On 17 September 2014, Dr Agachai Sumalee, Associate Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was honored in Beijing with the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE). Nominated by the Innovation and Technology Commission for the prestigious prize, Dr Sumalee staved off his competition with a traffic management system that greatly reduced commuting times in the congested streets of Bangkok. An acknowledgement of Dr Sumalee’s meritorious research in intelligent transportation systems, transport modeling and planning, as well as his close collaboration with scientists from other APEC countries, the award comes with USD 25,000 in prize money from the sponsors, Wiley and Elsevier, publishers of scholarly scientific knowledge. Congratulations to Dr Sumalee, whose research has made it possible for highway managers to predict traffic conditions and prevent congestion.

The Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) is proud of the following FCE academics who have recently been awarded research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Since 5 of them are in the early stages of their career, their grants came from the Young Scientists Fund, which is one of NSFC’s programs to train talented researchers by supporting independent research. Below are the details of the winning projects and their principal investigators.

Principal Investigator	Dept.	Project Title	Amount Awarded (RMB)	Start Date of Project	EndDate of Project
Dr Ronghui Qi	BSE	Investigation on the dynamic film waves and its effect on the heat and mass transfer of falling film liquid desiccant air-conditioning system	250,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2017
Dr Jianguo Dai	CEE	Interfacial Debonding in FRP-strengthened Steel/Concrete Structures Subjected to Combined Thermal and Mechanical Loading	800,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2017
Dr Wanyang Gao	CEE	Performance-based approach for fire resistance evaluation and fire-insulation design of FRP-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams	250,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2017
Dr Dan Tsang	CEE	Fate and Transport of Chromium(VI)/Arsenic(V)-loaded Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron in Groundwater	250,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2017
Dr Jianbo Zhu	CEE	Mechanism of stress wave energy attenuation in jointed rock masses	260,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2017
Dr Jun Hu	LSGI	Method of estimating three-dimensional displacements with InSAR by considering spatial-temporal correlation of observations	240,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2017
Dr Bo Wu	LSGI	Refined 3D Lunar Surface Reconstruction from Image Intensity and Shadow Information Constrained by Low-Resolution Digital Terrain Model	800,000	1/1/2015	12/31/2018

Congratulations to all of them.

Research characterizing Chang’E-3’s landing site on the moon has recently been published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, a top international journal in Earth and planetary science. Co-authored by Dr Bo Wu, Assistant Professor of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, his research students Lei Ye and Si Qiao, and 4 researchers from the China Academy of Space Technology, the paper is titled “Topographic modeling and analysis of the landing site of Chang’E-3 on the Moon.” Congratulations to them all, whose contributions facilitated the historic landing of Chang’E-3 on the Moon in December 2013.

Dr Wong Man Sing of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics has received an Early Career Award for his study of anthropogenic heat flux for heterogeneous urban areas in Hong Kong with remote sensing. As part of the Early Career Scheme of the Research Grants Council, the competitive award is intended to nurture junior academics for a career in education and research. Congratulations to Dr Wong, who will be honored in an award ceremony at the Central Government Offices in Tamar on 8 October 2014.

A trilateral forum exploring new ways of developing new towns in Hong Kong was held on 26 August 2014. Organized by the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD), the forum brought together senior government officials, industry practitioners, and scholars with expertise on the topic. After a welcoming speech by Prof. Timothy Tong, President of PolyU, the Director of RISUD, Prof. Jin-Guang Teng, introduced RISUD. Keynote speeches were delivered by Ir Chi-sing Wai, Permanent Secretary for Development (Works), and Ir Dr Andrew K.C. Chan, Chairman of Arup Group Trusts as well as Chairman of RISUD’s International Advisory Committee (IAC). Sessions on various aspects of sustainable development followed, with four by local members of the IAC and three by industry leaders. This was followed by an in-depth exploration of the following five themes in separate sessions: planning for social-economic-environmental integration, smart infrastructure for sensing cities, pedestrian-oriented mobility, self-contained environmental systems, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Participating scholars from FCE included Prof. Edwin Chan, Prof. Wu Chen, Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Prof. William Lam, Prof. Xiangdong Li, Prof. Chi Sun Poon, Prof. Yiqing Ni, Dr Lilian Pun, Prof. Shengwei Wang, and Prof. Hongxing Yang. Their respective presentations were well received and generated much discussion.

