Three SENG Faculty Members Appointed to Named Professorships
Three SENG Faculty Members Appointed to Named Professorships
Three of the School of Engineering’s leading academics have recently been awarded the prestigious named professorships in HKUST’s Named Professorship Program, which honors eminent faculty and recognizes donor supporters of the University. A total of eight professorships were conferred at the third inauguration ceremony of named professorships held on March 9.
Officiating at the inauguration ceremony, President Prof Tony F Chan said, “I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to the donors for their generosity and support in establishing the named professorships. By giving due recognition to our exceptional faculty, the named professorship appointments help HKUST to recruit distinguished talents from around the world and to continue its unrelenting quest for excellence and innovation in education and research for the good of the University and the community.”
Prof Chan congratulated the appointed faculty and said, “The named professors all excel in a diverse range of disciplines encompassing science, engineering, business, social science and others. Their drive for excellence in teaching and research will set an inspiring example to students and assist HKUST to fortify its position as a world-class research university. HKUST will continue to garner support from the society with an aim of enhancing its strengths in fulfilling its mission.”
The professorships were made possible by donations given to HKUST from eight long-standing contributors to higher education. The three engineering-related ones are: Crown Worldwide Group, Fang Brothers Group and Tencent Charity Foundation Limited.
Among the officiating guests at the inauguration ceremony were HKUST Council Vice-Chairman Prof John Chai Yat-Chiu, President Prof Tony F Chan and other senior management. Donors, corporate sponsors and their representatives were also present at the ceremony. The engineering-related ones are: Mr Reagan Dou, Dr Kenneth Fang and Dr James E Thompson.
The appointed professors from the School of Engineering are:
Prof Guillermo Gallego, Crown Worldwide Professor of Engineering
Chair Professor and Head, Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management
Prof Gallego moved to Hong Kong in January 2016 as Head of Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management at HKUST. Prof Gallego aims to invigorate the undergraduate program to have a stronger core and to allow students more flexibility to specialize on a variety of domain specific topics. Another objective is to foster collaboration with companies in Hong Kong, Mainland China and other parts of Asia. Prof Gallego is an INFORMS Fellow, an MSOM Fellow, and has been the recipient of many awards including the INFORMS Revenue Management Section Prize, the Revenue Management Historical Prize and the Revenue Management Practice Prize.
Prof Kei May Lau, Fang Professor of Engineering
Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Prof Lau’s field of expertise is in semiconductor devices such as LEDs, transistors and lasers. Her research is primarily experimental in nature involving exploration of novel materials and nano-structures for device and system integration. Among her most notable work is the incorporation of compound semiconductor devices on the mature silicon platform, to enable the realization of electronic and photonic integrated circuits for energy-efficient high-performance systems. Prof Lau was born and raised in Hong Kong, going to the US to study for her bachelor and master’s degrees in physics, at the University of Minnesota; her PhD in electrical engineering, is from Rice University.
Prof Qian Zhang, Tencent Professor of Engineering
Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
On joining HKUST in 2005, Prof Zhang first worked on cognitive radio networks and the concept of dynamic spectrum access and management. However, always eager to develop new ideas, she moved away from the “crowded” cognitive networks research field and is now building a remote digital healthcare monitoring program. Prof Zhang received her BSc, MS and PhD, all in computer science, from Wuhan University, China. She is an IEEE Fellow, and the co-director and founder of the Huawei-HKUST Innovation Lab, and is the inventor of about 30 international patents.
With three newly appointed named professors, there are currently eight named professors at School of Engineering. The five existing named professors are:
Prof Hoi-Sing Kwok, Dr William M W Mong Professor of Nanotechnology
Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Prof Chung-Yee Lee, Cheong Ying Chan Professor of Engineering
Chair Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management
Prof Qiang Yang, New Bright Professor of Engineering
Chair Professor and Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Prof Xin Zhang, Swire Professor of Aerospace Engineering
Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Prof Matthew McKay, Hari Harilela Associate Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Associate Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
These professorships were created with generous donation from Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund, Stephen Kam Chuen Cheong Education Fund, Wong Check She Charitable Foundation, The Swire Group Charitable Trust, and Dr Hari & Mrs Padma Harilela respectively.
Related link: