The 18th Congregation of Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) proceeded with pomp and great fanfare at the Jockey Club Auditorium on 13-14 November 2012. Officiated by the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. TENG Jin-Guang, the ceremony awarded over 1,500 degrees/ diplomas to deserving students. Besides awarding current year graduates, the Dean also presented prizes to outstanding students and alumni from each of the four departments in the Faculty. The latter group included Ir Prof. Fan Siu Kay Johnny, who was honoured by the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as Building and Real Estate, Ir Prof. Mok Kwok Woo Peter (BRE), Dr Wang Jing (LSGI), Ir Kwan Ho Sum and Ir Liu Tat Chiu (BSE). Staff members receiving the Dean’s Awards were given cash prizes and certificates to commemorate their achievements.

The Department of Building and Real Estate, the biggest department in FCE in terms of student numbers, graduated over 480 students, including those receiving Higher Diplomas and Master’s degrees. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering graduated over 400 students; the Department of Building Services Engineering graduated 390 students; the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics graduated 160 students. All in all, the 18th Congregation was a memorable event for everyone who attended.

What do a Project Manager at Link Management Limited, a Chief Operating Officer of the Construction Workers Registration Authority, an expert in precast facade engineering, a former Hall of Fame honoree of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and a recent PhD graduate have in common? Apparently more than meets the eye. Their quest for innovation and excellence has propelled them to achievements beyond their wildest dreams, in some cases to the top of their professions. All pioneers in their own right, they are the recipients of the 2012 Outstanding Alumni Awards organized by the departments of the Faculty of Construction and Environment. The most notable is Ir Prof. Johnny FAN Siu Kay, who has the distinction of being honoured by both the Department of Building and Real Estate as well as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Following are brief profiles of him and the other awardees.

Ir Prof. Johnny FAN

Ir Prof. Peter MOK

Ir KWAN Ho Sum

Ir LIU Tat Chiu

Dr Wang Jing

Ir Prof. Johnny FAN (BRE & CEE)
Currently the Director of WMKY Architects Engineers Ltd., Prof. Fan is a leading expert in Hong Kong in precast façade engineering. He graduated from the former Hong Kong Technical College with a Higher Diploma in Structural Engineering in 1972 before getting his first degree in civil engineering and his MSc in structural engineering at the City University in London. Since the 80s, he has been very active in PolyU's alumni associations and is now the President of the Federation of the PolyU Alumni Association Ltd. He is also a member of the PolyU Court and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at PolyU.

Ir Prof. Peter MOK (BRE)
After graduating from the former Hong Kong Technical College with a Higher Diploma in Structural Engineering in 1968, Prof. Mok continued his education in the U.K. and became a chartered structural engineer in 1972. He founded his own construction company in 1981, working on many government building projects. In 1997, he co-founded the Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers and inaugurated a Quality Charter – the first of its kind amongst professional institutions. Furthermore, from 1998 to 2007, Professor Mok served as the Chairman of the Building and Civil Engineering Training Board of the Vocational Training Council. He was also a member of the Construction Industry Training Authority and Occupational Safety and Health Council for many years, promoting skills assessment schemes for construction workers to ensure higher safety and quality standards. Inducted into the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers' Hall of Fame in 2010, he is now an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Building and Real Estate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Ir KWAN Ho Sum (BSE)
A rising star in the industry of building services engineering, Ir Kwan has extensive experience in electrical and mechanical engineering design and project management since he received his Master of Engineering degree in 2005. He has been involved in many large-scaled construction projects and is currently working at the Link Management Limited as a Project Manager. Elected President of the BSE Alumni Association in 2012, Ir Kwan has also led the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers—Young Engineers Network.

Ir LIU Tat Chiu (BSE)
The Chief Operating Officer of the Construction Workers Registration Authority, Ir Liu has climbed the career ladder to the top of his profession after getting his Bachelor of Engineering degree more than twenty years ago. Involved in the contract execution of various projects, he was with the Analogue Group of Companies for 17 years, receiving the Outstanding Employee Award in both 2003 and 2005. He also holds a MBA from the University of Hull and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Wolverhampton. A chartered building services engineer, a chartered quality professional and registered safety officer by profession, Ir Liu is a corporate member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineer and Chartered Quality Institute. He is also active in the mentorship programme of the Department of Building Services Engineering.

