Chair Professor ZHANG Tong, Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science & Engineering, and Professor CHEN Lei, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, have been elected Fellows of the prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the class of 2020, bringing the total number of IEEE Fellows among School of Engineering faculty members to 41.

Prof. Zhang was recognized by IEEE for his contributions to machine learning algorithms. His research interests include machine learning algorithms and theory, statistical methods for big data and their applications. Before joining the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2019, he was a professor at Rutgers University in the US, and worked at IBM, Yahoo, Baidu, and Tencent. He is a Fellow of American Statistical Association and Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and has served on the editorial boards of leading machine learning journals and program committees of top machine learning conferences.

Prof. Chen was recognized by IEEE for his contributions to time series management and spatial crowdsourcing. His research focuses encompass data-driven machine learning, crowdsourcing-based data processing, and uncertain and probabilistic databases. He joined HKUST in 2005 after receiving his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is an ACM Distinguished Scientist and is the Director of the HKUST Big Data Institute and HKUST-Xunlei Joint Laboratory on Blockchain Technology.

In addition, two alumni were named 2020 IEEE Fellows. Dr. ZHANG Xiaowu (1999 PhD in Mechanical Engineering) was elected for his contributions to three-dimensional integrated circuits. Currently, he is a senior scientist and principal investigator at the Interconnection & Packaging Program, Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR, Singapore. Prof. ZHANG Yingjun (2004 PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering) was recognized for her contributions to resource allocation and optimization in wireless communications. She is now an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The IEEE grade of Fellow is conferred upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. It is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement. IEEE members total over 419,000 in more than 160 countries. The number of fellowship recipients each year does not exceed 0.1% of the total voting IEEE membership.

Related links:

• Departmental news of Prof. Zhang Tong, Prof. Chen Lei, Dr. Zhang Xiaowu, and Prof. Zhang Yingjun