News

FCE Students Participate in Impactful Community Service Projects

In the summer of 2018, a group of over 130 students and staff from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) engaged in various community service projects at the Ebenezer School for the Visual Impaired. While most of them were Higher Diploma (HD) students from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) who were undergoing part of their training provided by PolyU’s Industrial Centre at the Ebenezer School, there were also BSc/BEng students from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and the Faculty of Engineering (FENG). Together, they learnt to build 6 shelters, revamp the assembly hall and renovate the Old People’s Home. To effectively implement the projects, students assumed one of various roles that are commonly found in real life construction projects, such as project manager, site engineer, quantity surveyor, BIM engineer, safety officer etc. With the help of advanced technologies and equipment, students produced the construction drawings using Autodesk Revits and planned the schedule for the construction project in Microsoft project. Not only were they exposed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in the process, students also learnt about the importance of commitment, teamwork and empathy.     For their efforts and dedication, 8 of the FCE students were selected for Prize Awards from the Rotary Club of Wanchai, which they received in a sharing session organized by the Ebenezer School at its campus on 5 September 2018. After welcoming speeches from Dr Alice Yuk, CEO of Ebenezer School, and Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), students from the Ebenezer School and PolyU took turns expressing their thoughts on the community service project “Touching is Touching.” The winning students were 5 HD students in the Building Technology and Management programme, an HD student in Civil Engineering, 2 BSc (Hons) students in Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, and 2 BEng (Hons) students in Electrical Engineering. They all welcomed the opportunity to serve the community in such a meaningful way. The HD students worked under the supervision of Mr Wai-Che Lee and Mr Stephen Lee of the Industrial Centre in the construction projects. The degree students from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) produced a 3-dimensional computer model of the school for the visually impaired students of Ebenezer to touch and feel.     Led by Dr Matthew Pang and Mr Nelson Chan of LSGI, students from LSGI applied their knowledge of land surveying and spatial data processing. According to Mr King Wah Lau, a fourth-year student from LSGI, the project was mutually beneficial for both PolyU students and the Ebenezer community. On the one hand, LSGI students practised their technical skills in conducting a Global Positioning System (GPS) survey and piloting an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to take aerial photos as part of the modelling process. On the other hand, the sight-impaired students gain a better idea of their school through touching the 3D model. His classmate, Mr Gabbo Ching, agreed it was definitely a worthwhile project, even though it was not without its share of difficulties, such as processing the data from the many photos taken by the photogrammetry survey and operating the UAV in windy weather conditions.     Overcoming challenges was also part of the experience for Ms Ying Yiu Lai, a second-year HD student in Building Technology & Management, who had some big shoes to fill in her role as a project manager. Her anxiety about fulfilling her responsibilities made her appreciate all the guidance provided by her instructors and the importance of developing problem-solving skills. Two other HD students in Building Technology & Management worked as project managers. Ms Yuk Yu Cheung was encouraged by the unity of her team in renovating the home for the elderly. She hopes the Ebenezer students could feel the love and support from PolyU when they use the improved facilities. Understanding the needs of others was a key insight for Ms Cheung from having participated in this project. Her classmate Mr Chi Ho Yue agreed that it was necessary for the designs to be user-friendly and aspiring engineers to be mindful of the needs of underprivileged groups. He particularly cherished the opportunity to design a guiding path for Ebenezer students to feel their way around the campus through the sense of touch. Other HD students from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) who were rewarded for their leadership skills were Ms Kin Chi Chan and Ms Nga Sum. Ms Chan supervised her team to build one of the shelters at Ebenezer, while Ms Sum led her team to paint a shelter. According to Ms Sum, learning by doing was a golden opportunity for her to develop her communication skills.   One of the shelters at the school   The sole winner from the HD in Civil Engineering programme was Mr Ka Ho Lau, who was involved in the renovation work. Not only did he meet students from another department, he also learnt how to work effectively as a team.   Swimming pool with electronic shelters   Renovation of a home for the elderly   The winning students Back: Chi Ho Yue, Oscar Chow (FENG), King Wah Lau, Gabbo Ching, Ka Ho Lau Front: Chun Fai Kwan (FENG), Nga Sum, Kin Chi Chan, Yuk Yu Cheung, Ying Yiu Lai Serving the Ebenezer community was indeed a valuable experience for these students, who all exemplified PolyU’s motto of “To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind.”

