Miss Ching Tung Ip, a full-time final-year student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), has won the prestigious Most Outstanding PolyU Student Award 2019. She was chosen for her outstanding academic achievement, strong leadership ability, extensive involvement in extra-curricular activities, substantial community service, and good personal qualities. Prior to winning this award, Miss Ip first won the Outstanding Student Award of CEE, then a similar award from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), in addition to numerous scholarships. She believes that an outstanding student should be mature, responsible, and independent. She has certainly demonstrated those qualities with her commitment to serve others. She was a mental health ambassador in 2016/17 and a student ambassador for the university before serving as the Chairlady of the Student Chapter of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) at PolyU in 2019/20.

The Outstanding Students Award Scheme of PolyU is held each year to motivate students to excel in both academic and non-academic pursuits, cultivating a campus culture and public image that is congenial for the development of all-round graduates. Nominees for the award first compete at the departmental level, the winners of which then compete at the faculty level. The winner of the Most Outstanding PolyU Student Award is chosen from the 8 awardees of the Outstanding Student Award of Faculty/ School.

Miss Ip

Prof. Xiangdong Li, Director of PolyU’s Research Institute of Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD), Associate Dean (Research), and Chair Professor of Environmental Science and Technology in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), has been appointed as Ko Jan Ming Professor in Sustainable Urban Development for a period of 5 years from 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2025.

Prof. Li’s major research interests include regional pollution, urban environmental studies, and remediation of contaminated sites. He has published more than 200 papers in leading international journals, and is an author of 15 highly cited papers (top 1%) in Environment/Ecology in the Web of Science database. He was awarded an Outstanding Young Researcher (Overseas) Fund from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in 2007. A past president (2011-2013) of the International Society of Environmental Geochemistry and Health, he is currently an associate editor for Environmental Science and Technology, a journal published by the American Chemical Society, and serves on the editorial board for several other international journals in related fields.

With the above appointments in PolyU’s Endowed Professorship Scheme, there are now 5 endowed professorships in FCE.

In the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2020, the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) has one discipline in the top 20. The ranking for Civil and Structural Engineering was in 19th place, while Architecture/ Built Environment was in 22nd place. As a university, PolyU was ranked 91st, up from last year’s position of 106th. In Asia alone, PolyU was ranked 24th. A recognition of its efforts in teaching and research, the jump in rankings from the year before is highly encouraging.

Launched in 2011, the annual QS World University Rankings by Subject is a comprehensive guide to a range of subjects. The rankings list the world’s top universities based on their academic reputation, employer reputation, and research impact, which is reflected in the citations per paper and an H-index that measures both the productivity and impact of a scholar’s published work.

A team of researchers from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) was awarded RMB 3.74 million from the National Key Technologies R&D Programme of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for a large-scale research project entitled “Technology integration and application for smart operation of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.” Members of the team include Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), Prof. Yong Xia, Dr Songye Zhu, and Dr You Dong.

Prof. Xia, Dr Zhu, and Dr Dong also received RMB 2.44 million from the Guangdong Provincial Key Technologies R&D Programme for another research project entitled “Intelligent safety monitoring and emergency control for large-scale cross-sea transportation cluster infrastructure.” Both projects will last for 3 years, from January 2020 to December 2022.

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

Dr Zhenyu Yin of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) has received funding from the FCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme to engage Dr Jie Yang in a project entitled “Coupled Hydro-mechanical Modeling of Suffusion in Gap-graded Cohesionless Soils.” Both CEE and FCE will each contribute funding of HK$146,200.

A PhD candidate in the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Zhe Song, has been supported by the FCE one-year top-up studentship scheme for admission to a 3-year PhD programme. He will commence his study at PolyU in July 2020. His supervisors will be Prof. Hongxing Yang and Dr Sunliang Cao.

Mr Kwok-fai Yau, a 1990 alumnus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic, has been elected a Vice President of the Federation of PolyU Alumni Associations. A long-time supporter of the university, Mr Yau was active in its Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association prior to his election. He has more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry, becoming a University Fellow in 2017/2018 for his significant contributions to PolyU and the community. He played a vital role in establishing a number of endowed professorships at the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE). In his new role, he hopes he can do more for his alma mater.