Two engineering faculty members were recently elected as 2020 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) in the United Kingdom in recognition of their outstanding and continuing contributions to the profession.

CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability and Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Prof. Charles NG Wang-Wai, who also serves as the Dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School, was named a Fellow. Prof. HUI Pan, Computer Science and Engineering, was named an International Fellow.

They are among the 53 leading engineers from the UK and around the world elected this year. The new Fellows will add their expertise to a fellowship of almost 1,600 eminent engineers from both industry and academia. They join the academy on a mission to use the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and create an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

RAEng President Sir Jim MCDONALD said: “As the UK’s National Academy for engineering and technology, we bring together an unrivalled community of leading business people and industrialists, entrepreneurs, innovators and academics from every part of engineering and technology.

“The new Fellows are among the most talented and successful engineers working in the field today, leaders in areas from transport and our essential data infrastructure to lifesaving developments in medical research. We look forward to working with them and benefiting from their ideas and insight as we strive to inform public debate and provide workable solutions to our shared national and global challenges.”

Prof. Charles Ng Wang-Wai’s citation (from the RAEng website)

Elected President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in 2017, Prof. Charles Ng is a civil engineer with expertise in the interaction of soils and structures. An authority on unsaturated soils, and on landslide risk mitigation, he has been an associate editor of Canadian Geotechnical Journal and Landslides since 2002 and 2003, respectively.

He collaborated with botanists to define the benefit of ‘greening’ slopes in the Far East, using plant roots both as reinforcement and to maintain helpful suction. He leads a multi-disciplinary team aiming to reduce the threat of landslides and fast debris flows using novel multiple flexible barrier systems, enhancing safety and improving the environment.

Prof. Hui Pan’s citation (from the RAEng website)

Prof. Pan Hui has made significant contributions to multiple aspects of the field of mobile computing and communications. The work spans a wide spectrum from foundational work on mobility characterization and networking approaches, to the design and development of software systems, to conceptualization and engineering of innovative applications. The work is documented in around 300 research papers that have received over 16,000 citations according to Google Scholar.

His innovative work has resulted in 28 published European and US patents and four patents under submission. All his patents have been transferred or licensed to companies (e.g. Deutsche Telekom, AT&T, and China Mobile). Overall, Prof. Hui’s extensive body of work is extremely impressive and has inspired numerous examples of follow on work by leading researchers in the field.

Related links:

• Academy welcomes 53 leading UK and international engineers as new Fellows (Sept 22, 2020)
• Biography of Prof. Charles Ng Wang-Wai
• Biography of Prof. Hui Pan