7 scholars from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) have recently been approved for research funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF). Following are the details:

NSFC Funding Scheme

Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF)

Prof. Hongxing Yang and Prof. Lin Lu of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) have received awards for 2 of their published papers. One was entitled “Investigation on the heat transfer of energy piles with two-dimensional groundwater flow,” which was the best article published in the International Journal of Low Carbon Technologies in 2017. The other was entitled “Pumped storage-based standalone photovoltaic power generation system: modelling and techno-economic optimization,” which was a 2015-2016 highly cited research paper published in Applied Energy. Their co-authors were Wenke Zhang and Zhaohong Fang as well as T. Ma and J. Peng respectively.

In recognition of his tremendous efforts and contribution to scholarly peer review of research papers to maintain their quality, Dr Xinyan Huang was awarded the inaugural Publons Early Career Researchers (ECR) Reviewers’ Choice Award. Dr Huang is deeply honoured to receive the international award. “Peer review is an excellent learning experience as well as a valuable self-reflective process that helps enhance my writing skill for preparing research papers. I am very happy to be able to contribute to the scientific community,” he said. The newly established award recognizes an individual who has been influential in the realm of peer review, or has significantly contributed to improving the system. Further details of the award are available online at https://publons.com/community/awards/ecr-reviewers-choice-award/.

Prior to this award, he had won Publons Peer Review Awards for his field in the past two years, as well as Springer's Jack Watts award in 2015 for the quality, depth, number, and timeliness of his reviews. He was also recognized for his Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing by eight different Elsevier journals. Trained as a combustion scientist and a fire protection engineer, Dr Huang received his PhD from Imperial College London in 2016 and began his academic career at PolyU in 2017.

In recognition of his contributions to bridge engineering, the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety (IABMAS) awarded its 2018 IABMAS Young Prize to Dr You Dong of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) in Melbourne, Australia, on 11 July. Dr Dong began his academic career at PolyU in December 2016.

The Hong Kong Government has adopted the work of Mr Yong Feng, a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Shen in the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), as a guide for the implementation of its tax incentive policy to promote renewable energy and building energy efficiency. Entitled “Assessment Standard for Green Interior Decoration,” Mr Feng’s edition is comparable to existing standards under other green building certification systems, such as The Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited’s BEAM Plus and the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED system). It was widely implemented in mainland China in December 2016, filling a gap in green assessment standards for interior decoration in the country. Its pioneering nature has made it an instrument for policies as well as a benchmark for the building and decorating industries, providing meaningful guidance and practical use for their sustainable development. Hundreds of mainland engineering projects have already been assessed by it, with 42 of them receiving recognition in the first round. Among them was CaSO Sky office, an outstanding green recycling project from Hong Kong that received the highest 3-star recognition in China’s model engineering of green building decoration.

A forum was held on 31 August 2018 to launch a HK$1.37 million project for developing specifications and standards for underground utility survey based on nondestructive testing, surveying, imaging and diagnostic (NDTSID) approaches. Hosted by Dr Wallace Lai of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), the forum attracted 78 participants including government officials, utility stakeholders, and service providers. Funded by the General Support Scheme of the Innovation and Technology Fund, Sum Kee Construction Ltd., as well as supported by 4 government departments and the Mass Transit Railway, the project is an effort to transfer knowledge from basic/ applied research to practical use in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Deliverables of the project are expected to benchmark the standards of the NDTSID technologies in the underground utility sector.

The Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) welcomed a new assistant professor in September 2018. Dr Ruoyu You received her BEng degree from the Department of Building Science at Tsinghua University in 2013 and her PhD degree from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in 2018. Her research interests include air quality in enclosed environments, computational fluid dynamics, and healthy, energy-efficient, and smart buildings.

At a PolyU Alumni Ambassador Inauguration and Dinner on 7 September 2018, 3 students and several alumni of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) were selected to be PolyU’s student/ alumni ambassadors. Following are brief introductions of the student ambassadors (SA):

Ms Sandy Lam is a final-year student studying property management. She loves to travel and cook in her leisure time. She has developed a sense of belonging to PolyU by participating in various university events, and hopes to share her experiences with others by serving as a student ambassador.

Ms Fanny Fung is a final-year student studying for a BSc(Hons) in Environment and Sustainable Development. Having been a student ambassador last year, she would like to share what she has learnt with the new SAs and continue to promote PolyU to the public.

Mr Alex Li is a third-year student majoring in surveying. According to him, a significant responsibility of a student ambassador is promoting the core value of PolyU “To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind,” which he hopes every student can put into practice.

In addition, the following alumni ambassadors will represent their alma mater as proud graduates in various functions and activities and actively participate in the development of the University, the Federation of PolyU Alumni Associations and local/ non-local alumni associations:

• Ir Johnny Fan (Class of 1972)
• Karen Mak (Class of 2008, BSc (Hons) in Property Management)
• Robert Lam (Class of 2012, BSc (Hons) in Surveying)
• George Fung (Class of 2014, BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering)
• Lok Hei Wong (Class of 2014, BSc (Hons) in Surveying)
• Vivian Cheng (Class of 2016, BSc (Hons) in Property Management)
• Alex Fung (Class of 2017, BEng (Hons) in Building Services Engineering)
• Hau Yin Chau (Class of 2018, BSc (Hons) in Geomatics (Utility Management & Surveying)

The convenor of the Alumni Ambassador Sub-Committee, Ir Johnny Fan, has been active in PolyU’s alumni associations since the 1980s. He is pleased to see that recent graduates of FCE are taking time out of their busy careers in the construction industry to follow in his footsteps.