The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today announced the recipients of the School of Engineering (SENG) Research Excellence Awards 2014. The recipients are outstanding scholars who have made significant discoveries at the forefront of engineering research.
The annual SENG Research Excellence Awards were launched in 2011 to recognize the impact and contributions of the School's faculty members. This year's awards are classified into two categories to encompass faculty members who are in different stages of their academic life. The School currently has about 170 faculty members across its six departments.
The Distinguished Research Excellence Award honors a distinguished faculty member with exceptional research achievements and significant impact at the local and global levels. It is the most prestigious award among all the categories. The Research Excellence Award recognizes the efforts of an outstanding faculty member with a proven record of research excellence.
This year's award recipients are:
Distinguished Research Excellence Award
Prof Tianshou Zhao, Chair Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Director of the HKUST Energy Institute, and Senior Fellow of HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
Prof Zhao has combined his expertise in research and technological innovation with a commitment to the creation of clean energy production and storage devices for a sustainable future. Over his 19 years of tenure at HKUST, he has made seminal contributions in the areas of fuel cells, flow batteries, multi-scale multiphase heat and mass transport with electrochemical reactions, and computational-modeling. In addition to four edited books, 10 book chapters and over 50 keynote lectures at international conferences, he has published 202 papers in various prestigious journals. These papers have received more than 6,200 citations with an h-index of 46 (Web of Science). His scientific research has been widely recognized by many recent awards, including two State Natural Science Awards (2012 and 2013), the ASME Fellowship Award, the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship Award, the Overseas Distinguished Young Scholars Award (NSFC), and the Yangtze River Chair Professorship, among others.
In the international community, Prof Zhao serves as Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Fuel Cells journal, Regional Editor of Applied Thermal Engineering journal, and Editor of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Energy & Environment Series. He has been an editorial board member of more than 20 prestigious international journals.
Research Excellence Award
Prof Hong-kam Lo, Associate Dean of Engineering (Undergraduate Studies) and Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Prof Lo's overall research accomplishment is best illustrated by his selection in the preliminary list of Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers in Engineering 2013. The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University allocates the same weight to Highly Cited Researchers as those of Nobel Prize or Fields Medal winners.
Prof Lo has published 10 book chapters, 146 journal papers, and co-edited 14 special issues for journals and four books. Counting paper publications in the last ten years from 2003 to 2013 in the top three transportation journals, namely Transportation Research Part B, Transportation Research Part A, and Transportation Science, his productivity has ranked 7th in the world. His studies on dynamic traffic assignment, dynamic traffic control, and reliability are world-renowned. Seven of his papers have received a top 10 ranking for citations among papers published on corresponding topics in the top Transportation Research series andTransportation Science over the past 15 years. Prof Lo has also received major research honors, including the prestigious triennial 2001 World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) Award.
He serves as Managing Editor of the Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Editor-in-Chief of Transportmetrica B: Transport Dynamics, Member of the Transport Advisory Committee advising the Chief Executive in Council of the Hong Kong government on territory-wide transport policies, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT).
HKUST Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief said, "The School is very proud of the remarkable achievements of our faculty's research. The awards recognize our academics' on-going efforts to pursue excellence in research and innovation." The School would continue to strive to make an impact with its leading-edge research and first-class education. The awards also reinforce its research competitiveness and highlight its position as one of the global centers of excellence.
Selection criteria for the awards include the applicants' research output, originality and innovativeness; impact of their research output on society, industry and relevant engineering disciplines; research training provided to students; and their leadership role in collaborations with national and international research partners.
About HKUST School of Engineering
The HKUST School of Engineering is globally renowned for its research excellence and consistently ranks high among other major engineering schools in the world. The prominence of the School has seen HKUST ranked No. 1 in Greater China for the third year in a row in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of Top 100 Universities for Engineering and Technology 2013-14. The School also receives a high ranking of No. 19, according to QS World University Rankings by Faculty 2013 – Engineering and Technology. The School proactively takes a multidisciplinary and theme-based approach in research to find innovative solutions to tackle global challenges. It will continue to strive for research breakthroughs and innovations that can contribute to the society and benefit the community.
