On 17-18 November 2011, the 17th Congregation and Prize Presentation Ceremony of the Faculty of Construction and Environment was held in the Jockey Club Auditorium of the PolyU campus. It was eagerly anticipated by both graduates and their families, who packed the auditorium along with the invited guests. There were six sessions in all, one for each of our four departments, and two sessions for graduates from our postgraduate programmes. A total of 1388 students were honoured at the ceremony, which had its share of memorable moments. Besides inspirational speeches from the guests of honour, who included Prof. Liu Sing Cheong, Prof. Tsang Chiu Kwan, Ir Prof. Reuben Chu, and Mr Wong Chung Hang, outstanding students from our departments also delivered heartfelt valedictory speeches.

Prof. Jin-Guang Teng, Dean of the Faculty, urged the graduates to move on to the next phase in their lives. He cited the ample opportunities before them, including the West Kowloon Cultural District Project, the Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macao Bridge, and the Guangzhou – Shenzhen – Hong Kong Express Rail Link. With their skills and knowledge, graduates were told they all have a role to play in ensuring that the problems posed by urbanization, by pollution, by global warming, and by technological changes do not threaten our future.  

All who attended found the occasion memorable and edifying. For the full texts of speeches, please click on the following:

Prof. Liu Sing Cheong’s address to BRE graduates

Prof. Tsang Chiu Kwan’s address to BSE graduates

Prof. Reuben Chu's address to CSE graduates

Mr Wong Chung Hang's address to LSGI graduates

A medal honouring the founding Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Structural Engineering, Prof. Emeritus Jan-Ming Ko, has been established earlier this year. Since its inaugural issue in 1997, the international journal has provided an important forum for the dissemination of the latest research in the area of structural engineering. The medal will be awarded to the most outstanding paper in terms of quality and impact out of all those published three years ago, i.e. in 2013, papers published in 2010 will be considered for the medal. This three-year gap between publication and assessment allows evidence of citation data to accumulate, serving as a benchmark in assessing the impact of a paper.

The eponymous medal commemorates the significant contributions made by Prof. J. M. Ko, who started the journal from scratch and guided it during its early years. Since his retirement from PolyU in 2010, he has remained active as an Advisory Editor of the journal.

On 2 December 2011, representatives from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) met with academic leaders from the Faculty of Construction and Environment to review their mutual aims and objectives as well as revise the threshold standards due to the abolition of the Hong Kong Advanced level examination this year. Both parties had a chance to brief one another on the latest developments in their respective institutions. An important change concerning PolyU was the renaming of the Faculty of Construction and Land Use in Sept. 2011, as pointed out by its Faculty Dean, Prof. Jin-Guang Teng, who chaired the meeting with RICS that included the Associate Dean for Teaching, Prof. Geoffrey Shen; the Head of the Department of Building Services Engineering, Prof. W. K. Chow; the Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Prof. X. L. Ding; as well as a handful of programme leaders.

In a presentation by RICS, it was noted that over 40% of its membership was from Hong Kong, a sign of its increasing clout in the city. In 2010, four assessments of professional competence of more than 200 candidates were conducted by them, with a passing rate of about 45%.

In addition, 10 RICS-accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programmes were reviewed, based on the annual monitoring reports submitted by each programme and reports written by external examiners. RICS representatives were pleased to note the high caliber of students in our undergraduate programmes. In particular, the average A-Level scores of new entrants to the BSc (Hons) programme in Surveying have reached an all-time high. The Department of Building and Real Estate, which offers the programme, attributes its popularity to the concerted efforts of its staff in delivering quality programmes.

Following are the RICS-accredited courses offered by the Faculty: M.Sc. in Construction and Real Estate M.Sc. in Project Management M.Sc. in Facility Management M.Sc. & B.Sc. (Hons) in Geomatics M.Sc. in Construction Law & Dispute Resolution M.Sc. in Sustainable Urban Development B.Sc. (Hons) Surveying B.Sc. (Hons) Property Management

Ms Hon Ka-hung Carol was honoured at the Best Project Award Prize Presentation Ceremony organized by the Occupational Safety and Health Council on 16 December 2011. Her winning project was about the relationships between the safety climate and safety performance of repair, maintenance, minor alteration and addition (RMAA) works, which she has documented in her PhD thesis. A newly-minted PhD graduate from the Department of Building and Real Estate, Carol is pleased that her research has been considered useful and of significance to the construction industry.

In addition, the Safety Specialist Committee (SSC) of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) also selected Carol’s project as the champion in their 2011 Student Project Competition. She will be honoured at the HKIE – SSC annual dinner on 11 January 2012 with the Construction Industry Council Award, which comes with a certificate and a cheque for HK$2000. Congratulations to Carol for these well deserved awards.

(from left to right) Carol receives her award from Prof. Chetwyn Chan, Chair of the Dept. of Rehabilitation Sciences at PolyU, while her supervisor Prof. Chan looks on.

Launched in 2010, the one-year top-up studentship scheme aims to attract outstanding postgraduates to study for research degrees in our Faculty. They are generously supported by both the department and the Faculty on a 50:50 basis for one year, or 8 months in the case of MPhil students. Below are the successful candidates for 2012/13 and their supervisors, who will use their external competitive grants to support their research students for the rest of the study period.

