e r i n g , h a s wo n t h e IMAPS-2010 John A Wagnon Te c h n i c a l A c h i e v e m e n t Aw a r d . T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l M i c r o e l e c t r o n i c s A n d
Packaging Society (IMAPS) is the largest society dedicated to the advancement and growth of microelectronics and electronics packaging. The achievement award is presented to a member of the Society who has made outstanding technical contributions related to microelectronics technology. IMAPS currently has more than 8,000 members around the world.
■ Prof Christopher Leung, Civil
and Environmental Engineering, has been elected Honorar y President of the International Union of Labor ator ies and E x p e r t s i n C o n s t r u c t i o n
Materials, Systems and Str uctures (RILEM) for 2011. RILEM, established over 60 year s ago, promotes the development and application of sustainable construction materials through organizing/sponsoring international conferences and the formation of technical committees. R I L E M m e m b e r s c o m e f r o m o v e r 7 0 c o u n t r i e s worldwide and RILEM committee repor ts often become the foundation of local codes or testing standards in various countries.
■ Prof Matthew McKay and his PhD
student Yueping Wu, Electronic and Computer Engineering, received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE Global C o m m u n i c a t i o n s C o n f e r e n c e
(Globecom) 2010, sponsored by Qualcomm. Globecom is an IEEE flagship conference on telecommunications with over 3,000 paper submissions. Only 11 papers are selected for Best Paper Awards.
■ T h e I T H o n g K o n g C h a p t e r h a s
e l e c t e d P r o f D a n i e l P P a l o m a r, Electronic and Computer Engineering, a s i t s C h a i r m a n w i t h e f fe c t f r o m January 2011.
■ A paper by Prof Huihe Qiu, Mechanical
Engineering, published in the Journal of
Micromechanics and Microengineering in
2009, has been selected as a 2009 Highlight and one of the most frequently downloaded papers. The paper was entitled “Bubble Dynamics Under a
Horizontal Micro Heater Array” and co-authored by Mechanical Engineering PhD 2010 graduate Xiaopeng Qu.
■ Prof Li Qiu, Electronic and Computer
E n g i n e e r i n g , h a s b e e n e l e c t e d a Fellow of the International Federation o f A u t o m a t i c C o n t r o l ( I FAC ) , a prestigious international honor in the a r e a o f a u t o m a t i c c o n t r o l a n d systems engineering. Only 17 people
in the world were elected IFAC Fellows in 2010 and Prof Qiu was the only one from Hong Kong. There are only two other IFAC Fellows in Hong Kong, including Prof Xiren Cao, Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST.
■ P r o f M a n Wo n g , E l e c t r o n i c a n d
C o m p u t e r E n g i n e e r i n g , h a s b e e n elected Chairman of the Society for Information Display (SID) Hong Kong Chapter. SID provides a platform for
industr y collaboration, communication and training in the latest electronic-display technologies. It has more than 6,000 professional members around the world.
■ T h e A s s o c i a t i o n f o r C o m p u t i n g
Machiner y (ACM) has elected Prof Jiang Xu, Electronic and Computer Engineer ing, to be a Distinguished Speaker. ACM is the world’s first and largest computing society. It has over 100 chapters and 97,000 members worldwide.
A smart anti-microbial coating that is set to recharge the battle against infection and achieve new standards in public health has been developed by an interdisciplinary team of HKUST researchers, including a School of Engineering faculty member.
A world first, the revolutionary coating has a range of features that puts it ahead of other substances of its kind. The coating is transparent, colorless and odorless and can be sprayed on a variety of surfaces ranging from glass to cloth. It is quick and easy to apply and effective for at least 30 days. The coating also disinfects practically a full spectrum of microbes in body fluids, including saliva and blood. It does so by using chemical methods to kill microbes by attacking their cell envelope, causing cell lysis and death, rather than employing biological or pharmaceutical methods as most conventional sanitizers do.
