Awards and Achievements

PolyU scholar receives Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award

Professor Xiao-ming Tao, Chair Professor of Textile Technology and Director of the Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, PolyU, was honoured with the 13th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). The award presentation ceremony was held in Beijing yesterday (8 November). The biennial award is China's most prestigious award for Chinese engineers and scientists who have made significant contributions to engineering technology and engineering management. 41 awardees were selected this year from 296 candidates and Professor Tao is one of the three award recipients from Hong Kong. Professor Tao is internationally recognised for her leading research work on intelligent fibrous materials, nanotechnology, photonic fibres and fabrics, flexible electronic and photonic devices, smart washable technology, yarn manufacturing and textile composites. She has conducted numerous research projects and published more than 800 scientific publications including over 300 international journal papers and seven research monographs. She has led a team of prolific inventors of new technologies and obtained 34 international and national patents. Over ten of the invented technologies have been licensed to companies worldwide for industrial applications. Professor Tao was the Head of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing of PolyU from 2003 to 2011. Working closely with industry, Professor Tao successfully led the PolyU team to win a grant of over HK$330 million to host The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. She also founded the Nanotechnology Centre for Functional and Intelligent Textiles and Apparel in 2004 and the Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology in 2018.  

Prof. Defeng Sun, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Applied Mathematics, honoured as Inaugural CSIAM Fellow

Congratulations to Prof. Defeng Sun, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Applied Mathematics, being selected as one of the eight elected Inaugural Fellows of the China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM). CSIAM Fellow is an honorific title for life, in recognition of its distinguished members for their contributions to the field of industrial and applied mathematics. Early in April 2020, Prof. Sun was conferred as 2020 Fellow of the Society for 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, Prof. 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. Prof. 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. About CSIAM Founded in 1990, China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM) is a non-governmental organization for Chinese applied mathematicians. Supervised by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, CSIAM aims to strengthen the communication between academia and industry, and promote collaboration between mathematicians, engineers, technicians and corporate executives. It will help solve mathematical problems which hinders economic and technological development, as well as advance the research and education in applied mathematics. For details, please visit: CISAM 18th Annual Conference cum Award Presentation https://csiam.org.cn/home/article/detail/id/1372.html

Awardees of RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme and RGC Research Fellow Scheme 2020/21

The RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) and RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) have been introduced since 2019/20 with the aim of building up a pool of local research talent to sustain Hong Kong's competitiveness and propelling the development of our higher education sector. The Schemes provide funding to awardees to cover relief from teaching and administrative duties as well as support for research projects. The Faculty extends congratulations to below awardees of FAST in the Schemes 2020/21: RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) Prof. Wong Wai-yeung, Raymond Clarea Au Professor in Energy and Chair Professor of Chemical Technology, ABCT Associate Dean (Research), FAST Click for more about Prof. Wong Dr Qiao Zhonghua Associate Professor, AMA Click for more about Dr Qiao and  here

FAST Faculty Awards 2019/20

The Faculty extends congratulations to below recipients of FAST Faculty Awards 2019/20 in recognition of the outstanding performance in respect of teaching, research and services: Individual Awards Category Awardee (2019/20) Teaching Dr Fridolin Ting Teaching Fellow, AMA Research and Scholarly Activities Dr LI Li Associate Professor, ITC   Team Awards Category Awardee (2019/20) Research and Scholarly Activities Prof. KAN Chi-wai, Professor, ITC (Team Leader) Dr Chris LO, Associate Professor, ITC Dr Joanne YIP, Associate Professor, ITC Dr Joseph YUNG, Associate Professor, ABCT Dr Amber CHIOU, Assistant Professor, ABCT Prof. Hai GUO, Professor, CEE Dr Simon Ching LAM, Assistant Professor, SN Services Dr Desmond CHAU, Instructor, ITC (Team Leader) Ms Cherry Chan, Executive Officer, ITC Mr Eric Wong, Technical Officer, ITC

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.