News

FCE Shines in Research Assessment Exercise 2020

The long-awaited results of the Research Assessment Exercise 2020 are out! The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) is pleased that its submissions to the panel of Built Environment have been favorably assessed by the University Grants Committee (UGC) according to their research outputs, impact, and environment. The FCE submissions were assessed under two Units of Assessment (UoA) , namely (i) civil engineering (including construction engineering and management) and building technology, as well as (ii) planning and surveying (land and other). Overall, 73% of the research by FCE’s 91 eligible staff were deemed “world-leading” (4*) or “internationally excellent” (3*), compared to the sector-wide average of 71%. Among the UGC-funded universities in this field, PolyU is within the top three. In particular, 93% of our research environment and 83% of our research impact were rated “world-leading” (4*) or “internationally excellent” (3*), higher than the respective sector-wide averages of 70% and 74%. With respect to the two UoAs, FCE achieved 75% of 4* and 3* ratings in research outputs in the UoA of planning and surveying (land and other). Its research impact and environment with these ratings in the same UoA were 50% and 85% respectively. In the UoA of civil engineering and building technology, the research outputs of FCE rated 4* and 3* were 65%, while 100% of its research impact and environment achieved these high ratings.

China’s First Landing on Mars Supported by Research of LSGI Academic

The landing of Chinese spacecraft Tianwen-1 on Mars in mid-May 2021 has made aerospace history. It was the first time in the world that a spacecraft has completed orbiting, landing and roving in one single mission. Two PolyU research teams had supported the successful mission. One was led by Prof. Bo Wu of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics (LSGI). From 2017 to 2020, his team had shortlisted three potential landing regions on Mars, one of which was the southern Utopia Planitia, the largest recognised impact basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars. It was eventually chosen as the target landing region after detailed topographic and geomorphological mapping and analysis. Using the high-resolution images sent from Tianwen-1 of the target landing region covering an area of about 11 times larger than the size of Hong Kong’s territory, Prof. Wu and his team generated high-resolution and high-precision 3D digital topographic models of the target landing region using the integrated 3D mapping model developed by them to analyse the detailed topography and identify large slopes hazardous for landing. They also developed AI-based techniques for more automated and robust analysis of geomorphological features like craters and rocks from the high-resolution images in a short period of time. More than 670,000 craters, over two million rocks, and hundreds of volcanic cones distributed over the target landing region were analyzed in 1.5 months, achieving much higher efficiency in the automatic extraction of rocks and craters with an accuracy of about 85%. The spacecraft for the Tianwen-1 probe comprises an orbiter, a lander and the Zhurong rover. In collaboration with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the latest mission aims to obtain scientific exploration data on the Red Planet. With orbiting and landing completed, the Mars rover Zhurong is set to begin its exploration. The whole world is waiting to see what it finds.

FCE Scholars Among World’s Top 2% of Scientists

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.

New Dean for FCE

Prof. Xiangdong Li, Director of PolyU’s Research Institute of Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) and Ko Jan Ming Professor in Sustainable Urban Development, has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) from 1 January 2021 upon the retirement of Ir Prof. You-Lin Xu. He thanks Prof. Xu for his leadership and guidance over the last 6 years and wishes his predecessor all the best. Prof. Li began his academic career at PolyU in 1995. He has a PhD in environmental technology from Imperial College London. His 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 of the Web of Science database. A past president (2011-2013) of the International Society of Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH), he is currently an associate editor for Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T), a journal published by the American Chemical Society, and serves on the editorial board for several other international journals in related fields.

Results of RGC General Research Fund 2020/21

The 2020/21 application results for the RGC General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS) were announced on 30 June 2020. Due to their similar nature, the application results for these 2 schemes have been combined in some of the above analysis:   In terms of the number of grants, CEE led with 15 grants, followed by both BSE and LSGI with 5 each. As seen from Figure 1, the number of grants secured by individual departments, except CEE, has dropped this year, while the total funding secured by FCE departments has reached over $24 million (Figure 2).   In terms of the average funding amount per academic staff member (only counting those who are eligible), the rankings of our 4 departments in descending order are CEE, LSGI, BSE and BRE. As shown in Figure 2, the average funding received by FCE academic staff has reached a high in the 2020/21 exercise.   In the Civil Engineering, Surveying, Building and Construction (CESBC) disciplines of the Engineering Panel, PolyU has led local universities in the GRF/ECS exercises since 1994/95 in both the number of GRF/ECS projects supported and the total grant value awarded, consistently winning around 40% of all GRF/ECS grants allocated in these disciplines. The distribution of the amount of GRF/ECS funding in 2020/21 among local universities is shown in Figure 4. PolyU received 45% of the total available funding in the CESBC disciplines this year, with an average funding of HK$814K per project.   Of the 28 GRF/ECS grants awarded to the Faculty this year, 3 were awarded outside the CESBC disciplines. The Faculty won 25 grants (or 34.7%) totaling HK$20,961K out of 72 GRF/ECS grants awarded by RGC in the CESBC disciplines in the present round (i.e. 2020/21).

URAP Subject Ranking 2019/20

In the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) 2019/20, PolyU was ranked third for the subject of Architecture and tenth for the subject of Civil Engineering, the only local university to be in the top ten in both subjects. This was an improvement from the field rankings in 2017/18, where PolyU was 6th and 15th in Architecture and Civil Engineering respectively. Since 2010, URAP has ranked world universities based on academic performance indicators that reflect the quality and the quantity of their scholarly publications. As a non-profit organization, it was established at the Informatics Institute of the Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

LSGI Scholar Receives Leader of the Year Award

In recognition of his achievement in lunar topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis for finding the best landing location on the far side of the Moon for the Chinese space mission of Chang’e 4, Prof. Bo Wu of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) was recently honoured by the Sing Tao News Corporation Ltd. with a Leader of the Year Award 2019 in its Education/Professions/ Technology & Innovation category. He shares the award with another recipient, Prof. Kai-leung Yung of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, whose research on a camera pointing system enabled Chang’e-4 to capture stunning panoramic images of the lunar surface. Established since 1994, the award aims to provide role models for a younger generation and inspire the public to strive for the best in the development of Hong Kong.

CEE Scholar Coauthored Article in Nature Sustainability

Nature Sustainability has published an article coauthored by Dr Peng Wang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and 4 of his former colleagues at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. Entitled “Photovoltaic panel cooling by atmospheric water sorption-evaporation cycle,” it proposes a sorption-based atmospheric water harvester as an effective component for a new and versatile photovoltaic panel cooling strategy. With little constraint in terms of its geographical application and the potential to improve the electricity production of existing and future photovoltaic plants, the cooling strategy can result in less CO2 emission or less land occupation by photovoltaic panels. More details can be found in the full article https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0535-4. Contributing to global sustainability, the research has been highlighted by Science magazine at https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/new-solar-panels-suck-water-air-cool-themselves-down. Dr Wang also promoted this new technology in a blog post at https://sustainabilitycommunity.springernature.com/users/266280-peng-wang/posts/atmospheric-water-cools-photovoltaics-and-more.

HK PhD Fellowship Scheme 2020/21

PolyU was awarded 29 HK PhD Fellowships for 2020/21, a testimony of its strong research programmes. The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) is pleased to have the above 10 winners (34.5% of PolyU total) for 2020/21.

Most Outstanding PolyU Student Award 2019

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.