Donor
Otto Poon Charitable Foundation
Otto Poon Charitable Foundation was set up in 2017, and funded by Ir Dr Otto Poon, the Founder and Chairman of ATAL Engineering Group to mark the 40th anniversary of the Group.
ATAL Engineering Group is one of the largest Hong Kong-based electrical and mechanical engineering service providers, its diversified business covers environmental, lift and escalator, and ICT solutions. With operations worldwide, the Group is hiring over 2,500 professionals.
Seeking growth through “New technologies, new markets, new business models”, ATAL prides itself on cutting-edge innovation and technology, having its own R&D arms on environment, lifts and escalators, and ICT in conjunction with universities in Hong Kong and the Mainland.
ATAL has a robust training programme and each year, the Group recruits some 40 university graduates and some 20 apprentices from VTC to ensure a continuous stream of well qualified engineers and technicians. Many of them worked their way up the ladder to management positions.
Despite its tremendous success, ATAL does not rest on its laurels. It strives to offer the latest technologies, the best products and the most reliable services to maintain its status as an industry leader and to drive continuous growth and progress.
By establishing the Endowed Professorships, ATAL hopes to foster closer cooperation and ties with PolyU in developing cutting-edge technologies, to give back to society and to benefit people at large.
Ir Dr Otto Poon has a long association with PolyU. He was elected an outstanding PolyU alumnus in 1999 and conferred University Fellowship in 2006 for his distinguished professional achievements and important contributions to society. He is also an ardent supporter of his alma mater and has been giving generous donations to support PolyU development over the years.
Appointee
Professor Cao Jiannong
Professor Cao Jiannong, currently PolyU's Dean of Graduate School and Chair Professor of Distributed and Mobile Computing, is also the director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things, director of Internet and Mobile Computing Lab and the Associate Director of University’s Research Facility in Big Data Analytics. He was appointed the department head from 2011 to 2017.
Professor Cao’s research interests cover parallel and distributed computing, big data and machine learning, wireless networking and mobile computing, and cloud and edge computing. On top of five co-authored and nine co-edited books, he has published over 500 papers in major international journals and conferences. A proud holder of 13 patents, Professor Cao also acquired over HK$70 million-worth of grants from government funding agencies and industries being the principal investigator of more than 72 research projects. His outstanding researches have made him one of the most decorated scholars in his field, including the Overseas Outstanding Contribution Award from China Computer Federation in 2017, a membership of Academia Europaea, an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) fellowship and a distinguished membership from the Association for Computer Machinery.
Keen on advancing the professional and industry standard, Professor Cao has served many professional committees including the chair of IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Distributed Computing, a member of IEEE Fellow Evaluation Committee and IEEE Communication Society Awards Committee. A frequent keynote speaker at conferences and forums, he has also chaired the organising and technical committees of numerous international conferences, as well as being an associate editor for highly-regarded international journals. In Hong Kong, Professor Cao has been an advisor and a member of numerous panels and committees under the HKSAR government and many organisations.
