Professor Jianlei Niu won the prestigious “Uichi Inouye - Asia International Award”
Professor Jianlei Niu won the prestigious “Uichi Inouye - Asia International Award”
Professor Jianlei Niu won the prestigious “Uichi Inouye - Asia International Award”
Professor Jianlei Niu, Chair Professor of Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering and Associate Director of Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute, won the prestigious “Uichi Inouye - Asia International Award”.
The award certificate and award medal was presented to Professor Niu by Professor Kurabuchi, President of The Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan(SHASE), at the Award Ceremony held at the historic Constitution Memorial Hall in Tokyo, on 10 May 2024. In his appreciation speech, Professor Niu expressed his gratitude to his alma mater Tsinghua University, and the continuous support he received from his mentors and the brightest mind of the younger generations from his alma mater, his international collaborators, his colleagues, former and current PhD graduates he has been working at PolyU. He also shared the motto of PolyU, which is “to learn and to apply, for benefit of mankind” to society members. Prior to the award ceremony, Professor Niu was invited to give a public lecture titled “Urban microclimate engineering – a multi-physics approach for multi-profession practice” at the University of Tokyo.
The Uichi Inouye Memorial Awards were launched by The Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan Since 2010 in memory of the late Professor Uichi Inouye, which have been given to engineers and researchers who make significant contributions to the development, design, research and education associated with the field of air conditioning, heating and environmental engineering. Professor Inouye (1918 – 2009) is a graduate from the University of Tokyo, and was regarded leading expert and pioneer in building services design in Japan.
According to the regulations on commendation of the Society of Heating, Air-conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan (SHASE), Uichi Inouye Memorial Awards consist of “Uichi Inouye Award” and “Asia International Award”. Asia International Award shall be made for the notable achievements associated with the field of air conditioning, heating and environmental engineering. Each year, Asia International Award is given at most to 1 person, and if no one deserves to be honored, the award may not be given.
Professor Niu has made technology contributions in a broad area linking thermal and fluid sciences with building environment, and his current research topics include indoor environmental quality, thermal comfort, thermal energy storage, HVAC and urban microclimate. He is currently leading a RGC Theme-based-research-scheme(TRS) project "Healthy and Resilient Cities with Pervasive LoCHs', aiming to develop a simulation-based-optimisation(SBO) method to create localised outdoor thermal-comfort hubs(LoCHs) by design in the urban and estate planning stage.
