HKUST Civil Engineers Became First All-Hong-Kong-Member Teams to Receive Two Geotechnical Best Paper Awards

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Significant Contribution to Advancement of Geotechnical Field

HKUST Civil Engineers Became First All-Hong-Kong-Member Teams to Receive Two Geotechnical Best Paper Awards

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Two papers by professors and PhD students in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and their collaborators from the Hong Kong Government were honored by best paper awards of leading international geotechnical journals. This marks the first time the awards were given to teams with members all from Hong Kong.

The paper titled “Large-Scale Successive Boulder Impacts on a Rigid Barrier Shielded by Gabions” received the Prix R M Quigley Award (Honorable Mention) by Canadian Geotechnical Society. The authors are CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability Prof Charles W W Ng, Chair Professor and HKUST Associate Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof Clarence Edward Choi, Research Assistant Professor, PhD student Andy Yuchen Su, and collaborators from the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) of the Hong Kong SAR Government. The paper was rated the second best out of 296 peer-reviewed papers in 2016 in Canadian Geotechnical Journal, a top three international geotechnical journal that has been published since 1963. The award recognizes considerable contributions and achievements to the advancement of the geotechnical field. Prof Ng is the third-time recipient of this award and had gained it previously in 2013 and 2008. This is the first time that a team with members all from Hong Kong won this annual award since it was established in 1973.

Another paper titled “Coarse Granular Flow Interaction with Slit Structures” received the Telford Premium Award 2017 presented by the Institution of Civil Engineers, UK. The authors are Prof Charles W W Ng, Prof Clarence Edward Choi, PhD students Saoirse Robin Goodwin and Desmond Ka Ho Cheung, as well as collaborators from CEDD of the Hong Kong government. This is the first time that the award was given to a Greater China team with members all from Hong Kong.

Their paper was the best paper in 2016 in Géotechnique Letters, a top five geotechnical journal worldwide. The award recognizes authors from both industry and academia who have produced work of exceptional quality and benefits civil engineering, construction and materials science.

About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university that focuses on science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science.  HKUST offers an international campus, and a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy to nurture well-rounded graduates with global vision, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking.  HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the Research Assessment Exercise 2014 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, and is ranked as the world’s best young university in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2019.  Its graduates were ranked 16th worldwide and top in Greater China in Global University Employability Survey 2018.