Issue 2

Department of Computing (COMP)

Outstanding Ratings in Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2020

The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced the results of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2020 on 24 May 2021. A total of 686 PolyU academic staff submitted a total of 2,611 research outputs, 50 impact case studies and 20 research environment submissions in RAE 2020. Among the 20 units in which PolyU was assessed, "Computer Studies/Science" was one of the areas that received outstanding ratings with the highest percentage of 4-star (world-leading) and 3-star (internationally excellent) ratings.

COMP’s researchers are committed to conducting innovative and multidisciplinary research. The RAE results are a recognition of our diligent efforts over the years and we will continue to delve into the cutting-edge of future research in computing.

COMP Alumni Award Presentation

The COMP Alumni Award aims to recognise and publicly honour outstanding alumni who have demonstrated significant contributions to their professions or careers, the Department, the University and the community. It is believed that this award will motivate COMP students to learn from the experience and success of the awardees as well as reflect the Department’s model of education: Career, Application, Research and Entrepreneurship (CARE).

On 29 May 2021, we hosted the COMP Alumni Award Presentation and invited Dr Miranda Lou, Executive Vice President of PolyU, to present the awards to the following recipients: (in alphabetical order of the last name)

• Mr Tony Chung Wai-kit (Vice President, Data Services, Asia Satellite Telecommunications)
• Dr Gu Shuhang (Lecturer, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Sydney)
• Ms Silvia Ihensekhien Lam Siu-han (Chief Information Security Officer, ShipServ)
• Dr Abraham Lam Hang-yat (Chief Executive Officer, MEGA Automation Ltd & Director, Shenzhen FUSQUARE Technology Ltd)
• Mr Lau Shiu-fung (Programmer, Fame Key Technology Ltd)
• Mr Darron Sun Kin-kwok (Head of Information Technology, Hong Kong Housing Society)

The 16^th ACM Asia Conference on Computer and Communication Security

The 16^th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM ASIACCS 2021) was successfully organised by the Department on 7 – 11 June 2021 online. The conference committee invited Professor Somesh Jha of the University of Wisconsin, Prof. Elaine Shi of Carnegie Mellon University and Professor Kui Ren of Zhejiang University to provide keynote speeches on security in machine learning, blockchain, and database systems respectively.

The conference consisted of workshops, poster and paper presentations and attracted more than 300 presenters and participants, including renowned academic researchers, practitioners and students, to exchange new problems, ideas and findings in the field.

COMP Best Project Award Competition 2021

To recognise students' outstanding performance in their Capstone Projects, COMP hosted the online Best Project Award Competition on 5 June 2021. Among this year's projects, five students were shortlisted to compete for the awards. Apart from our faculty members, we invited experienced executives from the technology sector including Hong Kong Cyberport, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, and InfoTech Services to form a panel of judges.

Each student was given fifteen minutes for presentation and Q&A. The judging criteria included project background study, design or methodology, implementation, evaluation, video demonstration and presentation skills. The panel agreed that it was a tough decision as all participants were very well-prepared and able to demonstrate their ideas concisely and respond confidently. In addition to the Best Project Awards, two contestants were selected to receive the InfoTech Job Market Driven Scholarship, based on the quality and relevancy of their projects in adopting hot skills highly sought by the IT industry.

• CHER Chun-ho (Champion & Awardee of InfoTech, Job Market Driven Scholarship, "VR Vocational Training System for People with Mental Disorder"
• CHOI Wing-nam (First Runner-up, "Real-time Photorealistic Video Style Transfer on User-specified Object Classes")
• LAU Yuen-yee (Second Runner-up & Awardee of InfoTech Job Market Driven Scholarship, "Automated Fare Collection System for Public Transportation Facilities")