With a strong passion for scientific research, Dr Tommy Wei, Associate Professor from the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering and Dr Zhao Xin, Associate Professor from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, are constantly pursuing research breakthroughs for improving people’s lives. To recognise their outstanding achievements in responding to societal needs through knowledge transfer, Dr Wei and Dr Zhao have been appointed as Limin Endowed Young Scholars in 2022.
Dr Wei has strong interest in researching the fundamentals of colour science, revealing the underlying mechanisms in the human visual system in response to light and colour stimuli. His significant research findings gave rise to collaborations with world-leading high-tech companies to develop solutions and algorithms applied to imaging systems, lighting systems and metaverse-related systems. Many of his research outcomes are used in production lines and turned into real products on the market, greatly enhancing the daily life of the people at large.
“I will lead my research team to strive for research excellence in colour and imaging science, and to apply the research findings to high-tech systems, making contributions to society and human beings.”
Dr Tommy Wei, Limin Young Scholar in Colour and Imaging Science
Dr Zhao Xin’s research interest focuses on translational regenerative medicine to address clinical issues by integrating multi-disciplinary approaches such as material science, cell biology, engineering and medicine, for modulating cell microenvironments, controlling cell behaviours and generating tissue-engineered organs. With remarkable findings from the project “Engineering Biomimetic Microenvironment for Bone Repair”, the research team led by Dr Zhao has been awarded funding from China’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund 2021.
“There are no boundaries in scientific research. I will continue to strive for breakthroughs and make further contributions to the advancement of the discipline, especially in fundamental research and clinical translation in orthopedics.”
Dr Zhao Xin, Limin Young Scholar in Biomedical Engineering
Limin Endowed Young Scholar positions were established with donations from PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited (PTeC), the strategic professional service arm of PolyU. The Chinese characters “Limin” (利民), literally “to benefit the people”, are taken from PolyU’s motto “To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind 開物成務 勵學利民”. The naming thus reflects the University’s objective to benefit society through knowledge transfer.
The PolyU Endowed Young Scholars Scheme aims to partner with our donors to identify young scholars with great potential in order to ensure their innovative research can be realised. The annual funding provided by the Scheme not only supports the research and scholarly activities of Dr Wei and Dr Zhao, but also serves as seed funding for the pursuit of preliminary stage research projects, helping to elevate the impact of research on society. Please contact Office of Institutional Advancement or browse the Scheme website for more information.
