Issue 67 - May 2016

Table of Contents

• MoU Between FCE and SWJTU
• CEE Scholars Honoured with National Natural Science Award
• BRE Scholar Awarded ITF
• Structural Excellence Award for CEE Academic
• CEE Scholar One of the Asian Scientist 100
• Build4Asia Conference 2016
  
• BSE PhD Student to Conduct Research in US
  
• BSE Students Shine in Facility Management Project Presentation
• The First Smart e-City Competition
• CEE Academic Exchange to Wuhan University
• PolyU Counsellors’ Days 2016
• Construction Officer Development Programme Grooms Graduates for Success
• BRE Students Oxford Bound
• Annual General Meeting of AABSE
• Admission Strategies for JUPAS Applicants
• Faculty Public Lecture
• Forthcoming Events

To facilitate strategic collaboration between the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and the School of Civil Engineering of Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the respective Deans of the two Faculties on 13 May 2016. The signing ceremony was held at SWJTU, which hosted the event. Introductions were made by Prof. Bo Gao, Dean of SWJTU’s School of Civil Engineering, and Prof. You-lin Xu, Dean of FCE, followed by in-depth discussions between the two sides. Not only did both agree to collaborate in scientific research and various aspects of scholarly exchange, but they would also proactively explore the regular exchange of staff such as teachers, researchers, and PhD students; joint application of major research projects and research laboratories; knowledge transfer and application of related research output of both sides; other research areas of mutual interest.

In addition, the comprehensive agreement has made the resources of laboratories available to teachers and researchers of both sides. If the need arises, both sides can send their researchers to form joint project teams and establish joint facilities such as laboratories or research centers. Effective for five years, the signing of the MoU was witnessed by Prof. William Lam, Head of PolyU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Prof. Zhilin Li of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), and Bing Zhu, Deputy Dean from SWJTU.

On 24 May 2016, Dr Hai Guo and Dr Ka-se Lam of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) were honoured by the Chinese Ministry of Education with the Natural Science Award (Second-class). They received their award in a ceremony at the City University of Hong Kong for their significant contributions to the study of the evolution trend and formation mechanism of regional photochemical pollution over complex terrain in South China, such as identifying the causes and characteristics of ozone pollution at different altitudes, the sources of volatile organic compounds and their effects etc. Their ground-breaking work lasted more than 14 years, from January 1999 to August 2013.

A joint project between the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) and the Hong Kong R&D Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies Limited to build a smart construction platform based on cloud building information modeling (BIM) and image processing has been awarded HK$7,897,050 from the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF). Led by Prof. Heng Li, Chair Professor of Construction Informatics, the project involves five researchers and will last from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2018.

Ir Prof. Siu-lai Chan, Chair Professor of Computational Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), has won the Structural Excellence Award 2016 (Research and Development) for a paper entitled “Direct analysis for high-strength steel frames with explicit-model of residual stresses.” Co-authored with Dr Tian-ji Li, a graduate of the joint PhD programme between PolyU and Tongji University in Shanghai, and Dr Si-wei Liu, a Research Fellow in CEE, the paper was published in Engineering Structures in June 2015. It proposes a new and practical direct analysis method for the design of high-strength steel members that allows more rigorous and independent considerations of the flaws resulting from geometric crookedness and residual stresses.

Given by the Joint Structural Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK, the prestigious award aims to promote innovative technological designs and recognize the contributions made by structural engineers to society, particularly with respect to outstanding structural engineering projects that serve as inspirational examples to industry practitioners and drive the development of industry. This is the first time that an award was given in the newly-created category for research and development.

Incidentally, Ir Prof. Chan’s solid track record in research has been attracting donations to support his work. The most recent donation of $800,000 will go toward the expenses of the research projects on steel structures.

Prof. Agachai Sumalee of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) was recently featured on a selective list of 100 Asian scientists whose research excellence has made the world a better place. Compiled by the Asian Scientist Magazine, the list of outstanding scientists includes rising stars and veterans from diverse sectors in industry and academia. Only those who have won a competitive prize in 2014 or 2015 for their scientific research or made a significant contribution in scientific discovery or leadership that has benefited either academia or industry were chosen for the list. Prof. Sumalee was awarded the APEC Science Award for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE) in 2014 for combining traffic-flow algorithms with highway sensors in an intelligent transportation system that reduces highway congestion.