The pioneering invention is the work of Prof King Lun Yeung, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Prof Joseph Kwan, Director of the Health, Safety and Environment Office and Adjunct Professor in the Division of Environment, Prof Arthur Lau, Division of Environment, and their research team. Prof Yeung said that the coating offered a superior way to control disease transmission. “This is particularly significant as there are more and more antibiotic-resistant, pathogenic micro-organisms appearing. The use of a smart surface coating coupled with good hand hygiene
can help to curb the spread of these deadly micro-organisms.” Contaminated surfaces are common ways for microbes to spread. Most disinfectants, including alcohol and bleach, can kill virus and bacteria when they are applied but are no longer effective after they become dry, Prof Yeung said. This means if an infected person touches a lift button five minutes after it has been sanitized, those subsequently pressing the button may pick up the germs left behind until the next time the button is disinfected.
Keeping surfaces clean in public areas is therefore essential in controlling the spread of infections through physical contact, Prof Kwan noted. Test results have shown that the HKUST-developed smart coating can kill 99.9% of bacteria within one minute, 99% of H1N1 Human Swine Flu virus in three minutes, and 99% of bacillus spores within 30 minutes. It is also able to sense when someone touches it, releasing a larger amount of disinfectant to inactivate the disease-causing microbes and protecting other people touching the same surface.
The ingredients of the coating are similar to those used in cosmetics and anti-acne cream, are approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Food and Drug Administration, and are non-toxic and biodegradable. The coating can be washed off simply by using a solution of water and detergent.
With a billion people affected by influenza annually and 500,000 fatalities in an average year, it is hoped that the coating will make a significant contribution to addressing this and other public health issues. Research began in 2003, the year Hong Kong was hit by SARS. Funding support has come from the William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology and the Hong Kong government’s Innovation and Technology Fund.
Patent applications are now underway in the US, Mainland China and Taiwan. In addition, clinical field tests of the coating started in mid-January 2011 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s intensive care unit and Tuen Mun Hospital. Both are public hospitals located in Hong Kong.
With high-quality printing, it would take up a football field. Using standard printing, it would be twice that size. What is it? The wor ld’s lar gest digital photogr aph, and another record-breaking global achievement for a School of Engineering academic.
To create the massive shot, Prof Pedro Sander, Computer Science and Engineering, and his team of researchers stitched together 11,000 18-megapixel photos, creating a picture of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro with a resolution of 150 billion pixels. The pictures were taken from the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain landmark using a
GigaPan robotic arm over a period of four hours. Stitching and final processing followed over a number of weeks, with many solutions tried to reduce the seam artifacts across images. It took another week to upload the photograph to the website <www.gigapan.org/gigapans/58857/>.
Setting the world record, announced in December, was an exciting challenge, Prof Sander said, and the
fir st step in the team’s research into capturing and analyzing giant photographs. “There are numerous applications in a wide
range of fields, such as tourism, heritage preservation, scientific research, medicine and astronomy,” he explained. “For example, an annotated image can be used for tourists to navigate their way to potential tourist destinations. Scientists have used these techniques to create highly detailed images of tiny insects, and even detailed representations of the human body.”
Prof Sander’s fellow researchers were Dr Diego Nehab and Dr Luiz Velho from the Instituto Nacional de Matematica Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, with the stitching managed by IMPA graduate student Mr Rodolfo Lima.
New Weapon Unveiled
in Fight Against Infection
The team first broke the world record in July with a 67 billion pixel photo of Rio de Janeiro taken from the statue of Christ the Redeemer, a record that was later broken by another research team. To assist with cultural heritage preservation, Prof Sander and his co-researchers are now investigating how to map gigantic images to 3D model representations of landmarks such as Hong Kong’s
Big Buddha. 02
School Students Explore World of Engineering
Research
Research
Institution World Ranking
California Institute of Technology 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2
Stanford University 3 University of Cambridge 6 University of Oxford 8 Cornell University 12 HKUST 20 Tsinghua University 20
2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings - engineering and technology
Institution World Ranking
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1
Stanford University 2
University of California, Berkeley 3 University of California, Los Angeles 15
Princeton University 21
Harvard University 22
HKUST 26
Purdue University 28
2010 QS World University Rankings - engineering and technology A series of global rankings have demonstrated the quality of
teaching and research at the School of Engineering, with top tier standing accorded to HKUST by surveys carried out by several different organizations.
