News & Stories

Autonomous Vehicles Developed by HKUST Engineering Professor Serve the Community during COVID-19 Outbreak in Mainland China

COVID-19: Info Portal for HKUST Community

Watch our video which highlights our all-round measures to curtail COVID-19.

Mashiat Lamisa (third right) and her teammates Ilana Zimmerman (second right) and Dama Correch (third left) received the Empower Women Through Technology Prize at the cmd-f all-female* hackathon held at the University of British Columbia.

President Prof. Wei SHYY contributed an article to the World Economic Forum talking about the collaborative efforts made by HKUST and its fellow allies to fight Covid-19. Below is the full article. With the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) sweeping across continents and affecting many millions, health authorities, policy-makers and scientists, innovators around the world are racing to invent ways to contain the further spread of the virus. It is our unwavering belief that universities are – and should always be – contributing to this collective fight against this and future severe and potentially long-lasting public health crises.

“Every tree is a living thing,” says Prof. WANG Yu-Hsing, Associate Head and Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, while admiring a tree on the hillside near HKUST’s waterfront. Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018 cracked the tree almost in half. Severely damaged, Prof. Wang thought it might not make it, but it did miraculously. What fascinates him most is the tree’s resilience and tenacity in withstanding adverse weather conditions that have become more rampant due to climate change. In order to monitor the tree’s stability, Prof. Wang has installed a smart sensor at its lower trunk to monitor its’ tilting angle. The sensor mounted on the tree is developed by Prof. Wang and his research team who originally conducted a student-oriented project of using sensing technology on slopes seven years ago.

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a novel Smart Fever Screening System (SFSS), which could help officials at the border points to easily identify and distinguish passengers with fever.  The system has been implemented at various control points, government facilities and the University in the fight against Covid-19. Since the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003, thermal imaging detectors have been widely deployed at border points for screening of inbound travelers with fever – an important symptom for patients of SARS, Covid-19 and other infectious diseases.  However, officers would have to monitor two screens on both thermal and color (CCTV) images in order to track the unwell person within a matter of seconds.  

The collaborative efforts made by HKUST and its dedicated fellow allies to fight against COVID-19.