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| The 22nd Congregation of FCE |
From 1 to 2 November 2016, the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) held its 22nd Congregation and Prize Presentation Ceremony at the Jockey Club Auditorium. Divided into 6 sessions, the ceremony honoured more than 1,400 graduates at Higher Diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). Presiding over the conferment of degrees was Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of FCE, who also presented awards to outstanding students, staff and alumni of the 4 departments. Recipients of the Departmental Outstanding Alumni Awards were Mr Hau Wai Cheung and Prof. Mike Wong, both from BRE; Ir Herbert Lam from BSE; Ir Eric Ma from CEE; and Dr Lesly Lam from LSGI.
In his address to the Congregation, Prof. Xu welcomed the new academic staff who had recently joined the Faculty, which is celebrating 80 years of providing higher education in the construction disciplines. Besides valedictory speeches from student representatives of the 4 departments, there were also heart-felt speeches from the guests of honour, who were Ir Thomas Chan, Ir Chi-Keung Hon, and Mr Paul Ng. It was a memorable occasion for all those in attendance. |
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| A graduating class with FCE staff members |
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| Prof. Tong, PolyU President, congratulating Prof. Ko (left) at the conferment ceremony |
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| Honorary Doctorate for Emeritus Professor of CEE |
On 12 November 2016, the degree of Doctor of Engineering honoris causa was presented by PolyU to Prof. Jan-Ming Ko, Emeritus Professor of Structural Engineering, in a ceremony for the conferment of honorary degrees. Prof. Ko has had a long and distinguished career at PolyU, beginning in 1979 at its predecessor the Hong Kong Polytechnic. He was one of the first few academic staff in those days to recognize the importance of research, and motivated his colleagues to rise to the challenge, laying down strong foundations for a research culture. Prof. Ko has held various positions of leadership at PolyU, from Head of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering in 1992 to Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Land Use in 2000 to Vice President (Research Development) in 2003 until his retirement in 2010. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) in 2010. In 2011, he was presented the HKIE Gold Medal, and the prestigious Aftab Mufti Medal by the International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure in recognition of his lifetime achievement in civil structural health monitoring.
In recent years, Prof. Ko has contributed his expertise to research on sustainable urbanization, serving as a senior advisor to the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development. |
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Research Achievements/ Activities |
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| NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme 2016/17 |
The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) is pleased that 2 of its academics have been awarded funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Research Grants Council (RGC) Joint Research Scheme in 2016/17. Following are the details:
| Principal Investigator in HK (Dept.) |
Principal Investigator in China/ Institution |
Project Title |
Funding Period (months) |
Amount Awarded by RGC (HK$) |
| Dr Yat-fai Leung
(CEE) |
Dr Dong-liang Li/Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion(GIEC), Chinese Academy of Sciences |
Experimental and Numerical Studies on Geo-mechanics of Methane Hydrate-bearing Sediments in South China Sea During Gas Production |
48 |
902,200 |
| Prof. Jin-guang Teng (CEE) |
Prof. Peng Feng/ Tsinghua University |
Square Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Columns with Internal High-Strength Steel Confinement |
48 |
1,105,200 |
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| BRE Instructor Leads Learning and Teaching Project |
| Dr Edmond Lam of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) has recently secured a grant of $386,000 to investigate the impact of learning spaces on teaching and learning effectiveness. $300,000 of the grant came from PolyU’s Working Group on Innovative Learning Spaces, with the remaining $86,000 coming from BRE and the FCE Matching Fund for Competitive Learning and Teaching Grants in equal amounts, i.e. $43,000 each. Expected to complete in 18 months, the proposed project will 1) identify common teaching and learning pedagogies; 2) explore the effectiveness of learning spaces on the attainment of teaching initiatives; 3) evaluate the effects of learning spaces on the effectiveness of student learning; and 4) recommend critical success factors of learning spaces for effective teaching and learning. Members of the project team include Prof. Albert Chan, Head of BRE; Dr Daniel Chan, Associate Head (Teaching); and Prof. Cathy Hsu of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, who is also the Chair of the Working Group on Innovative Learning Spaces.