Dr Wang Jing (LSGI)
Dr Wang has been honoured for her work in advancing science and technology by the Ministry of Lands and Resources even before she finished her PhD in 2010. Currently a Research Professor and the Director of the key lab for land use in the China Institute of Land Survey and Planning, her main research interests are in the assessment, evaluation, and monitoring of land use. Since she registered as a part-time PhD student at PolyU in 2006, she has worked on 4 major national projects as the PI, published 4 books, over 40 technical papers with 10 in SCI journals, produced 1 patent, and copyrighted 4 software packages. She was selected as a young talent in China’s New Century National Talents Program in 2009 and recognized as a specialist by the State Council for her outstanding contributions to the country in 2010. She is a driving force in the research lab jointly established by LSGI, the China Institute of Land Survey and Planning, and the China Academy of Surveying and Mapping.

Congratulations to our outstanding alumni, who are truly role models for all our students.

Four PhD graduates have been selected for the inaugural FCE Outstanding PhD Thesis Awards, which include a cash prize of HK$10,000 and a certificate signed by the Faculty Dean. They are Qian Kun from the Department of Building and Real Estate, Man Yi from the Department of Building Services Engineering, Luathep Paramet and Zhang Shishun, both from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Below are the titles of their theses and their supervisors:

Awardee	Department	Title of Thesis	Chief Supervisor
QIAN Kun	BRE	Barriers to Building Energy Efficiency Promotion: A Transaction Costs Perspective	Prof. Edwin CHAN
MAN Yi	BSE	Study on the Hybrid Ground Coupled Heat Pump Systems with Borehole and Foundation Pile Ground Heat Exchangers for Cooling Load Dominated Buildings	Prof. H.X. YANG
LUATHEP Paramet	CEE	Stochastic Transport Network Model and Optimization for Reliability and Vulnerability Analysis	Dr Agachai SUMALEE
ZHANG Shishun	CEE	Behaviour and Modelling of RC Beams Strengthened in Flexure with Near-surface Mounted FRP Strips	Prof. J.G. TENG

Congratulations to all four of them, who received their awards at the 18th Congregation and Faculty Prize Presentation Ceremony in November 2012.

In the 2012 Dissertation Competition organized by the CIB student chapter of PolyU, a handful of students from the Department of Building and Real Estate were honoured for their final-year dissertations. The assessment criteria included the research topic, the methods used, the structure, the language, and the contribution to the literature. Congratulations to all the winners below, who received a cheque for HK$1000 as well as a certificate at an award ceremony on 30 October 2012.

Two alumnae from the Department of Building and Real Estate have each won a Best Project Award in the postgraduate category from the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Council. Ms Choi Nga Yee's project was on the current application and future development of the Pay for Safety Scheme in the Hong Kong construction industry, while Ms Yiu Sze Nga's study was on heat stress management. Both of them were supervised by Dr Daniel Chan. Congratulations to the winners, who have been garnering much recognition for their work. They will each receive a cash prize of $3000 at an award ceremony on 18 December 2012 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

At the 15th annual dinner of the Hong Kong section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on 14 November 2012, two alumnae from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering were rewarded for their thesis/ final year project. Miss Huang De received a honorable mention for her master's thesis, which was an assessment of the quality of model nails using BOTDA technology, while Miss Cheng Ka Man received an award for the best final year project. The title of her project was "Attenuation of blasting induced peak particle velocity: Constructing a new empirical formula considering energy dissipation." They were supervised by Prof. Yin Jianhua and Prof. Chau Kam Tim respectively. Congratulations to all of them.

First International Conference on Performance-based and Life-Cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2012)
Date: 5-7 December 2012
Venue: Regal Kowloon Hotel, 71 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/PLSE2012

FCE Distinguished Lecture:
The Science and Politics of California Air Pollution
Date & Time: 6 December 2012 (Thursday), 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Venue: Room TU103, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/events/20121206_lecture/

FCE Public Lecture:
Research and Applications of Building Energy Modeling, Diagnosis and Occupant Behavior
Date & Time: 11 December 2012 (Tuesday), 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
Venue: Room TU103, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/events/20121211_lecture/

The 5th International Symposium on Transportation Network Reliability (INSTR)
Date: 18-19 December 2012, Hong Kong
Venue: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.instr2012.org

Information Seminar on Postgraduate Scheme in Construction and Environment
Date & Time: 19 January 2013 (Saturday), 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Venue: Room AG710, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
For details and registration, please visit http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/events/20130119_msc_infoday/form.html