Prof. Sumalee

Dr Lin Lu of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) was a guest speaker at the Build4Asia Conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 5 May 2016. Her well received presentation was on sustainable building design and renewable applications, including passive building design approaches and her latest green building nanomaterials. In attendance were government officials, industry practitioners, and university researchers.

As Asia’s showcase for innovative technology in the building, electrical engineering, and security industries, the conference not only shares and promotes engineering best practices and technologies for sustainable development, but also discusses innovative ideas and possible solutions.

Mr Chen Xi, a PhD candidate from the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), has been approved for a Fulbright-RGC Hong Kong Research Scholar Award. He will receive US$9,600 from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) to conduct research on building energy efficiency at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US for six months from 15 November 2016. Mr Chen is under the supervision of Prof. Hongxing Yang.

At the Integrate 2016 Facility Management Conference on 5 May 2016, two MSc Facility Management (FM) students from the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) were honoured with prizes in the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Inter-Institutional Competition on Facility Management Project Presentation. Miss Jing Zhang won a Gold Award for her outstanding presentation on FM cost effectiveness in a private hospital, while Mr Duncan Li received a Silver Award for his pilot study on the energy performance of a hotel in Hong Kong. Both of them are students of Dr Joseph Lai, Associate Professor and leader of the Facility Management Programme in BSE.

Mr Li receiving his award	Miss Zhang receiving her award

The first Smart e-City Competition was recently held from January to May this year. Jointly organized by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and K&K Property Holdings Ltd., the focus of the competition was how to revitalize Kowloon East into a smart city. Nearly 150 students from disciplines as diverse as business management, building and real estate, design, and languages etc. participated in the competition. After the initial rounds in March and April, over 50 students in nine teams advanced to the final on 23 May 2016 to present their ideas to a panel of judges, which included Mr Kino Law, Chief Executive Officer of K&K Property; Ms Brenda Au, Head of the Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO); Dr Pamsy Hui, Associate Dean (External Relations and Development) of the Faculty of Business; and Dr Patrick Fong, Associate Head (Partnership) of the Department of Building and Real Estate.

The Champion Team was a group of six students from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE). Known as the Ps Surveyors, they are Chiu Yingying, Ho Cheuk Wun, Lau Nga Yi, Tai Tiffanie Hiu Lam, Tsui Yuen Shan, and Wang Pei. Their winning proposal had “Create” as its theme to encompass six broad areas, including commerce, entertainment, education, housing, transportation, and environment. It was designed according to the five principles of efficiency, energy, entertaining, eco-friendly, and economy.

According to Chiu Yingying, writing a business proposal was a big challenge for her and her teammates, since none of them had a background in commerce. “Applying our knowledge of city planning to a particular project, we need to consider many other things, such as the impact on the environment during construction, the costs of construction etc.” The competition has given them an invaluable experience. Not only did it enable them to develop a comprehensive proposal, it also deepened their understanding of the developing district of Kai Tak and the entire Kowloon East. They shared a HK$60,000 scholarship and will intern at K&K Property Holdings Ltd. for three months this summer.

The 1st Runner-up Team was the team called Tommy & Friends, with four FCE students, and one student each from the School of Design and the Faculty of Business. The FCE students were Abigael Victorino, Hong Yining, Xu Rui, and Zhang Yiang. The team of six shared a HK$40,000 scholarship. In addition, Abigael Victorino also received the Best Presenter Award, which came with a HK$10,000 scholarship and an internship at K&K Property Holdings Ltd.

The 2nd Runner-up Team was called Hexagon, which consisted of five FCE students, namely, Lai Kang Leong, Ma Ruiqu, Tong Wing Ho, Tsang King Fai, and Yik Chun Cheung, as well as Ying Jiang from the School of Design. They shared a HK$30,000 scholarship.

