In the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by subject, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is ranked 15th place in the world in the discipline of civil and structural engineering. This is a tie with the University of Sydney and is one spot up from where we were in 2013.

As a result of the efforts of colleagues in the Faculty of Construction and Environment, PolyU has also remained in the lead in this area in terms of two objective performance indicators for research– citations per paper and the H-index citations, which measures both the productivity of researchers and the apparent scientific impact of their research.

Professor Albert Chan, Interim Dean of FCE was delighted with the latest ranking. He said, “This significant recognition testifies to our excellence in research in the field of civil engineering, which is broadly defined by the ranking methodology to include areas like Environmental Engineering and Construction Management.”

The annual QS World University Rankings by Subject is a comprehensive guide to the world’s top universities in a range of subject areas. Using data on reputation and research citations, the rankings list the top 200 universities in the world for 30 individual subjects.

A presentation ceremony for the Outstanding Professional Services Award 2013 was held on 14 February 2014 at the Hotel Nikko in Tsimshatsui East. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) won as the most active department with the highest aggregated invoiced value during the financial year for consultancy projects undertaken via PTeC. It also received a Merit Award for maximum staff participation. Individual awards went to Prof. Chan Siu Lai of the same department, who was honored for being the most active consultant with the highest aggregated consultancy income as well as the one with the highest growth in terms of i) the absolute growth in income earned and ii) the percentage of growth compared to the previous financial year.

In the category of multi-departmental participation in a project with the highest contract value (not less than HK$300K) for the financial year, the winners were Dr Chung Kim Wah of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, Prof. Francis Wong of the Department of Building and Real Estate, and Dr Thomas Chan of the Public Policy Research Institute, for their focus group study on long term housing strategy. Congratulations to all of them.

Dr Bo Wu, an assistant professor of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, was recently selected as the third place recipient of the 2014 John I. Davidson President's Award for Practical Papers by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). The John I. Davidson Award was established in 1979 to encourage and commend individuals who publish papers of practical or applied value in photogrammetric engineering & remote sensing.

Co-authored with Han Hu, Qing Zhu, and Yeting Zhang, Dr Wu’s paper was entitled “A Flexible Method for Zoom Lens Calibration and Modeling Using a Planar Checkerboard” and was published in the June 2013 issue of the society’s journal Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (PE&RS). It describes a zoom lens calibration and modeling method that offers better flexibility and feasibility, facilitating the use of zoom-lens camera systems in various applications such as robotic exploration, hazard monitoring, traffic monitoring, and security surveillance.

Presentation of the award will take place on 25 March 2014 at an Awards Luncheon during the ASPRS 2014 Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The award consists of a certificate and cash award. Former recipients of the award have included NASA's scientists from the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Founded in 1934, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is a scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. Its mission is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences to promote responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies. Its flagship publication is PE&RS, which is one of the best journals in the field of Imaging Sciences, Photogrammetry, and Remote Sensing.

Projects

Investigators

• to identify the needs and concerns of the different stakeholders and to enhance
  the societal benefits and success of the GD project

• to explore the benefits of a green deck for stakeholders

3) Principal investigator: Prof. Jian-lei Niu (BSE)

Project title: Impacts on and improvements of wind environment and thermal comfort of
green deck development and pollutant exposure control via ventilation

• to enhance airflow and wind for maximized thermal comfort;
• to reduce pollutant exposure of toll-gate workers and bus passengers by using
  wind-catchers;
• to quantify outdoor environment design based upon wind tunnel testing and
  state-of the-art computation

• aims to understand the acoustical effects;
• propose mitigation measures;
• contribute to general understanding on noise propagation in the presence of
  discontinuous enclosure

• to estimate the power consumptions and profiles of potential electric energy users
  for the proposed green deck, including the electricity consumption for lighting,
  ventilation and air-conditioning;
• to investigate the potential of solar photovoltaic (PV) integration on the green deck to
  generate electricity;
• to estimate the potential of wind energy to generate electricity

• to critically assessed pedestrian flow patterns before and after the green deck

• to measure the local air pollutants in HKPU roadside monitoring station and PQ Podium;
• to determine the risk assessment on three carcinogenic pollutants;
• to evaluate the improvement on green deck and pollutants control technology

• to demonstrate PolyU’s developed eco-glass block and architectural mortar technologies

The 1st Cross Strait Forum on Sustainable Urban Development was held on the campus of PolyU from 14-16 Feb. 2014. Organized by the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) and the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), the Forum aimed at strengthening collaboration and exchanges between PolyU and National Taiwan University, Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Sichuan University and South China University of Technology in the area of sustainable urban development, including civil engineering, environmental engineering, and construction technology. The Forum was financially supported by a donation from Dr Samuel Yin of Ruentex Group.

After welcoming speeches from Prof. Alex Wai, PolyU’s Vice President for Research and Development, Prof. Jin-Guang Teng, Director of RISUD, Prof. Albert Chan, interim Dean of FCE, and 7 keynote speakers took center stage one after another. More than 40 presentations were delivered in parallel sessions over the weekend, with some by leading academics of FCE. Addressing various aspects of sustainable development, the interactive discussions stimulated the 90 or so participants in attendance, including more than 30 scholars from the mainland and Taiwan as well as research students and staff from PolyU. They had a further chance to network with one another at a banquet in Sai Kung one evening. It is hoped the Forum will lead to future collaborations between local researchers and those from Taiwan as well as mainland China.

Prof. Tao Wang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) gave two lectures on air pollution studies for the European Research Course on Atmospheres (ERCA) on 20-21 January 2014 in Grenoble, France. Organized by the University of Joseph Fourier and sponsored by several international and French organizations, ERCA is a high level international course on the physics and chemistry of atmospheres, the climate system and climate change, atmospheric pollution at different scales and the human dimensions of environmental changes (http://erca-school.eu/). All lecturers are internationally recognized scholars in their respective fields. This year, 39 students (PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) were selected from many applicants from around the world. As the only lecturer from Asia, Prof. Wang has certainly distinguished himself.

Yeejun Tham from CEE received a Best Paper Award at the Fourth International Workshop on Regional Air Quality Management in Rapidly Developing Economic Regions, which was held on 14-16 January 2014 in Hong Kong. Titled “Development and Application of Chemical Ionization Mass-spectrometry (CIMS) for measurement of N2O5 in Hong Kong,” the paper is a group effort towards developing a state-of-the-art measurement technique for detecting highly reactive molecules which play key roles in atmospheric chemistry and air pollution. His supervisor is Prof. Tao Wang, who gave a plenary talk at the workshop which was attended by over 250 researchers.

Copyright © Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. All rights reserved.