News

New Equipment on Board - Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

A new Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), equipped with Oxford EDX System, is now located at Concrete Materials Laboratory (ZB109). This tungsten thermionic emission SEM system is suitable for low- and high-vacuum operations. A high spatial resolution with secondary electron (SE) and backscatter (BSE) detector allows the observation with fine surface details, whilst the EDX detector provides elemental and chemical analysis. The SEM is designed for comprehensive materials characterization down to nanoscale. This instrument is best suited to imaging and analysis of coated samples that are stable under the electron beam, e.g. concrete, rocks, metals and alloys.    Specifications / Applications: An extra-large analytical chamber with a full 5-axis motorized stage Detector: SE, BSE, EDX Imaging up to 100,000X Accelerating voltage: 200V to 30 kV 5 Electron Optics Working Modes: Resolution, Depth, Field, Wide Field, Channeling Rotation: 360°continuous / Tilt: -30° to +90° IR TV Camera for the “Chamber View”  

Joint seminar with HKIE LTD

The joint seminar with HKIE Logistics and Transportation Division was successfully held on 10 March 2021. Prof. Chen delivered an inspiring seminar with the topic of “Digital Transformation Series: Experimental Research on Pedestrian Walking and Evacuation Behaviors Involving Individuals with Disabilities”. Participants have gained more understanding on pedestrian walking and evacuation behaviors.

CEE Scholar Awarded Excellent Young Scientists Fund

Dr Chao Zhou has been awarded the 2020 Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for his project entitled “Unsaturated Soils and Problematic Soils”. This project aims to improve the fundamental understanding and modelling capability of the behavior of unsaturated loess and other structured soils subjected to cyclic traffic and environmental loads. The results will help engineers to improve the design of pavement and railway embankment. The Excellent Young Scientists Fund supports young scholars (male below the age of 38 and female below 40) with good achievements in basic research to conduct innovative research in areas of their own choice, so as to promote fast growth of creative young talents and foster a number of outstanding talents on the international science frontiers. Since its launch in 2019, 25 young scientists from Hong Kong and Macau have been supported each year.  

Joint Seminar with HKIE ENV

The joint seminar with HKIE Environmental Division “Technical Seminar: Green Innovation Webinar Series No.3” was successfully held on 23 February 2021. Dr Leu and Dr Wang gave a wonderful seminar with the topic of “ Key Parameters of Wood Wastes Conversion for Value-Added Products” and “Sustainability at Solar-Water Nexus” respectively.  

IACIP Outstanding Graduate Student Award

Congratulations to Ms Yi Li (Joint Ph.D. co-supervised by Dr Zhen Leng, and Prof. Lijun Sun of Tongji University) for winning the Second Prize of the 2021 IACIP Outstanding Graduate Student Award announced in the 11th International Association of Chinese Infrastructure Professionals (IACIP) Annual Workshop, 2021.

Book Release - Consolidation Analyses of Soils

A book titled Consolidation Analyses of Soils written by Prof. Jian-Hua Yin and Dr Guo-Fu Zhu was published on 29 December 2020. This book focuses on the consolidation of fully saturated soils, as well as covering both classic solutions and state-of-the-art work in consolidation analyses of soils.  For more details, please refer to https://www.routledge.com/Consolidation-Analyses-of-Soils/Yin-Zhu/p/book/9780367555320

Joint Seminar with HKIE & HKIHT

The first joint seminar with HKIE Civil Division was successfully held on 3 February 2021. Prof. Yuhong Wang delivered a wonderful seminar with the topic of “Develop Prefabricated Urban Road Pavements For a More Sustainable and Smart City”, which attracted around 500 participants. They have known more about the technologies to create different pavements for a more sustainable and smart city. Missed this seminar? Never mind! Please stay tuned for the upcoming ones. Details can be found at https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cee/news-and-events/event/.

Online Seminar - From 'Research to Publication'

CEE Research Scholars Alumni Association has invited Prof. Xiangdong Li to deliver an online seminar “From Research to Publication” on 27 Jan 2021.  Over 790 past and current CEE research students and staffs joined the seminar. Participants have gained an understanding of conducting high-quality research and writing high-quality journal papers.   

News Release on Research of Halogen's Role in Air Pollution

In collaboration with partners, Prof. Tao Wang’s research team measured a suite of reactive halogen gases and other chemicals in winter 2017 in northern China which frequently suffers from severe air pollution in winter. Strong evidence was found that rural coal burning was a major source of the detected reactive halogens. The highly reactive halogen can boost formation of haze. They call for more research to better understand the source(s) and the spatial extent of the role of the halogen chemistry in the polluted continental regions. They also suggest need to control halogens from coal-burning, in addition to well recognized CO2, sulfur, nitrogen, particulate, and mercury. Their work was published at National Science Review and reported by Science China Press at EurekAlert!, ScienMag, and Phys.org. More details can be found at https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/scp-rhf012521.php.  

IACIP Best Student Poster Award

Congratulations to our PhD students, Danning LI, Fuliao ZOU, and Linyi Yao, for obtaining the “Best Student Poster Award” in the 11th International Association of Chinese Infrastructure Professionals (IACIP) Annual Workshop, 2021.