From 10 to 14 May 2016, a delegation of 28 academics and students from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) visited Wuhan University in mainland China. An initiative of the “Ten Thousand Talented People” programme that is supported by the Ministry of Education of China since 2014, this visit further promoted academic exchange and cultural communication between universities in Hong Kong and mainland China. It also received positive reviews from both universities and the Ministry of Education.

Led by Dr Hai Guo and Dr Shao-Yuan Leu, the delegation from CEE held talks with mainland students on the campus of Wuhan University about their various ideas of university life. In addition, Dr Guo and his research group were also given a tour of the research laboratories of the Hubei Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences and Environmental Monitoring Centre. Ideas about current environmental problems faced by both cities were discussed. It is expected there will be more exchanges of this nature between HK and Wuhan authorities in the future. At the end of the visit, the CEE delegation had a chance to enjoy the mountainous scenery of Wudang Mountain.

27 high school counsellors and principals from 11 Asian countries visited PolyU from 24 to 27 May 2016 to learn more about the undergraduate programmes offered by the university. The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) held a briefing session for them in the afternoon of 25 May. Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership) of FCE, introduced the Faculty before each of its four departments were introduced, namely, the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) by Prof. Yat Hung Chiang, Associate Head (Teaching) of BRE; the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) by Dr Ming-yin Chan, Assistant Prof. of BSE; the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) by Dr Andy Leung, Assistant Prof. of CEE; and the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) by Prof. John Shi, Head of LSGI. The overseas counsellors also heard from Mr Leung Yu Kit, the Outstanding Student of FCE, and Ms Phoebe Wong, a student from LSGI, about various aspects of student life, such as experiences in mentorship, service learning, exchange programmes, work-integrated education etc. The briefing ended with a visit to four laboratories of the departments, including the Construction Virtual Prototyping Laboratory of BRE, the Lighting Laboratory of BSE, the Noise Laboratory of CEE, and the Underground Utility Survey Laboratory of LSGI.

If you are graduating and wondering where you should apply yourself next, Hip Hing Construction Company Limited may have just the answer for you. Its Construction Officer Development Programme (CODP) has been grooming some recent graduates of the Building Engineering and Management (BEM) programme for career success. A structured project management trainee programme, the CODP aims to nurture and develop fresh graduates with construction related degrees into well-rounded project managers. Beginning as an Assistant Construction Officer (ACO) for three years, a trainee becomes a Construction Officer (CO) in two years, and a Senior Construction Officer (SCO) with two more years. Following are some trainees who have kindly shared their experiences of the CODP with us and their advice for current students on how to prepare themselves: (Click on their names for more information)

Two third-year undergraduate students from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) will be attending a four-week summer programme at the University of Oxford in July. Louis Cheng, a surveying student, and Andrew Ng, a building engineering and management student, were chosen from over 150 applications to fill just 30 places. They both feel very honoured to have the opportunity to experience student life at a world-class university. Not only will they learn some advanced English language skills, but the summer course will also expose them to environmental challenges of the 21st century. In addition, there will be field trips that will take them to London. They certainly have something to look forward to this summer.

On 30 March 2016, the Alumni Association of Building Services Engineering (AABSE) held its Annual General Meeting on the campus of PolyU. Mr Chris Kwan, President of AABSE, welcomed those in attendance and gave a financial report of the organization from 2012 to 2016. He also reviewed past and upcoming events of AABSE. The meeting concluded with the election of six members to its Executive Council for 2016-18, including the re-election of Mr Kwan as its President.

To help prospective students in the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) make good choices in their application for higher education, numerous consultation sessions about the different programmes on offer at PolyU and the strategies related to admission were held on the afternoon of 21 May 2016. The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) provided one consultation session for its Broad Discipline of Construction and Environment (BDCE), while each of its four departments provided its own session for its Higher Diploma and Bachelor’s degree programmes. In addition, there was an info seminar by the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) and a demonstration by the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). Staff members in charge of programme admissions were present to provide information and answer questions. It was a good opportunity for JUPAS applicants to learn more about the choices available to them and get a better understanding of our programmes.

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