Name of Applicant	Degree	Dept	Supervisor	Status
Mr Lee Pan	PhD (initial admission as MPhil student)	BRE	Dr Patrick Lam	Supported and allocated $82,800 from FCE (release $55,200 first)
Ms Li Meiling	PhD	BRE	Dr Meng Ni	Conditional offer and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Ms Yang Yang Jackie	PhD	BRE	Prof. Albert Chan	Supported and allocated $93,850 from FCE
Mr Wang Lingshi	PhD	BSE	Dr Xiao Fu	Conditional offer and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Mr Li Zhao	PhD	BSE	Prof. Simon Deng	Conditional offer and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Ms Gao Xiaoxia	PhD	BSE	Prof. HX Yang	Supported and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Ms Lu Yuehong	PhD	BSE	Prof. SW Wang	Conditional offer and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Mr Zhang Xiyao	PhD	BSE	Prof. JL Niu	Supported and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Mr Jing Hai Quan	PhD	CSE	Dr Yong Xia	Conditional offer and allocated $82,800 from FCE
Ms Wepulanon Piyanit	MPhil	CSE	Dr Agachai Sumalee	Supported and allocated $55,200 from FCE
Mr Zhang Junlong	MPhil	CSE	Prof. William Lam	Supported and allocated $55,200 from FCE
Ms Lee Sin Hang	MPhil	CSE	Dr WT Hung	Supported and allocated $55,200 from FCE
Mr Guo Mingzhi	MPhil	CSE	Prof. CS Poon	Supported and allocated $55,200 from FCE
Mr Nie Xuefei	PhD (initial admission as MPhil student)	CSE	Prof. JG Teng	Supported and allocated $82,800 from FCE (release $55,200 first)
Mr Wang Nan	MPhil	CSE	Dr Hai Guo	Supported and allocated $62,567 from FCE
Mr Wang Jue	PhD	LSGI	Dr Bo Wu	Supported and allocated $82,800 from FCE

On 18 November 2011, a delegation of 6 academics and 19 postgraduate students from the Department of Civil Engineering of Chiang Mai University visited the PolyU campus, where they were welcomed by Prof. Geoffrey Shen, Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE); Dr Daniel Chan, Programme Coordinator for the MSc/PgD in Construction and Real Estate; and Mr Hong Yuming, President of the CIB Student Chapter at PolyU. Prof. Shen introduced his department and the taught postgraduate scheme of our Faculty, while Dr Chan briefed the visitors on BRE’s postgraduate programmes and highlighted the research areas of his colleagues. The information was well received by the visitors, who are open to the development of strategic links with BRE in terms of academic exchanges and/ or research collaboration.

Miss Karin Wong Hau Wing, a full-time 2nd year student for the MSc degree in Environmental Management and Engineering has won a $5000 scholarship from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). Awarded based on academic merit, the scholarship is a testimony of Karin’s achievements in both her studies and extra-curricular activities. She has been a Climateer Ambassador for the World Wild Fund in 2010 and is active with the Conservancy Association as an eco-tour guide on night safaris and as a tree ambassador. She holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Miss Karin Wong
Hau Wing

Applications are now invited for the following taught postgraduate programmes. Students with outstanding academic records may be considered for scholarships along with admission. The deadline to submit applications is 1 March 2012 for all programmes.

Master of Science (MSc)/Postgraduate Diploma (PgD)

Building Services Engineering 屋宇設備工程學

Civil Engineering 土木工程學

Construction and Real Estate 建築及房地產學

Construction Law and Dispute Resolution 建築法及爭議解決學

Environmental Management and Engineering 環境管理及工程學

Facility Management 設施管理

Fire and Safety Engineering 消防及安全工程學

Geomatics (Geographic Information Systems) 測繪及地理資訊學(地理資訊)

Geomatics (Surveying) 測繪及地理資訊學(測量)

Project Management 項目管理

Sustainable Urban Development 可持續城市發展學

For programme details, please visit http://www.polyu.edu.hk/study

FCE Public Lecture - "Global Drivers and Obstacles for Integrated BIM"
Date: 5 January 2012
Venue: M1603, Senate Room, Li Ka Shing Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/events/20120105_lecture/

FCE Public Lecture - "Towards the Rapid Repair of Damaged Reinforced Concrete Infrastructure"
Date: 6 January 2012
Venue: M1603, Senate Room, Li Ka Shing Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/events/20120106_lecture/

PolyU 75th Anniversary Faculty of Construction and Environment Alumni Associations' Ball
Date: 18 February 2012
Venue: Hotel ICON, 17 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong

First International Conference on Performance-based and Life-Cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2012)
Date: 5-7 December 2012
Abstracts of papers should be emailed to the following address by 15 January 2012:
clplse@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/PLSE2012

The 5th International Symposium on Transportation Network Reliability (INSTR)
Date: 18-19 December 2012, Hong Kong
Venue: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.instr2012.org

The INSTR series is the premier gathering for the world's leading researchers and professionals interested in transportation network reliability. The scope of the symposium includes all aspects of analysis and design to improve network reliability, including:

• User perception of unreliability and vulnerability
• Public policy and reliability of travel times
• The valuation of reliability
• The economics of reliability
• Network reliability modeling and estimation
• Transport network robustness
• Reliability of public transportation
• Travel behavior under uncertainty
• Vehicle routing and scheduling under uncertainty
• Risk evaluation and management for transportation networks
• ITS to improve network reliability

Enquiries
Ms. Connie Lam
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2766-6070
Fax: +852-2334-6389
Email: secretary@instr2012.org