PolyU announced recently the set up the “Lee Family Endowed Professorship in Textiles Technologies” and the Endowed Professor-designate is Prof. Jintu Fan, Head and Chair Professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Engineering of ITC.
The endowed professorship has given ITC a strong impetus to make further contributions to the development of the local fashion and textiles industry and education.Prof. Jintu Fan was the former Chair and Vincent V. C. Woo Professor of Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design, Cornell University, USA and the Founding Director of Cornell Institute of Fashion & Fiber Innovation. He has a prominent international standing in the field of fashion and textiles, served as President of the US based international Fiber Society in 2018, Director of the Shanghai International Fashion Innovation Center from 2016 to 2019 and is currently the Chairman of Hong Kong Institution of Textiles and Apparel (HKITA).
Prof. Fan is a world class expert in functional textiles and fashion. He has made outstanding contributions in clothing thermal comfort, theories of heat and mass transfer in fibrous materials, personal thermal management and fashion aesthetics, including the invention of world-first sweating fabric manikin-Walter, establishment of the transient heat and mass transfer model in fibrous media incorporating radiation and phase change, development of biomimetic textiles as well as the discovery of Volume-Height Index (VHI) as a dominant factor for bodily attractiveness. He has authored/co-authored more than 450 research publications, many of which have appeared in leading journals of relevant fields, including Science Advances, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials as well as Textile Research Journal. He has been honoured with numerous prestigious awards, including Warner Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to textile science from The Textile Institute in 2016; Morgan Sesquicentennial Fellow from Cornell University; Doctor of Science from Leeds University in 2011; Honorary Fellow of The Textile Institute in 2010 (the highest honour within the institute for creativity and advancement of knowledge) and Distinguished Achievement Award from the Fiber Society in 2003.
Established in 2012, the Endowed Professorship Scheme aims to honour distinguished scholars for their outstanding academic and research achievements. It provides a unique opportunity for supporters to partner with PolyU to advance research and academic activities of a discipline of their choice for the benefits of the wider community.
The endowment of my professorship by the veteran textile industry leader is a huge encouragement to my academic and research career. This will undoubtedly propel me to strive for greater contribution to the development of disruptive technologies for the fashion and textile industry.
Prof. Jintu Fan
