Awards and Achievements

Fashion Future Challenge Award 2019 announced -- Winning team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University promotes use of sustainable organic dyes

PolyU's team won the Fashion Future Challenge Award held by the Fashion Summit (Hong Kong). The half-year long award launched in September 2019 invited young people to propose innovative solutions to help the fashion industry meet the challenges in the next five to ten years. The award was also set to inspire the young generation to give more attention to sustainable development of the fashion industry. The award's judging criteria included innovativeness, feasibility, sustainability and comprehensiveness.  Composed of Leung Wai-chi, Lo Ching-yin, Ng Hoi-kei and Yu Ying-wa, the winning PolyU team proposed to establish a fashion brand which applies sustainable environmentally friendly dyes made from food waste in its fashion products, so as to address the problem of environmental pollution caused by chemical dyes in the supply chain of the fashion industry, and to alleviate the problem of excess food waste in society. The team was awarded an internship at the Nan Fung Group as well as a cash prize of HK$15,000.

Chair Professor Defeng Sun, Head of Department of Applied Mathematics Conferred SIAM Fellowship 2020

Chair Professor Defeng Sun, Head of Department of Applied Mathematics at PolyU is named 2020 Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in recognition of his contributions to algorithms and software for conic optimization, particularly matrix optimization. Focusing on research of the development of efficient optimization algorithms for solving large-scale complex optimization problems, statistical regression models and machine learning problems, Professor Sun devised a world-recognized second-order sparsity solution that renders data with more precision and depth than traditional methods, efficiently separating useful data from useless data and uncovering minute information on a large scale. This solution is the first of its kind and is beneficial across all industries and research fields, revolutionizing the way of leveraging data and making prediction on behaviour on the information highway. Professor Sun also serves as an Associate Editor of SIAM Journal on Optimization, Mathematical Programming, Journal of the Operations Research Society of China, and Journal of Computational Mathematics and Science China Mathematics. He has been an Advisory Committee Member of Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research since 2014, and is invited as a plenary speaker at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE21) to be held in 2021. Awarded with the prestigious triennial Beale--Orchard-Hays Prize for Excellence in Computational Mathematical Programming 2018 by the Mathematical Optimization Society, Professor Sun's distinguished research work and contribution are once again acknowledged through the SIAM Fellowship. About SIAM and SIAM Fellows Program Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is an international community of over 14,000 individual members. Almost 500 academic, manufacturing, research and development, service and consulting organizations, government, and military organizations worldwide are institutional members. SIAM was incorporated in 1952 as a nonprofit organization to convey useful mathematical knowledge to other professionals who could implement mathematical theory for practical, industrial, or scientific use. The SIAM Fellowship recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to fields served by its community. Through their contributions, SIAM Fellows help advance the fields of applied mathematics and computational science. SIAM Fellow is an honorific title for life, and all Fellows will be listed on the SIAM website. For the full list of 2020 SIAM Fellow Class, please visit https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/siam-announces-class-of-2020-fellows  

FAST Faculty Awards 2018/19

The Faculty extends congratulations to below recipients of FAST Faculty Awards 2018/19 in recognition of the outstanding performance in respect of teaching and research: Category of Award – Teaching Dr ZHANG Hua, Teaching Fellow, AMA Category of Award – Research & Scholarly Activities Dr CHAI Yang, Associate Professor, AP

Filtration mechanisms of fibrous filters better modelled

From face masks to indoor air filters, understanding filtration mechanisms is essential for optimizing filtration efficiency with minimal pressure drop. Nevertheless, current filtration models are largely based on the assumption that the fibrous medium is homogeneous with a single fiber located at the center of individual cells. Such models have failed to take into account the non-uniformity of fibrous media in terms of the fiber diameter and orientation, and pore size distribution in real filters. In a recent paper published in theSeparation and Purification Technologyjournal (Volume 236, 1 April 2020, 116037) that is co-authored byProf. Jintu Fan, Head of ITC; Prof. Xiaoming Qian, ITC alumnus and Professor at Tianjin Polytechnic University; and their research students, the distribution of the fiber diameter, fiber orientation and pore size distribution in actual fibrous filters have been successfully incorporated into a filtration model based on fractal and statistical theories, which contributes to the future development of filtration materials. The paper can be accessed by visiting: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383586619326656

Five PolyU researches honored Guangdong Province Science and Technology Award

PolyU researchers shine in the 2019 Guangdong Province Science and Technology Award, grabbing two first class prizes on natural science, one second class prize on natural science and two second prizes on scientific and technological progress. Seven out of 179 researches on the award list are from Hong Kong universities, including five researches from PolyU, one from CUHK Faculty of Medicine and one from Hong Kong University, covering the areas of new materials for 5G technology, environmental science and biomedical science. Congratulations to Professor Dai Jiyan of the Department of Applied Physics snatching the first class prize on natural science.