Distinguished Chair Professor of LSGI Elected to UK Academy of Social Sciences

Prof. Mei Po Kwan, Distinguished Chair Professor of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and Professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been elected a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences, the national academy of academics and practitioners in the social sciences in the United Kingdom. Fellows are elected after an extensive process of peer review for the excellence and impact of their work through the use of social science for public benefit. This includes substantial contributions and leadership in various fields, including higher education, social, economic and environmental policy, government, law, charitable foundations and think tanks. According to the Academy, Prof. Kwan has made significant contributions to theory, methods and practice in urban, geographic information science, mobility and health research. As distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors, Fellows were previously known as Academicians. This was changed in July 2014 to bring the Academy in line with other British learned societies.

PolyU Education Info Day 2018

To promote its programmes to the public, the PolyU Education Info Day was held on 6 October 2018. The senior management of PolyU was out in force for the opening ceremony, including Prof. Philip Chan, Deputy President, and the Deans of the various faculties. Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), was joined by Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), Prof. Michael Yam, Acting Associate Dean (Teaching), and the Heads of the 4 FCE departments, namely, Prof. Albert Chan of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Prof. Asif Usmani of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Prof. William Lam of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and Prof. John Shi of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). In addition to exhibitions and info seminars introducing the various programmes of the departments, there were guided visits and consultation sessions for prospective students. Over 1,400 visitors attended the FCE info seminars. It was a memorable day for all concerned.   More Photos

PolyU scholar wins the inaugural Publons ECR Reviewers’ Choice Award

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is delighted to announce that Dr Huang Xinyan, Assistant Professor of the Department of Building Services Engineering, was awarded the inaugural Publons ECR (Early Career Researchers) Reviewers’ Choice Award in recognition of his tremendous efforts and exceptional contribution to scholarly peer review of research papers in maintaining scientific quality. Dr Huang shone among the over 600 nominees from countries around the world and became the ultimate winner of the ECR Reviewers' Choice Award organized by Publons, a global peer-review platform for researchers, for being an “active, careful, enthusiastic, constructive and responsible reviewer.” Dr Huang has 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 the Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing by eight different Elsevier Journals. The University congratulates Dr Huang on his achievement. Professor You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment said, “Dr Huang has demonstrated untiring commitment to peer review that helps uphold the academic credibility of a journal. We are proud of his contributions to the academic research field.” 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. Dr Huang is a Combustion Scientist and a Fire Protection Engineer. He received his PhD (2016) from Imperial College London and joined PolyU in 2017. He has served as a reviewer for 33 journals and made 185 pre-publication reviews so far. ECR Reviewers’ Choice Award celebrates early-career researchers’ exceptional advocacy, innovation, or contributions to scholarly peer review, organised by Publons which is a global network of peer reviewers and part of Clarivate Analytics. This is the first year Publons runs the peer-nominated and voted Award, which is designed to recognise an individual who has been influential in the realm of peer review, or has significantly contributed to improving the system. The newly established award is part of Publons’ global Peer Review Awards, the only cross-publisher Awards that endorse the efforts of peer reviewers worldwide. The other five finalists competing for the Award comes from University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of Texas in Austin, Brno University of Technology and Eindhoven University of Technology. For further information on the Award, please browse: https://publons.com/community/awards/ecr-reviewers-choice-award

International Conference on Engineering Research and Practice for Steel Construction 2018

10 world-renowned researchers and engineers presented their latest research and construction projects at the first International Conference on Engineering Research and Practice for Steel Construction from 5 to 7 September 2018 at the Cordis Hotel in Mongkok, Kowloon. They included Prof. David Nethercot and Prof. Ahmed Elghazouli of Imperial College London, Prof. Yozo Fujino of Yokohama National University, Prof. Sritawat Kitipornchai of the University of Queensland, Prof. Richard Liew of the National University of Singapore, Prof. Lin-Hai Han of Tsinghua University, Prof. Richard Stroetmann of Technische Universitat Dresden, Dr Robin Sham of AECOM in Hong Kong, Prof. G.Q. Li of Tongji University, and Prof. Sing-Ping Chiew of the Singapore Institute of Technology. Organized by the Hong Kong branch of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Steel Construction, the conference provided a technical platform for effective exchanges on modern steel construction technology among over 180 researchers and engineers. Officiating at the conference was Ir C.K. Hon, Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) of the Hong Kong Government’s Development Bureau. About 120 technical papers were presented in 20 sessions on a wide range of topics, from the effective use of high strength steel on construction, steel and composite structures, cold-formed steel structures to seismic protection to steel structures. They were well received and stimulated much discussion for those in attendance.