HKUST engineering was ranked in the world’s top 20 in engineering and technology by the 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. HKUST was placed joint 20th with Tsinghua University, with rankings based on teaching, research, citations, industry income and international mix. HKUST was particularly strong in the citations category. This refers to published work cited by other academics, a recognized indicator of research impact. The top five places in the league table were taken by US institutions, led by California Institute of Technology.
In the Engineering and Technology league table published by the 2010 QS World University Rankings, HKUST had the No.1 engineer ing school in Hong Kong and came in 26th worldwide. The survey encompassed research quality, teaching quality, graduate employability and internationalization.
Strong Showing in Global Rankings
Turning the Spotlight on Hong Kong
Faculty Honors, Awards and Achievements
SENG’s outstanding capabilities were further highlighted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), which put HKUST at No.1 in Hong Kong in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences and 39th overall, ahead of Harvard (42nd), Tsinghua (45th) and Oxford (49th). In Computer Science alone, the ARWU ranked the University best in the Far East and 26th in the field globally. ARWU ranking indicators include numbers of Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners, highly cited researchers, and articles published in top journals.
HKUST was placed 29th globally in Chemical Engineering in 2010 rankings carried out by the Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan and based on the quality and quantity of research papers.
“All these rankings show that SENG is playing a leading role in driving forward global change in line with our standing as one of the best engineering schools in the world,” Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief said.
06
09
First PhD Fellowship Awardees Take to Life at SENG
The School of Engineering (SENG) got off to an outstanding startin the Research Grants Council’s (RGC) PhD Fellowship Scheme which encourages top young minds from around the world to study in Hong Kong. SENG attracted 19 of the 32 students that joined HKUST in the scheme’s first batch of awardees, the most among schools at HKUST and the top number for all engineering schools in the city. HKUST attracted more than one-third of the total awardees, including 11 different nationalities.
For Indian-born Ankit Garg, Civil and Environmental Engineering, the reputation of SENG’s Geotechnical Group and its cutting-edge global research drew him to Hong Kong. The high-flying Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) graduate decided to apply for the RGC’s Fellowship Scheme rather than take the traditional US or European route of many of his fellow graduates after discovering through his own reading of international research papers that many of the leading names and studies in the geotechnical field were connected to HKUST. Ankit explained, “My IIT professor said to me, ‘You have read many research
papers. Which part of the world concentrates on new research?’” The answer was Hong Kong and HKUST.
Danhui Cheng, Bioengineering, is looking to not only further her knowledge at SENG but to broaden her network through social activities. She extends her great passion in singing at HKUST. “Within the first month, I had joined the HKUST choir,” she said. “I was in the choir at Tsinghua University, where I took my undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. I hope to find new friends and good memories here.”
While at Tsinghua, Danhui was selected for internship by Dow Chemical Company, going into the field every day to learn about production from the engineers. She also feels fortunate to be one of the first awardees in the Fellowship Scheme. “I like the environment in Hong Kong and feel proud to attend a high-ranking institution such as HKUST. It is my dream that one day I can become a faculty member in Hong Kong.”
For more information on the Fellowship Scheme, visit www.ust.hk/hkpfs/. The application deadline is usually early December.
10
All-round dedication to teaching and learning excellence saw Prof Ying Chau, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, take top honors in the SENG Teaching Excellence Appreciation Awards 2009-10. Prof Chau was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award for her clear, insightful delivery of course materials which consistently earn her strong results in student evaluations, her enthusiasm for experience-sharing with colleagues, and her involvement in departmental activities such as teaching quality assessment and the intern program.
The award scheme focuses on rewarding undergraduate teaching which shows continuous excellence and fosters students’ interest in the subject and their ability to learn. Two other academics were recognized with Teaching Awards. Prof Kam Tim Woo, Electronic and Computer Engineering, has played a leading role in suppor ting undergraduate students in external project competitions, student recruitment and mentoring, and course development. Prof Huihe Qiu, Mechanical Engineering, has devoted great energy to the development of new courses, and keeping class and lab teaching at the cutting edge.
