109th Departmental Advisory Committee Meeting

The 109th Departmental Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting was held face to face on 30 August 2023, under the chairmanship of Ir Dr Angus Cheung, Chief Executive Officer of Aerovision Technology Limited. We were grateful to have new committee members joining us. They were: Ir Kevin Lau, Senior Director – Generation, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited Mr Lingang Zhu, Director, Structure and Stress Division, Commercial Aircraft of China Ltd. Prof Massimo Ruzzene, Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation and Dean of the Institutes, University of Colorado Boulder Dr Bruce Wang, Founder and CEO, EcoFlow Inc. Dr Hui Tang, Associate Head & Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU Dr Henry Chu, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU Dr Xiao Zhang, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU Mr Farrukh Rasheed, Full-time BEng Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PolyU Mr Yeung Wai Kin, 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), 10 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. Zhongqing Su’s report on the latest updates of the Department. Following up on the 108th DAC meeting, various measures and actions have been taken. Responses to the advice from the last DAC meeting were summarized in this meeting. Since the last DAC, the Department has organized a number of key events, received remarkable research achievements, and surged in world rankings by ME subject. The growth and development in various aspects, including the student achievements/activities, the academic programme developments, and relationship with alumni, were shared in the meeting. On the other hand, the meeting reviewed the student intake, graduate employment, comments from Departmental Academic Advisor (DAA), and staffing, resources and budget. 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.

Prof Wang Zuankai wins prestigious Falling Walls Award for breakthrough engineering innovation

PolyU Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Chair Professor of Nature-Inspired Engineering Prof. Zuankai Wang has been honoured as one of ten winners of the 2023 Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year award in the Engineering and Technology category. The annual award from the Berlin-based Falling Walls Foundation recognises the most impactful recent discoveries in science and society worldwide. Prof. Wang’s innovation on structured thermal amour is recognised with the accolade of “Breaking the Wall to the Leidenfrost Effect”. His research “Inhibiting the Leidenfrost effect above 1,000°C for sustained thermal cooling”, published in Nature in 2022, tackles the challenges posed by the Leidenfrost effect since 1756. The impact of his work is far-reaching. Breaking the Leidenfrost effect at high temperatures also extends the temperature range of superwettablity, one of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 2021. The current manifestation of superwettability is confined to a highly restricted temperature range. Prof. Wang’s groundbreaking discovery dramatically extends the temperature range of superwettability above 1,000°C, unleashing limitless applications in chemistry and beyond. Prof. Wang draws on diverse knowledge from several disciplines for his award-winning work. He encourages his research team to be proactive, passionate and persistent in making remarkable advances through answering scientific questions and tackling technological challenges. He added, “Sometimes, a small idea and experiment can be a turning point of our life. We persist in making remarkable advancements in research by answering critical scientific questions and tackling long-standing technological challenges.”

STEM Development Summer Programme at PolyU ME

On July 20, 2023, the Caritas School Social Work Service and PolyU Mechanical Engineering jointly organized a STEM Development Summer Programme, which was a great success. We were delighted to welcome around 80 students and teachers from six secondary schools to experience hands-on learning at PolyU campus. The participating schools were Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Siu Ming Catholic Secondary School, Pope Paul VI College, Pui Shing Catholic Secondary School, Shung Tak Catholic English College, Tuen Mun Catholic Secondary School, and Yuen Long Catholic Secondary School. During the programme, the Department Head, Prof. Su Zhongqing, extended a warm welcome to all teachers, social workers and students, inviting them to explore the field of mechanical engineering (ME) at PolyU. We are grateful for the enthusiastic support of our industrial partner, REC Engineering Co. Ltd. The Deputy Managing Director, Ir Antonio Chan, played a key role in facilitating the collaboration between Caritas and the Department. The experiential learning kicked off with a guided tour of the Industrial Centre (IC), which included visits to U3DP (W501), AIR Lab (W402 & U401), Composites & Fabrication (W003), and Digital Machining (U004). Moreover, under the guidance of Dr Henry Chu, the Scheme Leader of BEng in Mechanical Engineering, students learned to use a smartphone to control a robot car. The Smart Robot Car Challenge was definitely the highlight of the programme, where students worked in small groups to complete a task within a limited time. From programming to assembling, the students had to complete everything within a few hours. After actively searching for solutions, many of them were able to use their mobile phones to successfully drive their robot cars. The challenge culminated in a mini race, where the students put their robot cars to the test. We were thrilled to see the enthusiasm and creativity of the participants. In the end, we were proud to announce that all the winners were from Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Siu Ming Catholic Secondary School. Congratulations to the girls!