Faculty Forum Highlights FCE Strategic Plans

To cultivate a supportive culture for academics of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) to engage in high impact and collaborative research, a Faculty Forum was held on 30 August 2018. About 80 of them gathered to learn about some critical issues of relevance for them. First, they heard from Prof. Guohua Chen, Associate Vice President (Research Support), who provided an analysis of FCE’s strengths, weaknesses, and the opportunities facing it. Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of FCE, then shared the Faculty’s strategic plans for 2018 to 2021. They were nothing short of visionary. Next, Prof. Jianping Gan from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology talked about his successful experience in writing a proposal for the Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC). His insight shed some light on what a winning proposal might be like. Subsequently, Prof. Albert Chan, Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) and member of the RGC engineering panel, shared his perspective as a panel member on applications for the Early Career Scheme (ECS) and General Research Fund (GRF) of the RGC. This was followed by presentations from Dr You Dong of CEE and Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), who talked about their respective experiences in writing proposals for the ECS and GRF, before Prof. Asif Usmani, Head of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), gave some tips on recruiting quality candidates for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme. The Forum facilitated dialogue between young researchers and more experienced scholars. Concluding with closing remarks from Prof. Xiangdong Li, Associate Dean (Research), it was an enlightening event for all who attended, particularly those just beginning their academic careers.

Which part of your university experience influenced you the most?

“Hall life! I was an introvert, but becoming friends with roommates from different countries gave me confidence to step out of my comfort zone.” Hanging out with his roommates from Romania and Poland, Dachi has learnt to appreciate various cultures while sharing his own. These experiences blew him away and broadened his mindset with an international perspective. More details: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/stars/scholarships/outstanding-students-award-scheme/outstanding-student-awards-presentation-ceremony-2017/outstanding-student,-faculty-of-construction-and-environment-2017.html Video: https://goo.gl/2uadaX

PolyU-led project awarded the largest grant in the latest round of Theme-based Research Scheme

The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) is pleased that a project led by Prof. Jin-Guang Teng of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) to develop a new type of concrete structures for marine infrastructure has been awarded more than HK$47 million, the largest amount of funding from the Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme 2018/19. The local participating universities will provide more than HK$ 5 million as matching funding, bringing the total budget to above HK$ 52 million. Entitled “Sustainable Marine Infrastructure Enabled by the Innovative Use of Seawater Sea-Sand Concrete and Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Composites,” the project addresses the severe deterioration problem of marine infrastructure caused by steel corrosion by replacing steel with fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) as the reinforcing material. This replacement then also allows the direct use of seawater and sea-sand in making the concrete (i.e., seawater-sea-sand concrete or SSC). Great environmental and economical benefits can be derived from the use of this new type of structures (referred to as FRP-SSC structures) in marine infrastructure. The research programme will include the development of innovative steel-free structural forms as well as new methods for the design, construction and performance monitoring of FRP-SSC structures. A key scientific challenge for the team is the establishment of a multi-scale, multi-physics approach for predicting the long-term performance of FRP-SSC structures in a marine environment over a service life of more than 50 or even 100 years. Results obtained with this method will assist greatly in the formulation of safe and economical design methods for FRP/SSC structures. Co-principal investigators include Prof. Christopher Leung from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Prof. Zongjin Li from the University of Macau, CEE colleagues Prof. Yiqing Ni and Prof. Chi-sun Poon, Dr Florence Sanchez from Vanderbilt University in the US, Prof. Tong Sun from the University of London, Mr Sheng-Nian Wang of the CCCC Fourth Harbour Engineering Institute Co. Ltd. in mainland China, and Prof. Limin Zhou of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Since the Theme-based Research Scheme began in 2011/12, PolyU has had 2 projects funded by this highly competitive scheme, in 2017/18 and 2018/19 respectively, both with the theme of developing a sustainable environment. The previous winning project was led by Prof. Tao Wang of CEE.

How to enhance efficiency in tree management?

Under the PolyU-led Jockey Club Smart City Tree Management Project, Smart Sensing Technology (SST) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be applied in monitoring the stability of trees. Dr Charles Wong at the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics talked about the significance of this project. More details: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/cpa/excel/en/201806/viewpoint/v1/index.html

IAWE Senior Award (Davenport Medal) for Dean of FCE

Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), was honoured with the International Association for Wind Engineering (IAWE) Senior Award with Davenport Medal for his outstanding contributions to the field of wind engineering and bridge engineering in research, education, and application. Prof. Xu received his award and medal from Prof. Ahsan Kareem, the President of IAWE, and Prof. Yukio Tamura, the Immediate Past President of IAWE, at the 2018 Computational Wind Engineering Symposium in Seoul, Korea, on 20 June 2018. Prof. Kareem is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering while Prof. Tamura is a member of the Engineering Academy of Japan. Both of them are also foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The International Association for Wind Engineering (IAWE), formally established in 1975, promotes international co-operation among scientists, engineers and other professionals for advancement of knowledge in the broad field of wind engineering.