The President’s Awards for Excellent Performance/Achievement recognise individuals and teams who make outstanding contributions to PolyU’s development in their respective fields. This year, the award for Teaching (Individual) went to Dr Henry Chan, and the corresponding awards for Research and Scholarly Activities (Individual) went to Prof. Zhang Ming and Prof. Lu Chao. Two teams were also awarded under the Services and Operational Excellence respectively.
Associate Professor, Department of Computing
On receiving his award, Dr Chan described himself as being “made by PolyU”. Within what he described as “an inspiring environment” at the University, he has developed a highly effective approach to teaching – a philosophy formed around what he calls CARES and TALENT. The former is a three-layer conceptual model covering critical thinking, course-based learning and individualised development based on the notion that students should be cared about as though they were sons or daughters. The latter reflects Dr Chan’s passion for ensuring that his students develop into lifelong learners. “Putting ‘TeAching and Learning, Educating and NurTuring’ together (and only by putting them together), we can create TALENT”, he explained.
Professor, Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering
An internationally renowned biomechanics scholar, Prof. Zhang accredited his award to a decade of research by his team on the biomechanics of musculoskeletal injuries, including protection and rehabilitation.“We have developed a biomechanical platform for understanding musculoskeletal biomechanics”, he said, pointing out that the platform has been used primarily to understand the highly complex human foot and ankle system with 28 bones, more than 100 ligaments, nine major muscle groups and soft tissue. The team’s models have been used in designing special insoles and footwear, and in surgical treatment for conditions such as hallux valgus and ankle arthritis. Having received 22 external grants as Principal Investigator and with a 240-paper publication list, Prof. Zhang is showing every sign of leading the team to many more breakthroughs in the years to come.
Chair Professor of Fibre Optics, Department of Electronic and Information Engineering
As Deputy Leader of the Communications Research Group of his department, Prof. Lu has been at the forefront of PolyU’s development of optical fibre communication technology for more than a decade. Pointing out that “optical fibre is a key enabler for our information age” in areas such as mobile communications and data centre connections, he explained that his team has made critical contributions to increasing transmission speeds and reducing power consumption. In particular, he has overseen the development of technologies involved in parameter monitoring for optical fibre networks and the extension of the techniques developed to distributed optical fibre sensing systems. Prof. Lu is grateful for the support from the University, the Faculty of Engineering, his own department and collaborators for making his work possible. He also highlighted that the involvement of industry, in particular the recent establishment of the PolyUHuawei Joint Laboratory for Optical Interconnection Network and Advanced Computing System, are instrumental to his research. ♦
