News

Welcomes Dr Jiang Zhaoli to the AMA Family!

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Dr Jiang Zhaoli joining AMA family as an Assistant Professor on 26 June 2023. Dr Jiang received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Financial Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2020 and Bachelor of Science degree in Computational Mathematics from University of Science and Technology of China in 2016. Prior to joining PolyU, Dr Jiang was an Assistant Professor at the School of Science and Engineering of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. His research interests include portfolio selection, corporate finance and stochastic control.

AMA Achieves Record-high Funding and Successful Projects in the RGC GRF/ECS 2023/24 Exercise

The Department of Applied Mathematics is proud to announce its excellent performance in the RGC General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ESC) 2023/24. In this exercise, AMA has received HK$16.7M in funding for 22 projects, a record-high for the Department. The RGC GRF/ECS exercise is a highly competitive research funding scheme that provides support for research projects conducted by universities in Hong Kong. The successful performance achieved in this exercise reflects AMA’s commitment to excellence in research and its contribution to the advancement of knowledge in various fields. With the funding support, AMA will continue its pursuit of excellence in research and contribute to the development of new knowledge that can benefit society. We would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our faculty members who have made this achievement possible, and also extend our heartfelt congratulations to the following colleagues whose projects are funded in this exercise: •             Dr Chen Kexin •             Prof. Chen Xiaojun •             Dr Cui Jianbo •             Prof. Dai Min •             Dr Han Ruijian •             Prof. Li Buyang •             Prof. Lin Yanping •             Dr Liu Chunling Catherine •             Dr Lou Yijun •             Dr Pong Ting Kei •             Prof. Qi Houduo •             Dr Shen Guohao •             Prof. Sun Defeng •             Dr Tang Xindong •             Dr Xu Zuoquan •             Prof. Yang Tong •             Prof. Yang Xiaoqi •             Prof. Yiu Ka-fai, Cedric •             Dr Yu Xiang •             Dr Zhang Zaikun •             Dr Zhang Zhu •             Dr Zhou Zhi

The 7th International Conference on Scientific Computing and PDE 2023

It is our intention to organize a well-respected international conference series on scientific computing and partial differential equations in Hong Kong every three years. Since 2002, the SCPDE conference-series have been respectively held in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and then 2017 at the Hong Kong Baptist University. These conferences were well attended, by international experts in respective disciplines and were found highly successful in providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, and latest results within a multi-disciplinary setting. Many top scientists in scientific computing and partial differential equations, including academicians from America, Europe and China, attended the conferences and presented their research results. A conference proceeding for the first conference was published in American Mathematical Society's Contemporary Mathematics series, a prestigious volume series of AMS. The second conference proceeding was published in Science Press series, a specialized publisher for such conference proceedings. The third one was published as a special issue in the Advances in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. There have been very rapid developments of scientific computing and partial differential equations in Hong Kong, in part due to the research carried out within the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and increasing interest from sister departments in other higher education institutions in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong transforms herself into a high-tech industrial region, the need for scientific computing will rise dramatically, as scientific computing is commonly acknowledged to provide a third arm to research; the other arms being theoretical and experimental techniques.

Mr. Kelvin Ng, our student of BSc (Hons) in Investment Science and Finance Analytics proudly received the first Presidential Student Leadership Award

Our heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Kelvin Ng, our student of BSc (Hons) in Investment Science and Finance Analytics, for receiving PolyU’s first Presidential Student Leadership Award. This award was established in 2022/23 academic year to recognize the student leaders who possess, display, and apply exemplary leadership qualities and skills. It aims to identify outstanding student leaders and provide them with opportunities and support to contribute further to society and the global community. Kelvin is also the recipient of Outstanding Student Award of Department 2022.     Kelvin is an all-round student who has actively participated in various activities, competitions and projects, and has demonstrated exceptional leadership within our university community and made an impact on his peers. As PolyU’s Student Ambassador, Kelvin has represented the University and AMA in a range of promotional activities. His outstanding performance has earned him numerous awards, scholarships, and valuable experience that will benefit him for a lifetime. Bravo Kelvin! We are so proud of you. Keep up the great work!!

AMA Scholars introduced their research in an interview with am730

Prof. Sun Defeng, Chair Professor and Head of the Department, and Prof. Yang Tong, Chair Professor of AMA, who were awarded under the RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme in 2022/23 and 2020/21 respectively, introduced their research in an interview with am730.    Please click here for details.

Warm Welcome to Professor Qi Houduo to the AMA Family

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Professor Qi Houduo joining AMA family on 15 December 2022. Professor Qi received BSc degree in Statistics from Peking University in 1990, MSc degree from Qufu Normal University in 1993 and Ph. D from Institute of Applied Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1996, both in operational research and optimal control. He had been a postdoctoral fellow at State Key Laboratory of Scientific and Engineering Computing at Chinese Academy of Sciences, Department of Applied Mathematics at PolyU, and School of Mathematics, University of New South Wales. Professor Qi’s research interests are mainly on theoretical and applied Optimization and in particular Matrix Optimization and its applications. His research has been supported by Australian Research Council (ARC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Royal Society. In 2004, Prof. Qi was awarded with Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship (QEII fellow) by ARC. He moved to University of Southampton to take up a lectureship in Operational Research in 2004, arising to Professor of Optimization in 2017. He was a Turing fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute of data science. Professor Qi has been Area Editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Operational Research (Optimization) since 2016, and associate editor for several journals including Computational Optimization and Applications, Journal of the Operations Research Society of China, and Mathematical Progamming Computation.

