Fourteen HKUST Scholars Ranked among World’s Top 10

Over 200 HKUST Scholars Named among World’s Top 2% Scientists 2025

Over 200 HKUST Scholars Named among the World’s Top 2% Scientists 2025. Fourteen HKUST scholars were ranked among the top 10 in the world in their sub-fields for both single-year and career-long impact.
Over 200 HKUST Scholars Named among the World’s Top 2% Scientists 2025. Fourteen HKUST scholars were ranked among the top 10 in the world in their sub-fields for both single-year and career-long impact. [Download Photo]

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has achieved remarkable success in Stanford University’s latest World’s Top 2% Scientists 2025 list. A total of 204 scholars were recognized for their single-year impact, while 181 were acknowledged for their career-long impact, marking increases of 15% and 7%, respectively, compared to last year. These achievements underscore HKUST’s significant academic and research prowess as a global top 50 university, dedicated to making an internationally recognized impact.

Fourteen HKUST scholars were ranked among the top 10 in the world in their sub-fields for both single-year and career-long impact, including (ordered by Single-year Impact Rank):

HKUST Scholar Single-year Impact Rank Career-long Impact Rank Sub-field
Prof. Charles NG Wang-Wai

  • Vice-President for Institutional Advancement
  • CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability
  • Chair Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 1 2 Geological and Geomatics Engineering

Civil Engineering
Prof. DING Cunsheng

  • Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
 1 2 Networking & Telecommunications

Computation Theory & Mathematics
Prof. XIE Yuan

  • Fang Professor of Engineering
  • Chair Professor of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
 1 5 Computer Hardware & Architecture

Design Practice & Management
Prof. YANG Hai

  • Chair Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 2 2 Logistics & Transportation

Operations Research
Prof. David LAM Chuen-Chun

  • Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
 3 3 Materials

Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Prof. CHEN Ying-Ju

  • Crown Worldwide Professor of Business
  • Chair Professor, Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management and Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics
 4 7 Operations Research

Marketing
Prof. XU Kun

  • Stephen Kam Chuen Cheong Professor of Science
  • Head and Chair Professor, Department of Mathematics
  • Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
 5 6 Applied Mathematics

Aerospace & Aeronautics
Prof. James THONG Yeong-Liang

  • Michael Jebsen Professor of Business
  • Acting Head and Chair Professor, Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management
 6 6 Information Systems

Operations Research
Prof. Khaled BEN LETAIEF

  • New Bright Professor of Engineering
  • Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
 6 8 Networking & Telecommunications

Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Prof. Lionel NI Ming-Shuan

  • Founding President, HKUST (Guangzhou)
  • Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
 8 6 Networking & Telecommunications

Distributed Computing
Prof. CHANG Chih-Chen

  • Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 8 7 Civil Engineering

Optoelectronics & Photonics
Prof. ZHANG Fumin

  • Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  • Chair Professor, Department of Ocean Science
  • Director, Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute
 9 8 Industrial Engineering & Automation

Oceanography
Prof. CAI Yongshun

  • Head and Chair Professor, Division of Social Science
  • Associate Director of Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics & Operations Management
 10 8 Cultural Studies

International Relations
Prof. Tim CHENG Kwang-Ting

  • Vice-President for Research and Development
  • Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and Department of Computer Science and Engineering
  • Director of AI Chip Center for Emerging Smart Systems
 10 9 Computer Hardware & Architecture

Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing

 

In the career-long impact list, HKUST scholars span 46 sub-fields in the top 2%. Furthermore, the University leads in Hong Kong as the only institution with top-100 scholars in the sub-fields of “Networking and Telecommunications”, “Aerospace & Aeronautics”, and “Computer Hardware and Architecture”.

In the latest single-year impact ranking, HKUST excelled in 49 sub-fields, with scholars ranked in the top 2% globally. The University leads among Hong Kong’s eight UGC-funded universities in the number of top 2% scientists for single-year impact in the fields of “Information and Communication Technologies” and “Physics and Astronomy”.

HKUST will celebrate its 35th anniversary next year, marking a significant milestone. Looking ahead, the University remains committed to fostering innovative education, research excellence, and impactful knowledge transfer. HKUST will continue to strengthen collaboration among government, industry, academia, research, and investment sectors, reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as an international innovation and technology center, contributing to the high-quality development of the nation.

The World’s Top 2% Scientists list, compiled by a research team at Stanford University, identifies over 100,000 leading scientists worldwide across 22 disciplines and 174 sub-fields. The list is based on a composite of indicators, including total citations, citations of single-authored works, the H-index, and adjustments of co-authorship. It features two categories: one for career-long impact (1960–2024) and another for single-year impact (2024), recognizing both lifelong scholarly achievements and recent research excellence.
 

About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (https://hkust.edu.hk/) is a world-class university known for its innovative education, research excellence, and impactful knowledge transfer. With a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy approach, HKUST was ranked 6th in the QS Asia University Rankings 2026, 3rd in the Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2024, and 19th globally and 1st in Hong Kong in the Times Higher Education’s Impact Rankings 2025. Thirteen HKUST subjects were ranked among the world’s top 50 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025, with “Data Science and Artificial Intelligence” coming in 17th worldwide and first in Hong Kong. Our graduates are highly competitive, consistently ranking among the world’s top 30 most sought-after employees. In terms of research and entrepreneurship, over 80% of our work was rated “internationally excellent” or “world leading” in the Research Assessment Exercise 2020 of the Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee. As of July 2025, HKUST members have founded over 1,900 active start-ups, including 10 Unicorns and 17 exits (IPO or M&A).

(This news was originally published by the HKUST Global Engagement and Communications Office here.)

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