Success in securing GRF/ECS 2023/24

In the 2023/24 results of grants from the Research Grants Council’s General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS) announced in June 2023, ME’s success rate was 36% in 2023/24 exercise.  Nine of our GRF/ECS proposals were funded. Congratulations to the following colleagues who were successful in securing a GRF/ECS grant in this round. Principal Investigator Co-Investigator Project Title Dr Cheng Song Nil On the Unique and Nonlinear Interactions between Fungible Sustainable and Conventional Aviation Fuels in Atmospheric to Supercritical Pyrolysis, Oxidation and Combustion: Fundamental Characterizations and Application-Oriented Implementations Dr Choy Yat Sze Nil Development and modelling of open sonic retarding meta-structure for broadband sound insulation with air flow passage Dr Navarro-Alarcon David Prof. Romero Jose Guadalupe (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México), Prof. Nanayakkara Thrishantha (Imperial College London) Multi-Agent Systems with Variable Morphology: Models, Controls, and Applications Prof. Su Zhongqing Prof. Zhu Jie (Tongji University) A Skin-Mimetic, Wearable Acoustic “Interface” for Trapping, Relaying, and Boosting Ultrasonic Leaky Waves in Attenuative Human Tissues Dr Sun Yuxiang Prof. Huang Shoudong (University of Technology Sydney) Cross-modal Global Localization with a LiDAR and Geo-referenced Aerial Images for Autonomous Vehicles in GNSS-degraded Environments Prof. Wang Liqiu Prof. Li Jiaqian (Shandong University) Structure-free substance-repellent coatings Prof. Wang Zuankai Nil Developing honey bees-inspired solid-repellent surfaces Dr Wu Maochun Nil Two-Phase Flow and Mass Transport in Zinc-Bromine Flow Batteries Dr Zheng Guangping Nil Computational and experimental studies on the strengthening mechanisms of entropy stabilized glass-glass interfaces in multicomponent metallic nano-glasses  

ME PhD student clinches 1st Runner-up and People’s Choice Award in Faculty 3MT Competition

Congratulations to Mr Liang Zhaojian, a research student representing the Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME), won the First Runner-up and People’s Choice Award in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition 2023 organized by the PolyU Faculty of Engineering. 3MT® celebrates the exciting research conducted by research postgraduate students. Developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, the competition cultivates students’ academic presentation and research communication skills, and supports their capacity to effectively explain their research and its significance in three minutes, in a language appropriate to non-specialist audiences. 3MT® is now a globally recognized competition that has been held in over 900 universities across more than 80 countries worldwide. On 16 June 2023, the PolyU Faculty of Engineering held the 3MT Competition. Seven affiliated departments nominated their research students to participate in it. The participants each delivered a high-impact brief presentation within 3-minute. Most of them demonstrated good academic pitching skills. A panel of judges by representatives from the seven affiliated departments was formed and selected the best presenters. Zhaojian is currently a PhD student in ME under the supervision of Dr Li Mengying. “Energy storage using solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) -- A story about speeds” is the title about his research project for this competition. His lively narration of academic research has won him two awards. We are very proud of his outstanding performance. Learn more at PolyU Faculty of Engineering Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition

Dr Ma Yuan received PolyU Young Innovation Researcher Award (YIRA) 2023

Dr Ma Yuan, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded the PolyU Young Innovative Researcher Award (YIRA) for 2023. His research focuses on developing "Flexible surface haptics technology for aiding the visually impaired population". The aim of Dr Ma's research project is to create a new touch feedback technology on soft materials that can assist visually impaired individuals in interacting with digital devices and the digital world. By developing a flexible system that can produce different touch sensations, he hopes to create a more efficient and user-friendly experience for those with visual impairments. This will involve combining advanced haptic technologies and artificial intelligence algorithms. The YIRA recognizes young PolyU researchers under the age of 35 who have demonstrated novelty, contributed to technology advancement, and propelled transformational innovation into solutions for addressing problems in society with a vision for a positive change to the future. The assessment panel, composed of Prof. Christopher Chao (VPRI), Christina Wong (DoRI), and various Faculty Deans, reviewed numerous outstanding submissions across 14 departments and selected 6 YIRA awardees this year. Each YIRA awardee will receive research funding support of HK$500,000 and a personal cash prize of HK$20,000 as recognition for their research novelty and impact. We are proud to see young researchers like Dr Ma achieving outstanding accomplishments in innovative research.

ME Department Head and Staff Honoured for Loyal Service

Colleagues of the PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) have always been devoting themselves to the development of ME. This year, our Department Head, Prof. Su Zhongqing received the Award for his 15th year of service in PolyU. Besides, 8 staff members of ME received the Award for their 20th, and 15th year of service. The University President invited all recipients of the Long Service Awards 2022 to a tea gathering at U.Green on 5 May 2023 to pay tribute to long-serving staff members for their loyal and committed service over the years. Congratulations to the award recipients and heartfelt thanks for their years of dedication and devotion which have marked the achievements of the Department.   Long Service Award 2022 Award Recipients Length of Service Name     Post Title     20 years Dr Randolph C. K. Leung 梁志堅  Associate Professor   15 years Prof. Zhongqing Su  蘇眾慶 Head (ME) & Professor    15 years Dr Y. S. Choy  蔡逸思  Associate Professor   15 years Dr G.P. Zheng  鄭廣平  Associate Professor    15 years Ms Karen Cho 曹秀容  Assistant Marketing Manager  15 years Dr Ng Chun 吳駿  Senior Technical Officer  15 years Mr Jack Wong  黄國威  Technical Officer   15 years Mr K. O. Yuen  袁家安  Technical Officer   15 years Ms Yan Wong 黃錦恩   Clerk 

Dr Zhang Xiao received the Most Popular Cover Award at eScience Summit

Oriented to the national major strategic needs in the field of new energy and the frontier of world science and technology, the 2023 eScience Summit (New Energy Youth Session), organised by the eScience Editorial Board and the Haihe Institute of Carbon Neutral Research, Nankai District, Tianjin, was held at the Tianjin Social Hill International Conference Centre Hotel from 21 to 23 April 2023. With the theme of "New Energy for Chinese Modernization", the conference attracted more than 800 participants from universities, research institutes and related enterprises, engineers and students from all over China, focusing on energy storage batteries, power batteries, electrocatalysis and synthesis, photoelectric energy utilization and new energy AI and advanced characterization. Five sessions were set up to discuss the topics of energy storage battery, power cell, electrocatalysis and synthesis, photoelectric energy utilization, and new energy AI and advanced characterization, with 178 invited presentations and 115 poster sessions. The session presenters gave excellent academic reports and exchanged the latest research results in the field of new energy, making new contributions to help the high-quality development of green, low-carbon and sustainable energy. 18 Young People's Awards for Outstanding Contribution and 3 Most Popular Cover Awards were presented. Congratulations to Dr Zhang Xiao, Assistant Professor in the PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering, who has received the Most Popular Cover Award. His research title is "Phase engineering of metal nanocatalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction". Authors include Yanjie Zhai, Peng Han, Qinbai Yun, Yiyao Ge, Xiao Zhang, Ye Chen, Hua Zhang. The first author, Zhai Yanjie, is a year-2 PhD student of PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr Zhang Xiao is the corresponding author. About eScience Summit (Chinese article) https://hhsys.kxjs.tj.gov.cn/c/2023-04-25/496963.shtml About eScience Journal https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/escience

