Awards and Achievements

Dr. Fridolin Ting and AMA UGC T&L PALMS Project garner prestigious Educational Awards

The Department congratulates Dr. Fridolin Sze Thou Ting and his team of UGC Teaching and Learning Pedagogic and Active Learning Mobile Solutions (PALMS) Project for winning 2 prestigious educational awards in 2020. Further to garnering a number of international educational awards last year, Dr. Ting and his project team are once again recognized for their contributions to innovations in STEM tertiary education. Please visit www.palms.polyu.edu.hk for details of the PALMS project. Gold Award, Exemplary Teaching and Learning Award, eLearning Forum Asia 2020-2021 Dr. Fridolin Ting won the Gold Award of Exemplary Teaching and Learning Award presented by eLearning Forum Asia (eLFA) 2020-2021. The result was announced on the 15th eLFA held virtually on 7 – 8 December 2020. This award is set for championing best practices in effective use of pedagogically driven technology for teaching and learning. Please refer to https://awards.elfasia.org/elfaawardswinner for the full list of winners. Commenced in 2006, eLFA is a non-profit organization registered in Hong Kong. It organizes annual forums to advance knowledge of the use of information technology in teaching and learning. Three eLFA awards, Community Outreach Award, Exemplary Teaching Award and Technology Innovation Award, are set to formally recognize and reward exemplary practices among the eLearning communities, and further enhance sharing of experiences. For details, please visit http://elfasia.org/2020/about-elfasia/ Bronze Award in the category of ‘Science of Learning’, Reimagine Education Awards 2020-2021 AMA’s PALMS project received Bronze Award in the ‘Science of Learning’ category, Reimagine Education Awards 2020-21. The awards in this category are given to the projects that most successfully furthers scientific, humanistic and critical theoretical understanding of learning, engages in the design and implementation of learning innovations, and consequently improves instructional methodologies. The winners were announced during the live ceremony on 9 December 2020. Known as the ‘Oscars of Education’, the Reimagine Education Awards reward innovative approaches that enhance student learning outcomes and employability. This year, there were 1,400 applications and more than 200 independent judges. After 5 rounds of judging, PALMS project won a Bronze Award and it was the only awardee among the 5 shortlisted PolyU projects this year. For details, please visit https://www.reimagine-education.com/agenda?agendaPath=session/404277

FAST scholars listed as Highly Cited Researchers 2020 by Clarivate

We take pride in our two professors being listed again as Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate in 2020. The highly anticipated annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. They are recognized as true pioneers in their fields and their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index. International acclaim to FAST’s scholars - Highly Cited Researchers 2020 by Clarivate Prof. WONG Wai-yeung, Raymond Interim Dean, FAST, Clarea Au Professor in Energy, Chair Professor of Chemical Technology, ABCT Click for more about Prof. WONG Prof. QI Liqun Emeritus Professor, AMA Click for more about Prof. QI About the full list of ClarivateTM Highly Cited Researchers 2020, please visit here.

PolyU scholar receives Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award

Professor Xiao-ming Tao, Chair Professor of Textile Technology and Director of the Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, PolyU, was honoured with the 13th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). The award presentation ceremony was held in Beijing yesterday (8 November). The biennial award is China's most prestigious award for Chinese engineers and scientists who have made significant contributions to engineering technology and engineering management. 41 awardees were selected this year from 296 candidates and Professor Tao is one of the three award recipients from Hong Kong. Professor Tao is internationally recognised for her leading research work on intelligent fibrous materials, nanotechnology, photonic fibres and fabrics, flexible electronic and photonic devices, smart washable technology, yarn manufacturing and textile composites. She has conducted numerous research projects and published more than 800 scientific publications including over 300 international journal papers and seven research monographs. She has led a team of prolific inventors of new technologies and obtained 34 international and national patents. Over ten of the invented technologies have been licensed to companies worldwide for industrial applications. Professor Tao was the Head of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing of PolyU from 2003 to 2011. Working closely with industry, Professor Tao successfully led the PolyU team to win a grant of over HK$330 million to host The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. She also founded the Nanotechnology Centre for Functional and Intelligent Textiles and Apparel in 2004 and the Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology in 2018.  

