The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) President Prof Tony F Chan has been elected as a member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
NAE's membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice or education - including significant contributions to the engineering literature", and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing / implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."
Prof Chan was elected a member of the NAE for "his application of numerical techniques to image processing and scientific computing, and for providing engineering leadership at national and international levels". He is the only ethnic Chinese among the 67 members (there are also 11 foreign associates) newly elected to the NAE this year. He is one of a handful of US NAE members working in Hong Kong.
"I am greatly honored to be elected to the US National Academy of Engineering," said Prof Chan. "In addition to being a personal professional recognition, membership of this distinguished body will allow me to connect with leaders of the US engineering profession, as well as provide a great forum for me, and HKUST as a whole, to be involved in discussion on, as well as influence issues and trends at the frontiers of research and education in science and technology. I look forward to establishing deeper connections with the leading international engineers from academia, the business world and government organizations who comprise the Academy's membership."
President Chan received his BS and MS degrees in Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. His main research interests are in mathematics, computer science and engineering, ranging from image processing and computer vision, Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) physical design to computational brain mapping. He has published over 200 refereed papers and is one of the most cited mathematicians according to the Institute of Science Index. He has mentored 35 PhD students and 25 postdoctoral fellows.
Prof Chan became President of HKUST on 1 September 2009. In 1997, while at UCLA, Prof Chan was appointed Chair of the Department of Mathematics; from 2001 to 2006 he became Dean of Physical Sciences. He was a principal investigator in a successful proposal to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to form the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) at UCLA, at that time only the third national institution of its kind. In 2006, he assumed the position of Assistant Director of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, the largest directorate at the NSF, where he managed research funding for astronomy, chemistry, materials research, mathematical sciences and physics.
Prof Chan is an active member of numerous scientific organizations, including the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the American Mathematical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He has also served on the editorial boards of many leading mathematics and computing journals.
The National Academy of Engineering is a non-profit institution founded in 1964 which provides engineering leadership in service to the United States. It provides independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. It currently has 2,250 peer-elected members and 214 foreign associates, who are among the world's most accomplished engineers in business, academia and government.
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