The 8th ME Research Presentation Competition

The 8th PolyU Mechanical Engineering Research Presentation Competition was successfully held on 2 Mar 2023. It is an annual event for research students to display their research project results and share knowledge with the PolyU community. The Research Student Liaison Officer, Dr David Navarro-Alarcon, introduced the competition emphasizing academic pitching skills, with an aim to train research students to explain academic ideas to peers and non-experts clearly. The Associate Head (Research), Dr Tang Hui, addressed the opening of this 8th annual competition which has been bringing invaluable opportunities for ME research students’ talents to be known. This year, we invited 15 academics from 3 main discipline areas (Control, Acoustics and Dynamics; Materials and Solid Mechanics; Thermofluids and Combustion) to form a panel of judges to select the best presenters. Being one of the panel members, Prof. Cheng Li, Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Engineering, was very glad to have witnessed the evolution of the event - from a simple and crude poster competition held outdoors at PolyU podium to a decent function supported by a very strong judging panel giving their professional review. Twenty research student participants each delivered a high-impact brief in a 3-minute presentation. With their professional and animated presentations, those academic and technical terms were no longer distant to the layman. Most of the participants demonstrated outstanding academic pitching skills. Prof. Wang Zuankai, Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation), as a judging panel member, was impressed by the performance of the candidates and the wide spectrum of research areas to which ME research students are dedicated. Prof. Wang Liqiu, another Chair Professor who recently joined the Department, was thrilled to listen to the pitching by young researchers and opined that with the key message, they grabbed the audience’s attention. After the oral presentations, participants interacted with the audience in the research posters exhibition. Displayed posters not only highlighted their research project results, but it was also an occasion for participants to convey their ideas, and communicate with viewers and professionals. All other research students and PolyU staff members have also joined the event and vote for the People’s Choice award. They had appealed to a large audience to vote for them. Prof. Su Zhongqing, Head of the Department, concluded the competition with a quote from Einstein “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” Congratulations on the fabulous presentations and excellent research work! Champion and People’s Choice Student: Ms LABAZANOVA Luiza Supervisor: Dr David Navarro-Alarcon  Title: Self-Reconfigurable Soft-Rigid Multi-Agent System 1st Runner-Up Student: Ms HUO Xiaoyu  Supervisor: Dr AN Liang  Title: Development of a redox flow battery for large-scale energy storage    2nd Runner-Up Student: Mr LIANG Zhaojian  Supervisor: Dr LI Mengying  Title: Energy storage using solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) - A story about speeds  Merit Student: Ms ZHANG Kouer  Supervisor: Dr AN Liang  Title: Green ammonia production from electrocatalytic nitrate reduction under ambient conditions 

ME Scientist Research Achievement received HUAWEI Spark Award

Professor WANG Zuankai, Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Chair Professor of Nature-Inspired Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the “Problem Unveiling” Spark Award (「難題揭榜」火花獎) presented by Huawei for his innovative achievement in most water-repellent surface. Huawei presented to the society the challenges of industry and scientific value, giving exploration, guidance, openness, and reflection, scientists were encouraged to come up with innovative ideas. Professor Wang proposed a novel solution to the Legion Challenge Phase II problem "Transparent and wear-resistant super-sparse surface" (透明耐磨的超疏表面). Professor Wang was awarded the Huawei Spark Award for his innovative and useful technical solution. Huawei established the Spark Award to recognize outstanding scientists and companies, to thank for their significant contributions to industry and science, and to inspire more talents to challenge the challenges.