Professor Chen Guohua elected into the Canadian Academy of Engineering

Prof. Chen Guohua, Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Smart and Sustainable Energy, Chair Professor of Energy Conversion and Storage, has been inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). The announcement was made by President Yves Beauchamp of the CAE at its Annual General Meeting on June 13, 2022. Prof. Chen is among 54 new Fellows elected into the academy this year. Election to the Canadian Academy of Engineering is one of the highest honours in engineering. Fellows of the CAE are nominated and elected by their peers, in view of their distinguished achievements and career-long service to the engineering profession. Chen’s CAE citation reads: “Professor Guohua Chen is an outstanding chemical engineer, a renowned expert in electrochemical technologies for sustainable development, a highly successful mentor and university administrator. He leads the commercialization of proprietary technologies for energy storage applications, with world leading performance. He has published over 300 journal papers with very top academic impact. He is an assiduous advocate for global collaboration, serving on a number of international councils and editing for prestigious journals, including CanJChE, CJChE, SEPPUR and PSEP. He is a fellow of AIChE and HKIE, respectively. He works enthusiastically in increasing chemical engineering impact globally.” The Canadian Academy of Engineering – Media Release: Learn more

ME Staff Honoured for 2021 Long Service Award

Colleagues of the PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) have always been devoting themselves to the development of ME. This year, the Department Head Prof. Su Zhongqing, on behalf of the University, paid tribute to long-serving staff members for their loyal and committed service over the years. Congratulations to the awardees and heartfelt thanks for their years of dedication and devotion which have marked the achievements of the Department. Long Service Award 2021 Award Recipients Length of Service 　Name   　Post Title 15 years 　Prof. Fu Mingwang 　傅銘旺 　Associate Director of Research Institute for     Advanced Manufacturing, Professor 20 years 　Ir Elsa Tang 　鄧慧芳 　Senior Instructor

Professor Fu Mingwang elected to 2022 SME College of Fellows

The Department is proud that Prof. Fu Mingwang has been elected to the 2022 SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) College of Fellows. This year, only eight individuals were elected to the 2022 SME College of Fellows. Prof. Fu has been the senior member of SME since 2000 and he was the only individual outside of the United States elected to the 2022 SME College of Fellows. Since 1986, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) College of Fellows has honored those members who have made outstanding contributions to the social, technological and educational aspects of the manufacturing profession. This is a highly prestigious honor that can only be earned through years (20 or more) of dedication and service. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the world’s leading professional society advancing manufacturing knowledge and influencing more than half a million manufacturing practitioners annually. SME's communities connect manufacturers to their peers by discipline, industry, or geographies – enabling powerful collaboration, strengthening networks, fostering research, surfacing experts, and enhancing knowledge. Election as an SME Fellow is limited to a select group of individuals each year, making it one of the most prestigious honors bestowed by SME. Learn more about SME College of Fellows.

Dr An Liang Appointed Subject Editor of Prestigious Elsevier Journal

Dr An Liang, Associate Professor of PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been appointed as Subject Editor by the Editor-in-Chief of Applied Thermal Engineering, Elsevier, which is a peer-reviewed academic journal with an impact factor of 5.295 and rankings of 6/60 in “Thermodynamics” Subject Category and 13/135 in “Mechanics” Subject Category in 2020 JCR Science Edition. Applied Thermal Engineering disseminates novel research related to the design, development and demonstration of components, devices, equipment, technologies, systems and, in general, solutions involving thermal processes for the production, storage, utilization and conservation of energy, with a focus on engineering application. It is noted that papers concerned with the development and/or characterization of materials are only within scope if they include content relating to the implications of the employment of these materials in engineering applications, e.g., by considering their operation and/or performance within components, devices, equipment, technologies and/or wider thermal systems. For more information, please refer to https://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-thermal-engineering.

Dr An Liang Elected Royal Society of Chemistry Fellow

Dr An Liang, Associate Professor of PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), a professional society based in the United Kingdom with over 50,000 members worldwide. Founded in 1841, RSC is the largest organization in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences. RSC partners with industry and academia, advises governments on policy, and promotes the talent, collaboration, innovation, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science. The designation Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) is given to elected Fellows who have made significant contributions to the chemical sciences.  Becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry is a great recognition of Dr An’s contributions to the advanced energy conversion and storage field. The names of newly elected Fellows are published each year in The Times (London). For more information on the Royal Society of Chemistry, please visit the official website here. To read more about Dr An Liang and his research, please visit his faculty page here.