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| Green Building Award 2016 |
| On 22 November 2016, Prof. Geoffrey Shen and Dr Jingke Hong from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) were honoured in an award ceremony for the Green Building Award that was co-organized by the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) and the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC). They were presented with a Grand Award in the Research and Planning category for their research project entitled “a multi-scale assessment of embodied energy use in China’s construction sector: a multi-regional analysis.” The judging panel described the work done by the duo as one of the key approaches to systematically and comprehensively assess the areas of opportunities to reduce energy consumption, and the related GHG emissions, in China at the national and regional levels, including specific industry sub-sectors, and at building or urban development project level. With better data, this approach has the potential to provide the information needed to develop cost-effective policy decisions or interventions in China’s building sector, and serve as an example for other countries in the world. |
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| Dr Hong (left) and Prof. Shen (right) |
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| Workshop on Frontiers of Multi-Hazard Mitigation Strategies in Urban Areas |
| A workshop highlighting geotechnical aspects of the frontiers of mitigation strategies for multi-hazards in urban areas was held on 7 November 2016 at Yokohama National University (YNU) in Japan. Jointly organized by the International Strategy Organization and the Faculty of Urban Innovation of YNU, the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) of PolyU as well as the Sichuan University (SCU)-PolyU Institute of Disaster Management and Reconstruction, the workshop was attended by many scholars and practitioners in the field. The delegation from FCE included Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of FCE, Prof. Kam-Tim Chau, and Dr Jian-Guo Dai, both from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Each of them gave a well-received presentation related to the theme of the workshop. Prof. Chau introduced the research on landslides, rockfalls, and debris flows that have been conducted at PolyU, while Dr Dai discussed the seismic retrofit of reinforced concrete structures using fiber-reinforced polymer composites, and Prof. Xu elaborated on the long-period ground motion simulation and its impact on the seismic responses of high-rise buildings. All 3 also had a chance to meet the President of YNU, Prof. Yuichi Hasebe, and its Vice President, Prof. Fumihiko Nakamura, to discuss potential research areas for future collaborations. The relationship between FCE and YNU has grown from an initial visit made by YNU to CEE in 2008. Numerous exchanges back and forth have taken place since then, with students from CEE participating in the annual Sakura programme at YNU for the last 3 years. |
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| The PolyU delegation at YNU |
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| FCE Hosts Visitors from Nazarbayev University |
| On 25 November 2016, 2 representatives from Nazarbayev University (NU) in Kazakhstan paid a visit to the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) to explore potential areas for collaboration. After receiving a warm welcome, Prof. Loretta Maura O'Donnell, NU’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Mr Arman Zhumazhanov, Director of NU’s Department of International Cooperation, were introduced to FCE by Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), who presented in detail its structure, programmes for undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as research strengths. In attendance were Prof. Albert Chan, Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE); Prof. Asif Usmani, Head of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE); and Prof. Chi-Sun Poon, Associate Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). The discussion following the presentation focused on partnership matters and opportunities for collaboration, particularly with respect to the education of prospective research students from Kazakhstan. Possibilities for co-organizing workshops and conferences in the future were also explored. |
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| Prof. O’Donnell (third from left) and Mr Zhumazhanov (first from left) with their hosts |
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| Secondary School Students Preview Attractions of LSGI |
| On 4 November 2016, 30 secondary school students from the Hong Kong Tang King Po College visited the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) to learn about the programmes on offer. Besides learning about the university’s admission requirements, students heard from Dr Matthew Pang, a Scientific Officer in LSGI, who introduced land surveying and geospatial technology as well as the uses of geomatics to address the challenges of managing a mega-city like Hong Kong. After the talk, students had a chance to visit the Underground Utility Survey Laboratory and the Laboratory for Geographic Information Systems, where they saw demonstrations on the use of advanced equipment, operations of an underground utility survey, indoor 3D laser scanning, data capturing with an unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as a virtual reality simulation of geographical environments. Their interest in furthering their studies in LSGI was sparked by the educational visit. |
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| New Academic Staff |
The Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) welcomed a new Assistant Professor on 16 November 2016. Dr Choongwan Koo got his PhD in Sustainable Facility Engineering & Management from the Department of Architectural Engineering at Yonsei University in South Korea. He is an expert in the area of the sustainable facility engineering & management (more specifically, urban building energy performance) and the intelligent decision-support system. In particular, he has strong knowledge and skills in the predictive and prescriptive analytics and the visualization technique (e.g., big data analytics, data-mining techniques, geographic information system, life cycle assessment, simulation modeling techniques, and computer programming language).
Dr Koo has a good mix of academic and industrial experiences. Before joining the Department of Building Services Engineering at PolyU, Dr Koo served as a Research Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Yonsei University and as a Visiting Scholar in the Division of Construction Engineering and Management at Purdue University from 2015 to 2016. Also, he worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Inha University in 2014, and at the HanmiGlobal Co. Ltd., an international construction engineering and management company, from 2007 to 2010.
Dr Koo has more than 50 SCI publications in peer-reviewed international journals, over 30 conference papers (including articles), and at least 10 patents. Furthermore, Dr Koo was nominated in the Marquis Who's Who in the World® 2016 (33rd Edition).
Dr Koo is recently interested in a real-time energy demand-side management in the building sector from a city’s point of view, which focuses on monitoring, diagnosing, and retrofitting the building energy performance with a dynamic approach under the new paradigm of an urban organism. |
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| IFMA Scholarship for BSE Graduate |
| At the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) World Workplace Conference and Expo in San Diego, California, from 5 to 7 October 2016, a recent MSc graduate of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Miss Jing Zhang, was honoured with an IFMA Scholarship of US$1,500. She was a student of Dr Joseph Lai, Associate Professor and leader of BSE’s Facility Management Programme. |
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| Miss Zhang (middle) receiving her award |
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| Theses of CEE Students Honoured |
At the annual dinner of the Hong Kong section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on 8 November 2016, 2 graduates from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) were honoured. Mr Dianyu Sun, a 2014 MPhil graduate, was presented with the Best Master Thesis Award 2016 for his experimental study and predictive modelling on the long-term behaviour of the bond between FRP and concrete exposed to a humid subtropical environment. He was supervised by Dr Jian-Guo Dai. A Best Final Year Project Award 2016 was also given to Mr Ka-Leung Chung, a 2016 BEng graduate, for his comparative studies on high-strength concrete-filled steel tubular stub column with circular and octagonal cross-sections under axial compression. His work was supervised by Dr Tak-Ming Chan.
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| Mr Sun (right) receiving his award |
Mr Chung |
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| CIB Sebestyen Future Leaders Award |
| A proposal to develop a framework and plans of action for setting up an interactive online platform of integrated solutions for CIB members and CIB Student Chapters has recently won the CIB Sebestyen Future Leaders Award of 2,000 euros. An empirical study on integrating design and delivery solutions (IDDS) by developing a CIB interactive virtual community, the proposed project will be executed in collaboration with a CIB Priority Theme Group (IDDS) and the CIB Student Chapter at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The principal investigator is Ms Schuman Lam, a PhD student in Sustainable Urban Development at the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE). Her co-investigator is Mr Xiao Shell Li, a PhD student in Construction Information Technology. Their project will last for one year. |
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| Study Trip to YNU |
A week-long exchange programme was held at Yokohama National University (YNU) from 6 to 12 October 2016. Sponsored by the Japanese Science and Technology (JST) Agency, it was part of the Sakura Exchange Programme to promote educational and cultural exchange. Participants included 5 students from Sichuan University as well as 5 PhD students from PolyU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), who were led by Prof. Kam-Tim Chau. They attended lectures given by experts and Japanese officials on multi-hazard mitigation and disaster prevention strategies for urban areas. They also had a chance to visit Nikko, a city in the Northern Kato region of Japan, to learn about the Sabo* work being done by the Japanese government to monitor and mitigate landslides and debris flows in the mountain areas. All students from PolyU and Sichuan University were invited to give a 15- minute-sharing on any topics they like on the final day. It was an enlightening trip, not least because Japan has a wealth of experience in dealing with natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and other geological disasters. The friendliness and hospitality of the Japanese students also made the study trip extremely worthwhile.
* “Sabo” in Japanese refers to mountain protection system.
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| FCE Students Awarded Dr Ng Tat-lun Memorial Scholarship |
In a presentation ceremony on 9 November 2016, 2 students from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) were honoured with the Dr Ng Tat-lun Memorial Scholarship. They were Mr Ho Yuk Kwong of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) and Mr Wan Wing Kit of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE). A final-year student in surveying, Mr Ho believes that knowledge can change lives, and is inspired by Dr Ng’s vision of life-long learning. He strives to better himself by participating in various activities, including the Global Student Challenge organized by the Chartered Institute of Building, the Smart e-City Competition, and volunteering for the PolyU Social Service Group.
Likewise, Mr Wan is active in extra-curricular activities. He was the Academic Secretary of the BSE Students’ Society. A current mentor in the Peer Mentoring Programme, he is also President of the Student Branch of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) at PolyU.
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| Mr Ho (middle) receiving his award |
Mr Wan (middle) receiving his award |
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Programme Admission |
Invitation for Programme Admission 2017/18
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Applications are now invited for the following taught postgraduate programmes.
For details, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/postgrad-scheme/acad.html |
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)
High Performance Buildings 高效能建築
Project Management 項目管理
Sustainable Urban Development 可持續城市發展學
For programme details, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/study
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Invitation for Postgraduate Scheme Entry Scholarship 2017/18
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To apply for the entry scholarship, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/postgrad-scheme/entry_scholarship.html and return the completed form to us on or before 1 January 2017. |
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Forthcoming Events |
Motor Vehicle Emissions Control Workshop 2016
Date: 14-16 December 2016
Venue: Jockey Club Auditorium, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
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International Youth Competition – World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 HK
Date: 5-7 June 2017
Details: http://www.wsbe17hongkong.hk/iyc |
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Copyright © Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. All rights reserved.
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