Prof. Defeng Sun, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Applied Mathematics, honoured as Inaugural CSIAM Fellow

Congratulations to Prof. Defeng Sun, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Applied Mathematics, being selected as one of the eight elected Inaugural Fellows of the China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM). CSIAM Fellow is an honorific title for life, in recognition of its distinguished members for their contributions to the field of industrial and applied mathematics. Early in April 2020, Prof. Sun was conferred as 2020 Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in recognition of his contributions to algorithms and software for conic optimization, particularly matrix optimization. Focusing on research of the development of efficient optimization algorithms for solving large-scale complex optimization problems, statistical regression models and machine learning problems, Prof. Sun devised a world-recognized second-order sparsity solution that renders data with more precision and depth than traditional methods, efficiently separating useful data from useless data and uncovering minute information on a large scale. This solution is the first of its kind and is beneficial across all industries and research fields, revolutionizing the way of leveraging data and making prediction on behaviour on the information highway. Prof. Sun also serves as an Associate Editor of SIAM Journal on Optimization, Mathematical Programming, Journal of the Operations Research Society of China, and Journal of Computational Mathematics and Science China Mathematics. He has been an Advisory Committee Member of Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research since 2014, and is invited as a plenary speaker at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE21) to be held in 2021. About CSIAM Founded in 1990, China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM) is a non-governmental organization for Chinese applied mathematicians. Supervised by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, CSIAM aims to strengthen the communication between academia and industry, and promote collaboration between mathematicians, engineers, technicians and corporate executives. It will help solve mathematical problems which hinders economic and technological development, as well as advance the research and education in applied mathematics. For details, please visit: CISAM 18th Annual Conference cum Award Presentation https://csiam.org.cn/home/article/detail/id/1372.html

Awardees of RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme and RGC Research Fellow Scheme 2020/21

The RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) and RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) have been introduced since 2019/20 with the aim of building up a pool of local research talent to sustain Hong Kong's competitiveness and propelling the development of our higher education sector. The Schemes provide funding to awardees to cover relief from teaching and administrative duties as well as support for research projects. The Faculty extends congratulations to below awardees of FAST in the Schemes 2020/21: RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) Prof. Wong Wai-yeung, Raymond Clarea Au Professor in Energy and Chair Professor of Chemical Technology, ABCT Associate Dean (Research), FAST Click for more about Prof. Wong Dr Qiao Zhonghua Associate Professor, AMA Click for more about Dr Qiao and  here

FAST Faculty Awards 2019/20

The Faculty extends congratulations to below recipients of FAST Faculty Awards 2019/20 in recognition of the outstanding performance in respect of teaching, research and services: Individual Awards Category Awardee (2019/20) Teaching Dr Fridolin Ting Teaching Fellow, AMA Research and Scholarly Activities Dr LI Li Associate Professor, ITC   Team Awards Category Awardee (2019/20) Research and Scholarly Activities Prof. KAN Chi-wai, Professor, ITC (Team Leader) Dr Chris LO, Associate Professor, ITC Dr Joanne YIP, Associate Professor, ITC Dr Joseph YUNG, Associate Professor, ABCT Dr Amber CHIOU, Assistant Professor, ABCT Prof. Hai GUO, Professor, CEE Dr Simon Ching LAM, Assistant Professor, SN Services Dr Desmond CHAU, Instructor, ITC (Team Leader) Ms Cherry Chan, Executive Officer, ITC Mr Eric Wong, Technical Officer, ITC

Fashion Future Challenge Award 2019 announced -- Winning team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University promotes use of sustainable organic dyes

