Academic Staff

Brief Biosketch

Ir Prof. K.C. Chan is Chair Professor of Manufacturing Engineering of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Associate Dean of Faculty of Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Having obtained his Associateship in Production and Industrial Engineering, and received a formal engineering graduate training for about two years in Hong Kong, he began his PhD study in Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1987. He then joined the Department of Manufacturing Engineering of the same Institution, and was promoted from Assistant Lecturer to Chair Professor. He was Head of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering from 2014 to 2023. He was also Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Centre of the Department, and is currently an Associate Director of Research Institute for Advanced Manufacturing of the university.

Over the past 30 years, Prof. Chan has been contributing to the research, the teaching of various undergraduate and postgraduate subjects, development and management of academic programmes, and academic leadership. His research areas are materials engineering and manufacturing technologies. He has published over 290 research papers in international journals including Nature, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Advanced Science, and Acta Materialia, and secured more than 20 external research grants. He was listed as one of the top 2% most highly cited scientists by Stanford University in 2022. Currently, he is an editor or editorial board member of a number of journals such as Materials Design and Processing Communications, Scientific Reports, and Metals. He was a member of the Engineering Panel of Hong Kong Research Grants Council (2005-2010), the Selection Committee of NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme 2014/15, and the Innovation and Technology Support Programme Assessment Panel (2015-2020). Professor Chan is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE). He received the President’s Award for Achievement in the category of Research and Scholarly Activities (1995/96) and Research Grant Achievement Awards (2007 and 2012) of the Faculty of Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Research Specialties

Publications

Published over 290 papers in international journals and the followings are ten representative articles.

1. R. Li, X.J. Liu, W.H. Liu, Z.B. Li, K.C. Chan, Z.P. Lu, Design of Hierarchical Porosity via Manipulating Chemical and Microstructural Complexities in High Entropy Alloys for Efficient Water Electrolysis, Advanced Science, 9 (2022) Article No. 2105808.

2. R. Li, H.Y. Wang, F. Hu, K.C. Chan, X.J. Liu, Z.P. Lu, J. Waqng, Z.B. Li, L.J. Zeng, Y.Y. Ki, Z.J. Wu, Y. J. Xiong, IrW nanochannel support enabling ultrastable electrocatalytic oxygen evolution at 2 A cm⁻² in acidic media, Nature Communications, 12 (2021) Article No. 3540.

3. R. Li, X.J. Liu, R.Y. Wu, J. Wang, Z.B. Li, K.C. Chan, H. Wang, Y. Wu, Z.P. Lu, Flexible honeycombed nanoporous/glassy hybrid for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen generation, Advanced Materials, 31 (2019) Article No. 1904989.

4. L. Zhao, K.C. Chan, S.H. Chen, S.D. Feng, D.X. Han & G. Wang, Tunable tensile ductility of metallic glasses with partially rejuvenated amorphous structures, Acta Materialia, 169 (2019) 122-134.

5. X. Zhang, Y. Zeng, L. Yin, J. Jiang, Y. Pan, R. Li, L. Liu, T. Li, K.C. Chan, Formation of Micro/Nano Pits with High Catalytic Activity on Fe₈₀B₂₀ Amorphous Alloy, Corrosion Science, 141 (2018) 109-116.

6. D.X. Han,  G. Wang, J.L. Ren, L.P. Yu, J. Yi, I. Hussain, S.X. Song, H. Xu, K.C. Chan, P.K. Liaw, Stick-slip dynamics in a Ni₆₂Nb₃₈ metallic glass film during nanoscratching, Acta Materialia, 136 (2017) 49-60.

7. X.L.  Bian, G. Wang, H.C. Chen, L. Yan, J.G. Wang, Q. Wang, P.F. Hu, J.L. Ren, K.C. Chan, N. Zheng, A. Teresiak, Y.L. Gao, Q.J. Zhai, J. Eckert, J. Beadsworth, K.A. Dahmen, P.K. Liaw, Manipulation of free volumes in a metallic glass through Xe-ion irradiation, Acta Materialia, 106 (2016) 66-77.

8. C. Zhang, K.C. Chan, Y. Wu and L. Liu, Pitting initiation in Fe-based amorphouscoatings, Acta Materialia, 60 (2012) 4152-4159.

9. G. Wang, K.C. Chan, L. Xia, P. Yu, J. Shen, W.H. Wang, Self-organized intermittent plastic flow in bulk metallic glass, Acta Materialia, 57 (2009) 6146-6155.

10. G. Wang, K.C. Chan, X.H. Xu, W.H. Wang, The instability of crack propagation in brittle bulk metallic glass, Acta Materialia, 56 (2008) 5845-5860.