An opening ceremony for the Unistrong/PolyU Joint GNSS Research Laboratory was held on 14 October 2019. Following an introduction of the guests by Prof. Wu Chen of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), speeches were delivered by Prof. Guohua Chen, PolyU’s Associate Vice President (Research Support), Dr Brian Lin, Chief Executive Officer of Unistrong, Prof. You-lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), Mr Keith Marshall, Executive International Director of Unistrong, Mr Congli Wu, Vice President of Unistrong, and Prof. John Shi, Head of LSGI. A leading GNSS equipment supply and system solution provider in China, Unistrong has a longstanding record of collaboration with FCE and recently donated some of their latest equipment for its research and teaching purposes. After the ceremony, participants visited LSGI’s Navigation Lab to view some of the research on display there and discuss possible research areas. Both sides will further develop project proposals, including future joint projects in GNSS and smart city, GNSS equipment test facilities, and scholarships for PhD students.

At the opening ceremony

Prof. Prashant Kumar and Prof. Neil Donahue of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (HKRGC) Monitoring and Assessment Panel visited the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) on 14 October 2019. They conducted a review of a project funded by the RGC Theme-based Research Scheme in 2017/18 and led by Prof. Tao Wang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Entitled “Photochemical Air Pollution in Highly Urbanized Subtropical Regions: from Micro Environments to Urban-terrestrial-oceanic Interactions,” the project’s objectives, direction, and progress since it started were introduced by Prof. Wang before his co-principal investigators took turns to present their research findings with respect to (i) emissions from trees, soils and oceans, (ii) halogen chemistry and organic aerosol formation as well as (iii), instrument, model development and policy implications. The panel members also visited the Atmospheric Research Laboratory, the Environmental Chamber, and the Project Office. In attendance were 10 postdocs and 15 research postgraduates, who presented some of their posters on the project.

Prof. Wang and his team at the review visit

Prof. Kam-Tim Chau of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), an alumnus of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), was inducted into the AIT Hall of Fame on 24 October 2019 by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. The AIT Hall of Fame recognizes and honours the accomplishments and contribution of senior alumni and others who bring pride and inspiration to their profession, society, and AIT. So far, only 21 inductees have been honoured: 12 in 2010 and 9 in 2019 on the occasion of AIT’s 60th Anniversary Celebration. Prof. Chau is the first inducted member from Hong Kong and the youngest of all the awardees.

Prof. Chau (seated far right) at the ceremony		Prof. Chau receiving his award

At the International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions, New Products (iENA) held in Germany from 31 October to 3 November 2019, Prof. Hai Guo of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and his team received a Gold Medal for the world’s first semi-online measuring device for acidic ultrafine particles. Their project also received a Special Merit Award from the National Research Council of Thailand.

Dr Dan Tsang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) has been awarded $1,966,500 from the Hong Kong International Airport Environmental Fund for his project entitled “Valorisation of Food/Paper Waste into Value-Added Chemicals and Energy.” The project is expected to last for 2 years, from 2 October 2019 to 1 October 2021.

3 academics of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) have been awarded FCE Matching Funding for external competitive grants. Following are the details:

Dr Yi Jiang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) has been selected for an Early Career Award 2019/20 from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council for his project entitled “Advanced Nanocomposite Membranes Synthesized by An Aerosol-assisted Fabrication Approach for Water and Wastewater Treatment.” Dr Jiang began his academic career at PolyU in July 2017. He will receive his award in a ceremony on 11 November 2019.

Prof. Hongxing Yang of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) has been promoted to editor of the International Journal of Applied Energy by Elsevier after serving the journal as associate editor for many years. A top Science Citation Index (SCI) journal in the field of energy applications, the journal’s current Impact Factor is 8.426, ranking 1/168 in the Category of Engineering (Subcategory: Building and Construction) by CiteScore and 7th among 579 SCI journals in Engineering released by ESI statistics recently. About 1,600 papers were published by the journal in 2018 out of more than 12,000 submissions.

Prof. Yang received an Excellent Editor Award from the journal in 2016 and successfully organized the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy in 2018 at PolyU. The journal can be found at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-energy.

The Engineering Exploration Programme 2019 was organized by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ President’s Proteges Club (HKIE PPC) to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to secondary students and encourage them to serve the community by applying engineering knowledge and skills. 10 teams of students participated in the programme, with 3 of them competing in a final presentation on 31 August 2019. A panel of judges selected the Ho Yu College and Primary School team as the champion for their successful implementation of a smart farming system in their school. One of the 3 honorary judges was Prof. Geoffrey Shen, Associate Dean (Teaching) of the Faculty of Construction and Environment.

Prof. Shen (middle) with the winning students

A PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Shen of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Mr Xiao Li, received a Sylff Research Abroad Award of US$5000 for a short stay at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to conduct research related to his doctoral dissertation. Mr Li’s research interest is in project management, particularly for construction industrialization and digitalization. His investigation of smart solutions and approaches for constraints management in the construction industrialization process led to the award.

The Sylff Association was launched in April 2017 to commemorate Sylff’s 30th anniversary. It brings together current and graduated fellows, steering committee members at 69 Sylff institutions, staff of the Nippon Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research.

A graduate of the BSc programme in surveying, Miss Westing Tsoi, was honoured on 17 September 2019 with an Outstanding Student Dissertation Award 2018/19 from the Chartered Institute of Building (HK). She received a prize cheque of $1000 and an award certificate for her empirical study of open space planning and its quality for public housing development in Hong Kong. Her supervisor was Dr Daniel Chan of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE).

The primary goals of these awards are to promote excellence in construction project management and to recognize students with outstanding academic achievements. After graduating at the top of her class, Miss Tsoi is now a technical trainee at Swire Properties Ltd.

Miss Tsoi at the award ceremony

A part-time student of the MSc programme in Building Services Engineering, Mr Yat Kuen Wong, received the Outstanding Student Lighting Project Award from the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) Hong Kong recently. Mr Wong completed his final-year project under the supervision of Dr Minchen (Tommy) Wei of BSE and currently works at the New World Construction Company Ltd.

As the international standardizing body in the field of light and lighting, CIE publishes international standards and technical reports for fundamental knowledge and applications in the fields of light and lighting.