Prof. Kinor Jiang recipient of Leonardo da Vinci International Award

ITC academics are often recognized for the high calibre of their work and their creative talent. Recently, Prof. Kinor Jiang, Professor of ITC, was awarded the "Leonardo da Vinci" International Award for Design (2nd prize in the Fashion & Jewellery Design Category) at the12th Florence Biennale which took place from 18 to 27 October 2019. The winning design is called "Watch" which is a dialogue between tangible and intangible elements, highlighted with black and white in abstract lattices of dots and shapes . The focus is on the abstract texture rather than concreteness when one approaches the design for a closer view. In doing so, the viewer will gain an awareness of lapses in time and changes in space. The "Leonardo da Vinci" International Award for Design is conferred to the best exhibiting designers for their works on show in each category including: Architecture & Town Design, Industrial & Product Design, Interior Design, Fashion & Jewellery Design, Communication & Graphic Design, Technology & Game Design.  Florence Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition in Florence, Italy, and regarded as an outstanding showcase of international contemporary art production.  Since its establishment, the Florence Biennale has been a free, independent, and innovative 'platform' for contemporary art. Thousands of artists from over a hundred countries have exhibited their works atFlorence Biennale, which have defined the main art forms and disciplines.  

Prof. Jason Choi produces top cited papers in Production and Operations Management Journal

We are proud to announce that Prof. Jason Choi has been recognized by Wiley-Blackwell Publishers for two top cited papers in the Production and Operations Management journal, which is a "UTD-listed FT50" premier business journal of the Production and Operations Management Society in the United States. Prof. Choi has received a certificate of achievement from Wiley-Blackwell in recognition of his work. Wiley-Blackwell stated that "amongst articles published between January 2018 and December 2019, these two articles received some of the highest count of citations", which means that the "articles generated immediate impact and helped to raise the visibility of Production and Operations Management". The first paper focuses on luxury fashion business operations with discussions on optimal advertising decisions. The Nobel prize winning mean-variance theory in finance is applied to generate managerial insights, which include scenarios and formats of optimal budget allocation plans for advertisements of luxury fashion that would take social influences between different consumer groups into account. One interesting implication is that luxury fashion brands should focus on a single consumer group (e.g., the fashion leader) if their goal is to maximize profits. Moreover, luxury fashion companies should not penalize their marketing managers if they are underspending their allocated budget because "over-advertising" can have negative effects in luxury fashion. The second paper discusses how big data can be used in business operations by examining different techniques and strategies for big data analytics. Several big data architectures have been developed for companies to consider when they make plans to implement big data analytics. Real world cases on big data applications, including those from fashion brands such as LV and Nike, are reported. The findings provide important guidance to companies, including fashion enterprises, on the proper use of big data analytics for their operations analyses. These two top cited research papers (corresponding author*) are: Chiu, C.H., T.M. Choi*, X. Dai, B. Shen, J.H. Zheng. Optimal Advertising Budget Allocation in Luxury Fashion Markets with Social Influences: A Mean-Variance Analysis. Production and Operations Management, 27 (8), 1611-1629, 2018. Choi, T.M.*, S.W. Wallace, Y. Wang. Big Data Analytics in Operations Management. Production and Operations Management, 27 (10), 1868-1883, 2018.

