Succeeding Prof Khaled Ben Letaief as the Dean of Engineering, Prof Tongxi Yu has been appointed as Acting Dean of Engineering, with effect from 14 September 2015.

Currently Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Prof Yu has been with HKUST for 15 years before retirement in 2010. In 2012, he was invited back to serve in the capacity of Senior Advisor to the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies to help lead the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and develop Professional Development Courses on research ethics and integrity. Before retirement, Tongxi was the Founding Dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School with concurrent appointment as Associate Vice-President for Research and Development (Mainland Programmes) from 2007 to 2010. He served as Associate Dean of Engineering in 1998-2000, and as Acting Dean of Engineering for about 4 months in 2000 between the deanships of Prof Ping K Ko and Prof Kang L Wang. He was also the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering from 2002 to 2007 and was awarded the Chair Professor title in 2005.