The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today announced the recipients of the School of Engineering (SENG) Research Excellence Awards 2013. 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. The awards are classified into different types to encompass faculty members who are in different stages of their academic life. The School currently has about 160 faculty members across its six departments.
The Distinguished Research Excellence Award honors a distinguished faculty member with exceptional research achievements and significant local and global impact. It is its most prestigious research award. The Research Excellence Award recognizes the efforts of an outstanding faculty member with a proven record of research excellence.
The recipients of this year's awards are as follows:
Distinguished Research Excellence Award
Prof Chung-Yee Lee,
Chair Professor of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management
Cheong Ying Chan Professor of Engineering
Prof Lee has gained remarkable achievements in the industrial engineering profession. He served as Department Head from 2001 to 2008, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers in U.S. and Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. His research contributions include production scheduling and semiconductor manufacturing, business process management, and logistics management. Other significant accomplishments include the first global shop floor scheduling system for the semiconductor industry and cross border research. According to an article in International Journal of Production Economics which looked at all papers published in 20 core journals during the last 50 years in the field of production and operations management, Prof Lee was ranked No.6 among all researchers worldwide in h-index and No.9 in the total number of publications.
Research Excellence Awards
Prof Irene M C Lo,
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Prof Lo is renowned for her research studies on zero-valent iron (ZVI), especially its application on permeable reactive barrier (PRB) technology. She worked with Danish EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and successfully cleaned up the chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater in Vapokon site, Denmark in 2000. In 2006, Prof Lo extended her PRB research study to tackle groundwater pollution by toxic anionic pollutions (such as chromium and arsenic). This research has led to many publications in top journals (e.g. ES&T and Water Research) and several international prestigious awards, i.e. 2006 ASCE Samuel Arnold Greeley Award, 2008 & 2012 ASCE Best Practice-Oriented Paper Award. She is also well-known in the field of soil and sediment decontamination and received two Best Paper Awards from International Conferences in 2003 and 2005. Prof Lo has been involved in the bioremediation of sediment for Kai Tak Development and sediment washing for Shenzhen River decontamination.
Prof Dimitris Papadias,
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
Prof Papadias has made significant contributions in spatial and spatio-temporal databases. His work covers indexing schemes, processing algorithms, spatio-temporal data warehouses, and introduction of novel query types, etc. He has successfully applied techniques from spatial databases to other domains, most notably skylines, and produced very influential results. His successful research contributions are evident in his top publication records, his citations and his prominent role in the database community, including the program chair of SIGMOD 2013 (the premier conference for dissemination of important novel results).
HKUST Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief said, "Our faculty members' research excellence is an invaluable asset to the engineering community and sharpens the competitive edge of our School. These awards, in recognition of the faculty members' dedication and research achievements, celebrate success and showcase best practices in engineering research. We strongly believe that these exemplary achievements would help stimulate and inspire minds and further develop ourselves into new heights."
Selection criteria included research output, originality and innovativeness; impact of research outputs on society, industry and the relevant engineering disciplines; research training provided to students; and their leadership role in collaboration 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 major engineering schools in the world. In 2012/13, the prominence of the School has seen HKUST ranked No. 1 in Greater China in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in Engineering and Technology. The School proactively takes a multidisciplinary and theme-based approach in research to find innovative solutions to tackle global challenges.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Diana Liu ( School of Engineering)
Tel: 2358 8982 / 6087 4897
Email: egdiana@ust.hk