Prof. John Xin receives China National Science and Technology Progress Award

Prof. John Xin, Chair Professor of ITC, and his research team were the Second Prize recipients of the China National Science and Technology Progress Award 2019 for their work entitled "Key Technologies and Industrialization of Digital Printed Colours on Textiles" (紡織面料顏色數字化關鍵技術及產業化). The work is a collaborative effort between PolyU, Luthai Textile Co., Ltd., Donghua University and Zhejiang University. Prof. Xin is the primary contributor among the collaborators of the awarded work. One of the fundamental technologies that led to this recognition is an imaging color measurement (ICM) system developed by Prof. Xin and his team at ITC and supported by the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textile and Apparel(HKRITA). Prof. Xin (middle) and his team working on the ICM system. The award demonstrates the significance of the ICM system, which is based on software and hardware that measure colour with disruptive digital imaging technology, to the fashion and textile industries, as well as many other different industries in which accurate colour measurements and colour quality control are important. Using the right colours is always a challenging task for textile and garment manufacturers. The ICM system developed by Prof Xin and his team has ultra-high precision and capable of accurately measuring the color of each pixel on textile fabric, which can be yarn dyed fabric, printed fabric, or even a piece of lace with multiple colours and textures. The complexity of these different colours cannot be measured with conventional colour measurement instruments. The digital ICM system has the ability to measure different complex colours with just one click of a mouse without the need for contact with the measured object. This is indeed a significant advancement in colour measurement and colour quality control. The highly accurate ICM system effectively eliminates conflict between textile and garment producers and buyers in terms of colour consistency, reduces the product development lead time, and lowers cost as there are fewer colour samples needed and sample delivery from producers to buyers can be eliminated. The ICM system is also a very useful tool for designing, developing and visualizing coloured products,  all of which can provide a wide range of benefits not only to the textile and garment industries, but also to many other industries that offer coloured products.

UGC Teaching and Learning PALMS Project of Department of Applied Mathematics (AMA) has won 7 International Educational Awards

Dr Fridolin Ting, Teaching Fellow of AMA, and his team of UGC Teaching and Learning Pedagogic and Active Learning Mobile Solutions (PALMS) Project have received 7 international educational awards as recognition for their contributions to innovations in STEM tertiary education. Awards are as follows (arranged in reversed chronological order): The Wharton-Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Reimagine Education Awards & Conference 8-10 December 2019, London, United Kingdom   1.Silver Award Winnerin the"Natural Sciences" DisciplineAward Category for "PALMS Project for STEM Tertiary Education" 2.Bronze Award Winnerin the"Hybrid Learning"Award Category for "PALMS Project for STEM Tertiary Education" 3.Bronze Award Winnerin the"ICT Tools for Learning and Teaching"Award Category for "YoTeach!" The 5the-Learning Excellence Awards at the 18thEuropean Conference on eLearning 2019 7-8 November2019, Aalborg Universitet København, Denmark 4.The 3rd-placewinner for "YoTeach! A Backchannel Chat App with Machine Learning for Symbol and Math Handwriting Recognition for use in STEM and non-STEM Subjects" EduTech Asia Awards 5 November 2019, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 5.Gold Awardin "Best Classroom Technology Solution" Category for "PALMS Project" 6.Silver Awardin "Best EdTech Solution" Category for "PALMS Project" 7.Silver Awardin "Ed Tech Leadership in Asia (Tertiary)" Category for Dr Fridolin Ting Details:https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/edutech-asia/2019-Awards-Winners.stm For more information about the award-winning mobile app "YoTeach!", please visit: http://palms.polyu.edu.hk/educational-apps/ For more information about the PALMS Project, please visit: http://palms.polyu.edu.hk/

Dr Chris Lo featured in Journal of Operations Management and international news media

A research paper co-authored byDr Chris Lo, Associate Professor of ITC, andDr Di Fan, ITC alumni and senior lecturer at the Research School of Management of the Australian National University College of Business and Economics has been recently selected as a feature article inJournal of Operations Management (JOM). The findings of this study have been covered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) morning news, as well as British and Australian newspapers includingThe Guardian,The Sydney Morning Heraldand theBrisbane Times.  This highly acclaimed paper is titled "Deviations from aspirational target levels and environmental and safety performance: Implications for operations managers acting irresponsibly", and explores whether the relative aspirational financial performance of a firm impacts its likelihood of acting irresponsibly. That is, the study explores whether operational slack in the form of capacity, productivity, and inventory attenuates the likelihood of a firm to act irresponsibly when its actual financial performance deviates from its aspirational level (i.e., the industry norm). The findings contradict the popular view that only poor performing firms tend to violate environmental regulations and neglect health and safety factors. Thus, the relationship between performance and breaching is not linear. High-performing firms act just as irresponsibly as poor performing firms because their past successes have rendered them arrogant or they cut corners to maintain performance. The likelihood of irresponsible action in fact depends on the deviation from aspirational performance. The JOM is one of the leading journals in business and operations management. It is ranked number 1 in theOperations Research and Management Sciencecategory and number 6 in theManagementcategory in the Web of Science according to Thomson ISI Journal Citation Reports 2018. Full citation of the paper: Wiengarten, F., Fan, D., Pagell, M., & Lo, Chris K.Y. (2019).Deviations from aspirational target levels and environmental and safety performance: Implications for operations managers acting irresponsibly. Journal of Operations Management. 65(6): 490-516.