News

New joiner - Dr Mengmeng WU

Dr Mengmeng Wu obtained his Ph.D. degree from City University of Hong Kong (CityU), in 2020. He completed his master's and bachelor's degrees from Shandong University of Science and Technology, in 2017 and 2014, respectively. Prior to joining PolyU as a Research Assistant Professor, Dr Wu worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CityU from 2020-2023. Dr Wu's current research interests include micromechanics of granular media; discrete element modelling (DEM); multiscale modelling and simulation of geomaterials; computational geomechanics; machine learning in geoscience. Dr Wu has joined us on 14 August 2023.

New joiner - Dr Dingbao SONG

Dr Dingbao Song obtained his B.S. Degree (2013) from Shandong University of Science and Technology, M.S. degree (2016) from China University of Geoscience (Wuhan), and Ph.D. degree (2021) from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Prior to joining PolyU as a Research Assistant Professor, Dr Song worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at PolyU in 2021. Dr Song’s current research interests include treatment of dredged sediment and soft soil, interaction between soil-underground structure, analyses of consolidation settlement and treatment of contaminated soil. Dr Song has joined us on 14 August 2023.

PolyU Three-minute Thesis Competition 2023

The PolyU Three-minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition was successfully held on 30 June 2023. Four CEE PhD students were nominated by the Faculty as finalists to compete for the first place of the competition on the University level. Congratulations to Mr Ye Zhongnan, CEE PhD student supervised by Dr Mark Hsu, on winning the Championship in the final stage of the competition. The title of his research presentation is “Dynamic Rescue in Flames: Adaptive Indoor Path Planning with Real-time Structural Safety Prediction”. For more details of the competition, please refer to https://www.polyu.edu.hk/3mt/hall-of-fame/.

PolyU CEE Webinar Series: Modeling Coastal Flooding due to Compound Ocean Disasters

Dr Wang Jinghua delivered a seminar with the topic of “Modeling Coastal Flooding due to Compound Ocean Disasters” on 26 July 2023. It was co-organized with HKIE Civil Division.

New joiner - Dr Jiawen XIE

Dr Jiawen Xie obtained her B.Eng. degree (2015) from Nanjing University and her Ph.D. degree (2021) from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prior to joining PolyU as a Research Assistant Professor, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at PolyU. Dr Xie’s current research interests include 1) PM2.5 pollution, source apportionment, and health risk assessment; 2) airborne transmission of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance in urban environments. Dr Xie has joined us on 1 August 2023.

New joiner - Dr Yong KONG

Dr Yong Kong obtained his B.Eng. degree (Hons, 2013) from the China University of Mining and Technology, and earned his Ph.D. degree (2020) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Prior to joining PolyU as a Research Assistant Professor, he served as a postdoc fellow at HKUST, HKU, and PolyU. Dr Kong’s research interests primarily focus on computational geomechanics and geophysics, with the aim of seeing the unseen and quantifying the unknown in flow-related geohazards. Dr Kong has joined us on 1 August 2023.

CEE Members Visited Wuhan University for the Latest Ten Thousand People's Scheme

Twenty-five CEE academic staff and students, led by Prof. Hai Guo, participated a 7-day academic research exchange program at Wuhan University under the Ten Thousand People’s Scheme on 22 – 28 May 2023. This is the fourth collaboration between the two Universities under the scheme to promote academic exchange after the first three in 2014, 2017 and 2019. The active participation of the staff and students from both universities allowed them to explore the latest evolution of atmospheric chemistry research, resulting a notable success in cross-cultural interactions between Mainland China and Hong Kong. The team also had the chance to connect with the experts from Hubei Provincial Academy of Eco-environmental Sciences to further explore cooperation opportunities on sampling and research. The programme ended with visits to Shiyan and Xiangyang, which allowed the team to investigate local ecological environment, gaining significant social and educational implications for future work.