PolyU's team won the Fashion Future Challenge Award held by the Fashion Summit (Hong Kong). The half-year long award launched in September 2019 invited young people to propose innovative solutions to help the fashion industry meet the challenges in the next five to ten years. The award was also set to inspire the young generation to give more attention to sustainable development of the fashion industry. The award's judging criteria included innovativeness, feasibility, sustainability and comprehensiveness.  Composed of Leung Wai-chi, Lo Ching-yin, Ng Hoi-kei and Yu Ying-wa, the winning PolyU team proposed to establish a fashion brand which applies sustainable environmentally friendly dyes made from food waste in its fashion products, so as to address the problem of environmental pollution caused by chemical dyes in the supply chain of the fashion industry, and to alleviate the problem of excess food waste in society. The team was awarded an internship at the Nan Fung Group as well as a cash prize of HK$15,000.

Chair Professor Defeng Sun, Head of Department of Applied Mathematics Conferred SIAM Fellowship 2020

Chair Professor Defeng Sun, Head of Department of Applied Mathematics at PolyU is named 2020 Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in recognition of his contributions to algorithms and software for conic optimization, particularly matrix optimization. Focusing on research of the development of efficient optimization algorithms for solving large-scale complex optimization problems, statistical regression models and machine learning problems, Professor Sun devised a world-recognized second-order sparsity solution that renders data with more precision and depth than traditional methods, efficiently separating useful data from useless data and uncovering minute information on a large scale. This solution is the first of its kind and is beneficial across all industries and research fields, revolutionizing the way of leveraging data and making prediction on behaviour on the information highway. Professor Sun also serves as an Associate Editor of SIAM Journal on Optimization, Mathematical Programming, Journal of the Operations Research Society of China, and Journal of Computational Mathematics and Science China Mathematics. He has been an Advisory Committee Member of Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research since 2014, and is invited as a plenary speaker at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE21) to be held in 2021. Awarded with the prestigious triennial Beale--Orchard-Hays Prize for Excellence in Computational Mathematical Programming 2018 by the Mathematical Optimization Society, Professor Sun's distinguished research work and contribution are once again acknowledged through the SIAM Fellowship. About SIAM and SIAM Fellows Program Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is an international community of over 14,000 individual members. Almost 500 academic, manufacturing, research and development, service and consulting organizations, government, and military organizations worldwide are institutional members. SIAM was incorporated in 1952 as a nonprofit organization to convey useful mathematical knowledge to other professionals who could implement mathematical theory for practical, industrial, or scientific use. The SIAM Fellowship recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to fields served by its community. Through their contributions, SIAM Fellows help advance the fields of applied mathematics and computational science. SIAM Fellow is an honorific title for life, and all Fellows will be listed on the SIAM website. For the full list of 2020 SIAM Fellow Class, please visit https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/siam-announces-class-of-2020-fellows  

FAST Faculty Awards 2018/19

The Faculty extends congratulations to below recipients of FAST Faculty Awards 2018/19 in recognition of the outstanding performance in respect of teaching and research: Category of Award – Teaching Dr ZHANG Hua, Teaching Fellow, AMA Category of Award – Research & Scholarly Activities Dr CHAI Yang, Associate Professor, AP

Filtration mechanisms of fibrous filters better modelled

From face masks to indoor air filters, understanding filtration mechanisms is essential for optimizing filtration efficiency with minimal pressure drop. Nevertheless, current filtration models are largely based on the assumption that the fibrous medium is homogeneous with a single fiber located at the center of individual cells. Such models have failed to take into account the non-uniformity of fibrous media in terms of the fiber diameter and orientation, and pore size distribution in real filters. In a recent paper published in theSeparation and Purification Technologyjournal (Volume 236, 1 April 2020, 116037) that is co-authored byProf. Jintu Fan, Head of ITC; Prof. Xiaoming Qian, ITC alumnus and Professor at Tianjin Polytechnic University; and their research students, the distribution of the fiber diameter, fiber orientation and pore size distribution in actual fibrous filters have been successfully incorporated into a filtration model based on fractal and statistical theories, which contributes to the future development of filtration materials. The paper can be accessed by visiting: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383586619326656