Chair Professor Chen Xiaojun and Professor Wang Zhian received research grant from the NSFC/ RGC Joint Research Scheme

Congratulations to Chair Professor Chen Xiaojun and Professor Wang Zhian who have received the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)/Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme (JRS) to support their research proposals jointly submitted with researchers in the Mainland China. Professors Chen and Wang will receive HKD1,244,750 from RGC, respectively. A total of 453 proposals are submitted to the Scheme this year. 8 out of the 40 successful projects are from PolyU’s researchers, including 2 projects from Professors Chen and Wang of the Department of Applied Mathematics:   Professor Chen Xiaojun Mainland Principal Investigator/ Institution Prof Xinmin Yang / Chongqing Normal University Project title Stochastic Multiobjective Optimization and Applications   Professor Wang Zhian Mainland Principal Investigator/ Institution Professor Yuan Lou, Shanghai Jiaotong University Project title Mathematical Modeling and Analysis on the Predator-mediated Competitions and their Biological Consequences About NSFC/ RGC Joint Research Scheme The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) / Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme (JRS) aims to promote collaboration between researchers/research teams in Hong Kong and the Mainland on the basis of complementing the existing strengths of both sides. The NSFC/RGC JRS supports research proposals jointly submitted by the Mainland and the Hong Kong researchers. It also offers up to two conference grants to sponsor conferences held in Hong Kong. The six focus areas under the scheme include Information Technology, Life Science, New Materials Science, Marine and Environmental Science, Medicine, and Management Science. For more information about the NSFC/ RGC Joint Research Scheme, please visit https://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/nsfc/ For the full list of funded projects for NSFC/ RGC Joint Research Scheme 2022/23, please visit https://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/nsfc/funded_research/list_award_e2022.html END  

Warm Welcome to Chair Professor Yang Tong to the AMA Family

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our Chair Professor of Mathematical Science, Professor Yang Tong joining AMA family today (November 15, 2022).  Professor Yang obtained his BSc and MSc degrees from Zhongshan University (Sun Yat-sen University) in 1987 and 1990 respectively.  He furthered his studies at the University of California, Davis where he obtained his PhD in 1993.  After one year of postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he joined the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) in 1994 as Lecturer/Assistant Professor and was promoted to Chair Professor of Mathematics in 2007.  He was Head of Department of Mathematics from 2012 to 2018 and Associate Dean of College of Science and Engineering from 2007 to 2011 at CityU.  Professor Yang was elected as a member (Academician) of European Academy of Sciences in 2018, The World Academy of Sciences in 2021, The Hong Kong Academy of Sciences in 2021, and a foreign member of Academia Europaea in 2022.  He was elected as American Mathematical Society Fellow in 2021.  He was also President of the Hong Kong Mathematical Society from 2016 to 2020.  The awards and honours that Professor Yang has received include the inaugural RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme in 2020, first prize of the Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award (Science and Technology) by Ministry of Education Higher Education of China in 2019, The President’s Award  from CityU in 2015 and 2016, State Natural Science Award of China (2nd class) in 2012, the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship in 2011, Grand Award of Research Excellence Awards  from CityU in 2009, the Changjiang Chair Professorship by the Ministry of Education of China in 2005, the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2004, and the Morningside Silver Medal of Mathematics at the first International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians in 1998.  Professor Yang has been working in the fields of partial differential equations and kinetic theory.  He has made contributions to the L1 stability of BV solutions to hyperbolic conservation laws by proposing the Liu-Yang functional, the fluid dynamic phenomena in kinetic models, the boundary layer theories and high Reynolds number limit.  He authored over 200 papers in refereed journals and has been the PI of 27 GRF/CERG and one NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme since 1994.  He served as one of the Editors-in-Chief of Analysis and Applications from 2013 to 2017, and is one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of Kinetic and Related Models launched in 2008, and Communications in Mathematical Analysis and Applications launched in 2022.  He is now serving in the editorial board of several international journals including the Bulletin and Journal of London Mathematical Society, SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, and Chinese Annals of Mathematics, Series B.                 