FCE Dean’s Awards 2023

Congratulations to CEE members who have been awarded the FCE Dean’s Award 2023 in various categories. Prof. Zhen-Yu Yin received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Innovation, which recognizes his demonstration of teaching innovation in externally funded teaching development projects, teaching and learning related publications or external awards and honours. Eight CEE members have received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding for their success in securing external competitive research funding in the past years, contributing to the research excellence of CEE and the Faculty. Awardee Allocation Date Project Title (Funding Scheme) Prof. Zhen Leng 1 Jul 2020 Multiscale Characterization of the Short-term and Long-term Interaction between Surface-treatment Emulsion and Porous Asphalt (PA) Mixture towards More Durable PA Road Surfaces (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2021 Multiphysics and Multiscale Study of Water Migration and Performance Evolution Mechanism of Bitumen Emulsion Cold In-Place Recycled Mixture (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2022 Characterization of the Interaction between Asphalt Emulsion and Cementitious Grout in Cold-mix Semi-flexible Grouted Macadam towards a Sustainable Heavy-duty Paving Material (RGC General Research Fund) Prof. Yi-Qing Ni 8 Jan 2019 Enhancing Safety, Punctuality and Ride Comfort of Railway Transportation: From Local Metro System to Global High-speed Rail Network (RGC Research Impact Fund) 1 Jul 2022 Physics-informed Parameter Identification of Linear and Nonlinear Structural Systems (RGC General Research Fund) Prof. Dan Tsang 1 Feb 2018 Enhancing Water Resilience with Blue-green Infrastructure: A Pilot-scale Study on Bioretention Systems for Stormwater Harvesting in New Development Areas (Environment and Conservation Fund) 1 Jul 2018 Engineered Biochar as Catalyst for Synthesis of Value-Added Chemicals: Manoeuvring Surface Functionalities and Pore Structure (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2020 Tailoring Next-generation Biochar Catalyst for Biorefineries via Integrated Experimental-computational Investigations (RGC General Research Fund) 10 Feb 2021 Hydrothermal Carbonization for Recycling Organic Waste into Biochar for Soil Improvement in Hong Kong (Environment and Conservation Fund) 28 Jan 2022 Recycling Yard Waste into New-generation Biochar Adsorbents for CO2 and VOCs Removal (Environment and Conservation Fund) Prof. Tao Wang 1 Jul 2021 Field and Laboratory Investigations of Reactive Bromine Gases and Their Impact on Winter Air Quality (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2022 Hydrochloric Acid in the Polluted Coastal Atmosphere of South China: abundances, sources, and impacts (RGC General Research Fund) 31 Oct 2022 (Date of Approval) 珠江三角洲大氣活性氮綜合觀測與演變規律研究 (MOST National Key Technologies R&D Program) 30 Nov 2022 (Date of Approval) 臭氧污染過程、機理及預報方法研究 (NSFC Major Programme) Prof. Zhen-Yu Yin 1 Jul 2020 Multiscale Hydro-mechanical Modeling of Marine Silty Clay Interacting with FRP Foundation Structure in Consideration of Rate and Abrasion Effects (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2021 Deep Learning-based Multiscale Approach for Granular Materials from Particle Recognition to Mechanical Modelling (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2022 Multiscale Approach for Granular Materials Reinforced by Disposable Face-mask Chips (RGC General Research Fund) Prof. Tao Yu 10 Feb 2021 Lightweight Multifunctional Noise Barriers/Noise Enclosures Incorporating Smart Fibre-reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites (Environment and Conservation Fund) 1 Jul 2021 Ductile FRP-Steel-Concrete Coupling Beams (RGC General Research Fund) 7 Jun 2022 Precast Seawater Sea-sand Self-Compacting Concrete Structures Reinforced with Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites (Innovation Technology Fund – TCFS) 1 Jul 2022 Rectangular FRP-confined Double-Skin Tubular Columns with a T-Section-Stiffened Rectangular Steel Tube (RGC General Research Fund) Prof. Songye Zhu 26 Sept 2018 Smartphone as Next-generation Monitoring Devices for Construction-induced Vibrations and Noise (Construction Industry Council) 8 Jan 2019 Enhancing Safety, Punctuality and Ride Comfort of Railway Transportation: From Local Metro System to Global High-speed Rail Network (CEE-2) (RGC Research Impact Fund – sub-project) 30 Nov 2019 (Date of Approval) 跨海集群設施服役狀態評估及智慧維養技術與裝備 (MOST National Key Technologies R&D Program) 1 Jul 2020 Novel Self-Powered Active Vibration Control Technique for Bridge Stay Cables (RGC General Research Fund) 1 Jul 2022 Tunable Ultra-low-frequency Pendulum Oscillator and Its Application in Wave Energy Conversion (RGC General Research Fund) Dr Ling Jin 1 Jul 2020 Contribution of Selected Toxic Components and Associated Sources to Differential Mixture Effects of City-specific PM2.5 on Human Lung Cells: How Much of The Iceberg Have We Seen? (RGC Early Career Scheme) 1 Jul 2022 Effects of Urban Airborne Particulate Matter and Associated Toxic Components on Pathogen Receptor Expression in Human Airway Epithelial Cells (RGC General Research Fund) 5 Jul 2022 Unravelling the Black Box between Air Pollution and Public Health for Transformative Air Quality Management (CEE-2) (RGC Theme-based Research Scheme – sub-project)  

Prof. Yi-Qing Ni Secures HK$48.293 Million Funding from RGC Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS)

Led by Prof. Yi-Qing Ni, Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Director of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch), the project entitled “INTACT: Intelligent Tropical-storm-resilient System for Coastal Cities” has been awarded HK$48.293 million funding by the Research Grants Council (RGC) Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) 2023/24 (Thirteenth Round) under the theme “Developing a Sustainable Environment”. Coastal cities are increasingly vulnerable to tropical-storm-related hazards due to population growth and climate change. Hong Kong, being one of the most densely-populated and developed cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), suffered from economic loss and destruction of skyscrapers much significantly under tropical storms. To address the challenges aroused by complex urban environments and to mitigate tropical storm risks systematically, Prof. Ni’s project aims to establish an intelligent tropical-storm-resilient system. The system will be able to provide real-time tropical storm risk early-warning and assess urban-resilience to ensure the sustainability of Hong Kong and other coastal cities in the long run. The ultimate goal of the project is to reduce the potential for irreversible damage, improve safety, quality of life, and maintain economic vitality through the development of a comprehensive system. In 2023/24 TRS exercise, the RGC received 66 eligible preliminary proposals and shortlisted 29 submission of full proposals, of which 20 proposals were selected for interview. The RGC eventually supported 9 projects (including 6 projects with five-year budget and 3 exploratory projects one-year budget to yield preliminary results). Prof. Ni’s project is one of the two supported PolyU projects with five-year budget. Congratulations to Prof. Ni and his team for their outstanding achievement and contributions to the field.

CEE Departmental Visit - Tseung Kwan O Government Secondary School (7 Jul)

A group of 38 students from Tseung Kwan O Government Secondary School visited CEE on 7 July 2023 (Friday). The recent developments of the civil engineering industry, together with the admission information of BEng(Hons) Scheme in Civil Engineering and Sustainable Development were introduced to student. The students also had the opportunity to visit our Structural Engineering Research Laboratory and Geology Laboratory, the latest technology and laboratory equipment were demonstrated to them. The students found the visit fruitful and interesting.