Dr Sun Yuxiang selected as Global Top Chinese Young Scholar in Artificial Intelligence

On April 28, 2022, the world's first list of High Potential AI Chinese Young Scholars released by Baidu was officially announced. Dr Sun Yuxiang, a young scholar from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was included into the list (in the field of AI+X, a total of 50 young scholars from all over the world were selected)! The selection is based on 186,963 papers and the information of 89,324 scholars from all over the world. By using big data mining technology with three metrics (academic performance, academic influence and academic potential index), 100 high-potential young scholars were selected from the classical fields of AI (Machine Learning, Data Mining, Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing), and 50 high-potential young scholars were selected from the interdisciplinary fields of AI (AI+X). The 150 young scholars have made outstanding contributions in the fields of AI. Their research focuses on cutting-edge hot topics in academic and industry, such as autonomous driving, quantum computing, dialogue systems, and biological computing, etc. According to reports, the 150 AI Chinese Young Scholars are from 98 top universities or institutions around the world. The top 10 universities or institutions with the most selected young scholars are Tsinghua University (8 scholars), Google (8 scholars), Chinese Academy of Sciences (7 scholars), Microsoft (including Microsoft Research Asia, 7 scholars), University of Hong Kong (4 scholars), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (3 scholars), Carnegie Mellon University (3 scholars), University of California San Diego (3 scholars), Columbia University (3 scholars), Facebook (3 scholars). The selection of the AI Chinese Young Scholars aims to encourage young scholars in the fields of artificial intelligence to make more influential achievements, and to identify high-potential and high-influential Chinese young technical leaders. Dr Sun joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2020. His is now leading a research lab with 1 Postdoctoral research fellow, 7 PhD students, and 2 Master students. One PhD student successfully won the highly-competitive Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) award in the 2021/2022 academic year. Dr Sun currently serves as an associate editor of the top-tier robotics journal and conferences: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), and IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).   References: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/eNcKhmhJaZ20t-0P_yusJA https://xueshu.baidu.com/usercenter/index/aischolar2022

108th Departmental Advisory Committee Meeting

The 108th Departmental Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting was held online on 18 March 2022, under the chairmanship of Ir Dr Angus HW Cheung, Chief Executive Officer of Aerovision Technology Limited. We were grateful to have new committee members joining us. They were: Dr Vanessa Au (Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Regional West), Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR Prof. Chen Guohua (Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU) Miss Chan Hoi Yi (Full-time BEng Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU) Miss Jiang Qian (Full-time PhD Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU) The DAC is comprised of 2 ex-officio members (i.e., the Faculty Dean and Department Head), 9 local and overseas members from the academia, industry and professionals as well as 3 internal members and 2 student representatives from the Department. The meeting kicked off with the Head Prof. Su Zhongqing’s report on the latest updates of the Department. Following up on the 107th DAC meeting, various measures and actions have been taken. Responses to the last DAC advice were summarized in this meeting. Since the last DAC, the Department has organized a number of key events, received remarkable research achievements, surged in world rankings by ME subject. The growth and development in various aspects were shared in the meeting. On the other hand, we reviewed the student intake, graduate employment, budget and staffing. It was a very fruitful meeting as members, with their wide range of expertise, had provided valuable advice and constructive suggestions to the Department for future development in teaching and learning, research and consultancy, and strategic plans.

Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering 2022

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is pleased to announce that three distinguished graduates are awarded the “Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering 2022” in recognition of their professional/entrepreneurial achievements and significant contributions to the Department, PolyU and the wider community. Their remarkable achievements and valuable contributions have earned them well-deserved honour and respectful recognition. Congratulations to the following awardees!

ME Young Scholar secures Environment and Conservation Fund to conduct research on smart robot

Dr Henry Chu Kar Hang, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME), has secured a fund from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) for the research project “GPS-assisted Smart Robot with Self-exploration Ability for Litter Pick-up and Sorting on Curved Hillsides”. Robots have been serving us in many sectors to improve the quality of our lives. Nevertheless, majority of commercial robots mainly focus on applications for indoor use with large market sizes, opening a gap in some less explored areas. In this project, Dr Chu and his research team will develop a first-of-a-kind litter picking robot and its supporting system to work alongside with cleaning workers to reduce their workload and the risk of injury, while preserving the natural scenery and environment in Hong Kong.  The Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) was set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to provide funding support for educational, research and other projects and activities in relation to environmental and conservation matters. Every year, more than 170 applications are received, with only 25% of them are supported.

ME Young Scholar secures Innovation and Technology Fund to conduct research on autonomous driving

Dr Sun Yuxiang, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME), has been awarded a HK$899,300 Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) grant by the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) for a research project entitled "A Study on RGB-Thermal Adaptive Fusion-based Semantic Understanding of Complex Day-and-Night Environments for Autonomous Driving". ITC also provides additional full financial support for this project for up to 4 research talents including research assistants (up to HK$21,000 per month) and postdoctoral research fellows (up to HK$32,000 per month). Semantic understanding of traffic environments is important to ensure safe driving of autonomous vehicles. It can tell a self-driving car which pixels correspond to free spaces or obstacles in the pictures taken by an on-vehicle visual camera, so that the car can effectively avoid obstacles and safely navigate. However, the current semantic understanding solutions usually use RGB visible-light cameras. When the ambient light is insufficient at night, or there are glares caused by on-coming headlight, the existing solutions are difficult to produce satisfactory results. To address this problem, this project proposes to design a solution based on adaptive fusion of RGB and thermal images, so that robust semantic understanding could be achieved in complex day-and-night environments. It is very encouraging to see young scholar from our department to be funded by important funding of ITC to conduct research in cutting-edge technologies.