Top Teachers Recognized
It has been an eventful few months for Prof Charles WW Ng, Associate Dean of Engineering, whose exper tise in geotechnical engineering and active par ticipation in academic and social development wor k has led to wide-r anging recognition that will help to enhance the visibility of HKUST and Hong Kong nationally and globally. I n J u n e , P r o f N g , a l s o D i r e c t o r o f t h e Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, became the fir st Hong Kong academic to be appointed a
Board Member of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), the world’s largest professional body in this field. ISSMGE was established in 1936 and it now has 86 member societies worldwide representing 18,000 individual members.
An international award-winner and frequent speaker at major conferences, Prof Ng was also invited to deliver one of the 2010 Zeng Guoxi Lectures at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou in November. His topic was “The State-of-the-Ar t
Centr ifuge Modeling of Geotechnical Problems”. The prestigious series, set up in 2007, features distinguished lectures by wor ld-renowned scholar s from China and overseas. Six such lectures have been presented so far by leading global scholars including two Chinese academicians, one member of Canadian Academy of Engineering, one Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the immediate Past President o f I S S M G E a n d o n e F e l l ow o f t h e R oya l A c a d e my o f Engineering, UK.
In addition, Prof Ng was honored locally when he became one of the first recipients of the 40+ Distinguished Award 2010 presented by the 40+ Association, a non-profit-making organization formed by members of the business community and dedicated to supporting the well-being of people over 40. The award is based on four areas of achievement: career, social, character and direction of life in middle age. Dr John Cho Chak Chan, the former Council Chairman of HKUST, was the Head of the Judging Panel. Secretar y for Justice Mr Yan Lung Wong was the Guest of Honor at the presentation ceremony.
Environmental Research Secures National Award
An environmental project involving the research of Prof Joseph Hun Wei Lee , HKUST Vice-President for Research and G r a d u a t e S t u d i e s a n d C h a i r P r o f e s s o r o f C i v i l a n d Environmental Engineering, has received a 2010 State Scientific and Technological Progress Award (Second Class) from the Chinese State Council.
Prof Lee’s project, “Buoyant Jets in Complex Environments – Theor y, Innovative Technology and Application”, makes it feasible to predict the mixing and dilution of wastewater in complex ocean currents, leading to the development of software that has worldwide applications in the design of facilities involving multiple sewage discharges into the marine environment.
His team carried out theoretical and experimental research to unravel the complicated mechanisms underlying the fate and tr anspor t of pollutants in complex ocean cur rents and environmental conditions. They also developed a 3D vir tual reality computer modeling system called VISJET to predict and visualize the pollutant concentr ation and tr ajector y of wastewater released from a submarine ocean outlet no matter what the weather conditions.
The team’s research is of global impor tance as quantitative assessment is essential to control water pollution in an economical and sustainable manner. The other core team members are Prof Wenping Wang, Prof Yuguo Li and Dr Valiant
Cheung of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong, and Prof Hongwu Tang of Hohai Univer sity, Nanjing.
The jet theory and computer models developed by Prof Lee’s team have also been effectively applied to projects in Hong Kong. For example, they have been used for environmental impact assessment of the Hong Kong Harbor Area Treatment Scheme, the Yuen Long Bypass Floodway Project, and to help in understanding the airborne transmissions in the Amoy G a r d e n s S A R S o u t b r e a k i n 2 0 0 3 a n d i s o l a t i o n r o o m ventilation design in hospitals.
The award-winning project is based on environmental
h y d r a u l i c s a n d e n g i n e e r i n g r e s e a r c h funded by the Croucher Foundation, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council a n d t h e I n n ov a t i o n a n d Technology Commission. There were more than 680 n o m i n a t i o n s fo r t h e s t a t e awards in 2010.
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Christ the Redeemer
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Calendar of Events
The above events are subject to change without prior notice.
March 18-19, 2011
The Making of the World's Largest Digital Photo Workshop
HKUST Campus
April 8, 2011
HKUST Grand Celebration for the 20th Anniversary
The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center
June 1-3, 2011
International Conference on Technologies Beyond 2020
Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers
May 2011
School of Engineering Alumni Homecoming Dinner
