A total of 163 scholars from PolyU have been ranked among the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists in a recent list compiled by Stanford University. 44 of them are in the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), with 12 in the field of Civil Engineering, 11 in the field of Building and Construction, and the rest in various fields. Among local universities, PolyU had the second most scientists in the list of top 2%.

The other fields where FCE academics are listed are Geological and Geomatics Engineering, Energy, Logistics and Transportation, Environmental Sciences, Acoustics, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Urban & Regional Planning and Strategic, Defence & Security Studies. The full list is available here.

The database of close to 160,000 top scientists in the world is created on the basis of standardized citation indicators such as information on citations, an individual’s scientific research output, co-authorship and a composite indicator for career-long citation impact up to the end of 2019.

Scholars in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) have contributed to research in urban informatics and smart cities with the establishment of the Smart Cities Research Institute in 2020. Its Director, Prof. John Shi, recently co-edited a book entitled Urban Informatics with a few of his colleagues. Published by Springer, it systematically introduces the principles of emerging urban informatics and its wide applications in enabling cities to function more efficiently and equitably. Bringing together over 140 authors from more than 40 world-leading research teams, the milestone book is organized into five main parts: urban science, urban systems and applications, urban sensing, urban big data infrastructure, and urban computing. Besides offering a comprehensive review and a detailed technical introduction to the principles, methods and tools that form the core of urban informatics, it also outlines ways in which these methods and tools can be used to inform the design, policies, and management of urban services as well as ways in which cities can be planned to become more efficient with a greater concern for environment and equity.

Serving as a reference for researchers and professionals, as well as a textbook for relevant postgraduate and undergraduate courses, the open access book can be freely downloaded at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-15-8983-6.

Dr Minchen (Tommy) Wei, an Associate Professor in Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), has received a Google Research Scholar Award 2021 of USD$35,000 to support his research in developing algorithms for cameras and displays that would facilitate better capture and reproduction of the colours seen in the real world. His research has sought to understand the underlying mechanisms of human perception, and to apply that knowledge in developing solutions for cameras, displays, and lighting systems. In his Colour and Illumination Laboratory at PolyU, Dr Wei and his students have developed various solutions and algorithms for world-leading companies, such as Facebook, Huawei, DJI, etc.

The Google Research Scholar Programme was established in March 2020 to encourage collaborations with the academic community, particularly those who are pursuing cutting-edge research in computer science and related fields that are of interest to the technology company. In its first year, Google supported 77 scholars in over 50 universities of more than 15 countries. Dr Wei is the only scholar in East Asia to receive the award.

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Prof. Bo Wu of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and his research team have won first place in the 2021 ESRI Award for Best Scientific Paper in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Co-authored with He Zhang, the chief designer of the Chang’E-4 probe, partners from the China Academy of Space Technology, as well as some postgraduate students of Prof. Wu and research staff at LSGI, the paper describes the innovative lunar topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis that contributed to identifying the best landing site of Chang’E-4 on the far side of the Moon in 2019. Entitled “Topographic and Geomorphological Mapping and Analysis of the Chang’E-4 Landing Site on the Far Side of the Moon,” the paper was published in the April 2020 issue of Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (PE&RS).

The ESRI Award was established in 1991 to honour individuals who publish papers of scientific merit that advance knowledge about GIS technology. ESRI is the world’s largest company specializing in GIS and mapping solutions. Presentation of the award was held on 29 March 2021 in a ceremony at the ASPRS 2021 annual conference held online.

Environmental engineering, covering such diverse natural resources as the water we drink and the air we breathe, is an eminently practical field with enormous potential to improve our lives. A series of well received webinars to promote the subject on environmental engineering was recently delivered by scholars of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), which offers an MSc programme in Environmental Management and Engineering in addition to undergraduate programmes in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development, Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health, as well as Structural and Fire Safety Engineering, including,

The scalable application of functionally engineered nanomaterials in water treatment membranes addresses the critical problem of applying nanomaterials in water treatment on a large scale. Converting wood and yard wastes into valuable products is addressed in the second webinar, while the third covers sustainable energy-driven clean water production, wastewater treatment, and the use of alternative water resources to enhance solar energy conversion. Please stay tuned for upcoming webinars!

On 27 March 2021, Prof. Wu Chen, Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), gave a talk on smart city talent in a webinar of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors’ (HKIS) PASS Conference, which had evolving professional surveying services in smart city as its theme. Moderating the session was Sr Dr Charles Wong, Associate Head (Academic) and Associate Professor of LSGI. Over 200 participants attended the webinar.

Funded by the Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme (PASS), the conference aims to share the professional services, practices and experiences from Belt and Road cities / countries on smart city development. Experts from countries like Singapore, South Korea, and mainland China, as well as local government officials, industry practitioners, and academics were invited to share their perspectives on the topics of (i)smart city and common spatial data infrastructure, (ii)smart planning and development, (iii)smart geo-information systems and (iv)smart city talent.

Prof. Wu Chen speaking at the conference	Dr Charles Wong (right) moderating the session

To address the shortage of land for housing in Hong Kong, Sr Tony Wai Chuen Tse shared his views in an online distinguished lecture on how to increase the supply of land for development so Hong Kong could provide a better living environment for its residents. Although land reclamation was primarily the means adopted in the past, it was noted that only 7% of the city’s developed land was for residential purposes, with 66% still either vacant or undeveloped. He extolled the benefits of the government’s vision for developing Lantau, which would not only enable a more balanced spatial distribution of population and jobs, but also facilitate the capture of opportunities in the Greater Bay Area. He also shared some experience from the Tung Chung new town extension project and suggested other solutions besides land reclamation. These included making better use of a frontier closed area, Tso/Tong lands, under-occupied public rental housing, and transitional housing. More than 140 people attended the online lecture.

Sr Tse, recipient of the Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award 2021, is currently a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council for the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency, Fellow member of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, the Chairperson of the Property Management Services Authority, and a Non-Executive Director (non-official) of the Urban Renewal Authority. He was awarded a Bronze Bauhinia Star in 2014 and appointed Justice of the Peace in 2020.

In recognition of his significant contributions to the chemical sciences, Dr Peng Wang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). The names of newly elected Fellows are published each year in The Times (London). He joined PolyU in August 2019 and has a PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

A technician in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), Mr Wai Kam Ho , has retired after more than 25 years at PolyU. He served the university from July 1995 to April 2021. He received a souvenir on his last day of service from the Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), Prof. Xiangdong Li.