Chair Professor Chen Xiaojun Conferred AMS Fellowship 2023

Congratulations to Chair Professor Xiaojun Chen of the Department of Applied Mathematics who is elected as 2023 Class of Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) in recognition of her contributions to mathematical optimization, stochastic variational inequalities, and the analysis of nondifferentiable functions. The Fellows of the American Mathematical Society programme recognises members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilisation of mathematics. Professor Chen has an excellent track record in academic research and research leadership. She has published over 90 research papers in top journals of applied mathematics. She was invited to give plenary and semi-plenary talks at many international conferences in the USA, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia. She was elected as a semi-plenary speaker at the 21st International Symposium on Mathematical Programming 2012 in Berlin, Germany.  This is the flagship event of the Mathematical Optimization Society held every three years. Prof. Chen has won over 20 grants as a principal investigator (PI) from Australian Research Council, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. In 2022, she received a RGC Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) as the Projector Coordinator, a CAS-Croucher Funding Scheme grant as a PI and a RGC/NSFC Joint Research grant as a PI. Professor Chen is elected as 2021 Class of  Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in recognition of her contributions to optimization, stochastic variational inequalities, and nonsmooth analysis. Professor Chen has made a highly significant contribution to the promotion and maintenance of high professional standards in mathematical research in PolyU as Head of AMA (July 2013 - June 2019) and the Director of University Research Facility in Big Data Analytics at PolyU and Co-Director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science (AMSS) and PolyU Joint Laboratory of Applied Mathematics.  Professor Chen serves as Area Editor/Associate Editor of 7 SCI journals including SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis and SIAM Journal on Optimization. About the American Mathematical Society (AMS) The AMS, founded in 1888 to further the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, advocacy and other programs, which promote mathematical research, its communication and uses, encourage and promote the transmission of mathematical understanding and skills, support mathematical education at all levels, advance the status of the profession of mathematics, encouraging and facilitating full participation of all individuals, foster an awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life. For the full list of 2023 AMS Fellow Class, please visit https://www.ams.org/cgi-bin/fellows/fellows_by_year.cgi

AMA organizes a series of Distinguished Lectures in celebration of PolyU 85th and AMA 50th Anniversary

Year 2022 marks not only PolyU’s 85th anniversary but also the 50th anniversary of Department of Applied Mathematics. In celebration of its Golden Jubilee, AMA has organized a PolyU 85th and AMA 50th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture series to commemorate this special year. World leading researchers specializing in research of applied mathematics and statistics have been inviting to give lectures and exchange ideas to lay a solid ground for further research collaborations:  Professor Yaxiang Yuan | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Least H2 Norm Updating Quadratic Interpolation Model Function for Derivative-free Trust-region Algorithms | 20 December 2022 Professor Ping Zhang | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Global Small Analytic Solution of 3D Anisotropic Navier-Stokes System |19 December 2022 Professor Xihong Lin | Harvard University | Scalable Statistical Inference for Large Biobank-size Health Data | 15 December 2022 Professor Songxi Chen | Peking University | Distributed Statistical Inference under Heterogeneity |13 December 2022 Professor Shige Peng | Shandong University | Expectational Nonlinearity against Probabilistic Uncertainty | 6 December 2022 Professor Qiang Du | Columbia University | Learning Hidden Dynamics: From Practice to Numerical Analysis | 2 December 2022 Professor Arieh Iserles | University of Cambridge | Orthogonal Systems that Recover Invariants On the Real Line | 29 November 2022 Professor Philippe G. Ciarlet | French Academy of Sciences | Nonlinear Korn Inequalities on a Surface | 22 November 2022 Professor Zhiquan Luo | The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen | Efficient and Trustworthy AI and its Applications to 5G Networks | 15 November 2022 Professor Zongben Xu | Xi'an Jiaotong Univeristy and Pazhou Lab, Guangzhou | On Presuppositions of Machine Learning: A Best-fitting Theory | 8 November 2022 Professor Terry Rockafellar University of Washington, USA | Origins and Motivations of Modern Variational Analysis| 1 November 2022 (Tuesday) Professor Weinan E Peking University, China |  A Mathematical Perspective on Machine Learning | 25 October 2022 (Tuesday) Professor Tao Tang Beijing Normal University - HK Baptist University United International College | Deep adaptive sampling for numerical PDEs | 18 October 2022 (Tuesday) Professor Kim- Chuan Toh National University of Singapore | Algorithms for Semidefinite Programming | 11 October 2022 (Tuesday) Professor Yinyu Ye Stanford University, USA | DRSOM: A Dimension-Reduced Second-Order Method for Convex and Nonconvex Optimization |19 September 2022 (Monday) Professor Rama Cont University of Oxford, UK | Tail-GAN: Nonparametric Scenario Generation for Tail Risk Estimation | 9 August 2022 (Tuesday) Professor Jianqing Fan Princeton University, USA | Structural Deep Learning in Conditional Asset Pricing | 6 June 2022 (Monday) Professor Jong-Shi Pang University of Southern California, USA | Some Strongly Polynomially Solvable Convex Quadratic Programs and Beyond | 3 May 2022 (Tuesday) Professor Prof. José A. Carrillo University of Oxford, UK | Nonlocal Aggregation-Diffusion Equations: Entropies, Gradient flows, Phase Transitions and Applications | 20 April 2022 (Wednesday) Professor Chi-wang Shu Brown University, USA | High Order Numerical Methods for Hyperbolic Equations | 2 March 2022 (Wednesday) Professor Nicholas J. Higham University of Manchester, U.K | Mixed Precision Algorithms in Numerical Linear Algebra | 8 February 2022 (Tuesday) * In chronological order of the distinguished lectures