The Council of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced today the unanimous approval of the appointment of Prof Wei Shyy as Provost starting from the Fall Semester of 2010.
Prof Shyy is currently Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson Collegiate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
HKUST Council Chairman Dr Marvin KT Cheung said, "With Prof Wei Shyy's appointment as Provost, HKUST's world-class senior management team has become even stronger. We are most fortunate in acquiring an outstanding, well-rounded academic leader of this caliber. With Prof Shyy on board, HKUST can gear itself up for world leadership in innovative excellence in teaching and research."
HKUST President Tony F Chan added, "We are extremely delighted to be able to attract a top-quality academic leader such as Professor Wei Shyy to join the leadership team at HKUST. Not only is he an international leading scientist, scholar and veteran administrator, he has also been honored in the US as a distinguished educator. This is a partnership that will yield higher levels of academic excellence for the University."
Prof Shyy obtained his BS degree from Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan in 1977, and his MSE and PhD degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1981 and 1982 respectively. He was Research Scientist at the General Electric Research and Development Center in New York from 1983 to 1988. In 1988, he joined the faculty of the University of Florida, where he stayed until 2004, holding the ranks of Associate Professor, Professor, and Distinguished Professor. From 1996 to 2002, he was Chairman of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics and Engineering Sciences, and from 2002 to 2004, Chairman of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In 2005, he joined his alma mater, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he has since held his current post.
Prof Shyy is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Among the many awards for his research and professional contributions are the AIAA 2003 Pendray Aerospace Literature Award, the ASME 2005 Heat Transfer Memorial Award, and The Engineers' Council (Sherman Oaks, California) 2009 Distinguished Educator Award, the latter in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to the engineering profession as a teacher, researcher, mentor to students and staff, and leader in working together with industry".
A scholar of international stature, Prof Shyy has world-wide recognition for his contributions to the fields of computational fluid dynamics, combustion and propulsion, fluid-structure interaction, biofluid dynamics, and biological and low Reynolds number flight vehicles. Prof Shyy is the author/ co-author of 4 books and over 450 refereed journal/ conference articles. He is the General Editor of the Cambridge Aerospace Book Series, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, a major reference work under development, among his other professional editorship capacities.
Prof Shyy has an illustrious record of leadership in very successful research programs well-funded by multiple agencies and involving multiple institutions. In 2002, he successfully led a group to establish the Institute for Future Space Transport, a seven-university consortium funded by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with US$15 million in funding support for five years during the first phase alone. Since 2006, he has been the principal investigator of the Michigan University/Air-Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) /Boeing Collaborative Center in Aeronautical Sciences, a 5-year endeavor sponsored by the AFRL. Since 2007, he has been the principal investigator of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project, sponsored by the US Department of Defense, on Biologically-Inspired, Anisotropic Flexible Wing for Optimal Flapping Flight. Professor Shyy has supervised close to 40 PhD students and mentored a large number of postdoctoral fellows.
Serving at one of the top engineering schools in the US, Prof Shyy has an extended and excellent track record as an academic administrator, with experience in charting education and scholarly missions with full faculty participation, successfully dealing with a merger of departments, and raising major endowment and scholarship funds. Prof Shyy also participated as a member of a number of review teams to assess productivity and performance of US and international government agencies and universities, and is actively involved in numerous professional and industrial consulting services. Though based in the US, he has extensive collaborative links and visibility in the region including Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
Prof Shyy visited HKUST several years ago to give a talk for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Since 2009, he has been serving on the Department's Academic Advisory Board.
Prof Wei Shyy said, "I am deeply honored to join the senior management team of this fast-rising and internationally respected institution of higher learning. HKUST has first-rate people at all levels. Its focused energy and competitive spirit have turned it into the best example of what a young university with global ambitions can accomplish in research and education. I look forward to working with all its proud members to educate future leaders for the region and cement its reputation as a world leading university."
Before Prof Shyy takes up his position at HKUST, Prof Shiu-Yuen Cheng will continue to serve as Acting Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
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Ross Lai
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