In the afternoon of 28 September 2014, Prof. Edwin HW Chan of the Department of Building and Real Estate gave a public lecture organized by the Research Grants Council on social considerations for urban renewal and urban planning, with a focus on integrating the elderly in public open spaces. The talk in Cantonese was held in one of the lecture theatres at the Hong Kong Central Library. With the scarcity of land and the intense pressure for economic growth in Hong Kong, public open spaces tend to be sacrificed for urban (re)development. Prof. Chan’s lecture explored the opportunities in urban renewal and examined how public open spaces could enhance the concept of active aging and improve the quality of life of the elderly as integral to our society.

The Faculty of Construction and Environment is pleased the following PhD graduates have been selected for its Outstanding PhD Thesis Awards, which come with a cash prize of HK$10,000 and a certificate signed by the Dean. Details are as follows:

Congratulations to all of them, who will be honored at the 20th Congregation and Faculty Prize Presentation Ceremony in November 2014.

On the morning of 24 September 2014, a group of visitors from the North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering met with Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment, and Prof. William Lam, Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) to explore their mutual interests. Amongst other things, they discussed the professional discipline of civil engineering and the construction profession, building specialized laboratories for the profession of civil engineering, as well as innovation and development in architectural design. It was an insightful exchange for all concerned. They also toured some labs of CEE before ending their visit.

Group Photo	Lab Visit	Lab Visit

On 12 September 2014, Prof. Moshe Sheintuch of Technion - Israel Institute of Technology visited PolyU to recruit strong candidates for post-doctoral fellowships at the Technion in Israel and faculty positions at the newly established Technion-Guangdong Institute of Technology in Shantou. Prof. Sheintuch introduced the post-doctoral programme at Technion to a group of PhD students/post-doctoral fellows from Chemical, Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as supporting science fields like applied chemistry and applied math. Prof. Sheintuch also met with Prof. X.L. Ding, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment; Prof. William Lam, Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Prof. T. Wang, Chair Professor of Atmospheric Environment; and Dr Meng Ni, Associate Professor of the Department of Building and Real Estate, who were all interested in building research links with Technion. It was a productive meeting for all concerned.

A recent graduate of the BSc (Hons) in Surveying from the Department of Building and Real Estate, Sze Chung Yuen, Keith, has won a CIOB (HK) Outstanding Student Award. Organized by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) to promote excellence in Construction Project Management, the award was presented to Keith for his empirical study of identifying and analyzing key success criteria and critical factors for public sector design-and-build construction projects in Hong Kong. He was honored with an award certificate and a prize cheque of $4000 at the CIOB (HK) annual dinner on 12 September 2014 at the New World Millennium Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Congratulations to Keith and his former supervisor, Dr Daniel Chan, who nominated him for the award.

To promote applied research related to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and to reward students who show potential of implementing quality applied research in their studies, the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) established the OSH Student Research Scholarship. Dr Yi Wen, a recent graduate of the Department of Building and Real Estate, received the OSH Student Research Scholarship of $4000 for her project “Modeling Rebar Labor Productivity in Hot Weather,” in which she developed a set of good practices and indices to ensure the safety of site personnel working in hot weather. Her PhD thesis of the same title was supervised by Prof. Albert Chan.

The capabilities of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) have received a boost through the generous donation of a Leica ScanStation 2 by Sigma Mascot (HK) Limited, a leading provider of laser scanning services in Hong Kong. More LSGI students will be able to access laser scanning as part of their projects and discover its pros and cons compared to competing technologies like photogrammetry and conventional survey. The ScanStation 2 will also enhance research activities that involve instrument calibration and reflective scanning. Many thanks to the Director of Sigma Mascot, Mr Andy Chan, and its Sales Manager, Ms Joyce Hung, who are both alumni of LSGI, for their continued support of their alma mater.

FCE Public Lecture:
Multi-Hazard Mitigation of Transportation Infrastructure
Date & Time: 15 Oct 2014 (Wed), 6:00p.m. to 7:00p.m.
Venue: Room Y305, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Details: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/fce/events/20141015_lecture/

20th Congregation and Faculty Prize Presentation Ceremony
Date: 4-5 November 2014
Venue: Jockey Club Auditorium, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

20th AsiaConstruct Conference
Date: 13 November 2014
Venue: Hotel ICON, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://bre.polyu.edu.hk/asia.pdf

2nd International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization
Date: 7-9 January 2015
Venue: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/risud/ICSU2015/

Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) International Conference 2015
Date: 7-9 January 2015
Venue: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.cse.polyu.edu.hk/~ktchau/emi2015-hk/emi2015hk.html

2nd International Conference on Performance-based and Lifecycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2015)
Date: 9-11 December 2015
Venue: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Australia
Website: http://plse2015.org/visit-brisbane/