(From left) Professor Ben Young, Professor Norman Tien, Dr Anderson Shum and Professor Zhang Tong.
The HKU Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2017 was held on Monday, March 26, 2018, at Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU. Former Dean of Engineering Professor Norman Tien, family and friends attended the ceremony to share the joy with Professor Ben Young and Professor Zhang Tong of the Department of Civil Engineering and Dr Anderson Shum of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Congratulations to the colleagues for their outstanding achievements in research!
Outstanding Researcher Award: Professor Ben Young, Department of Civil Engineering
HKU Acting President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul K.H. Tam (left) presents the Outstanding Researcher Award to Professor Ben Young.
Professor Ben Young received his BSc, BEng and PhD degrees from the University of Sydney, Australia in 1991, 1993 and 1998, respectively. He is a Professor of Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Hong Kong. He is currently the Master of the Graduate House and also an Associate Dean of the Graduate School.
Professor Young’s research interests include cold-formed steel structures, testing and design of steel structures, stainless steel structures, aluminum structures, structural stability, fire resistance of metal structures and engineering education. He is currently an editor of the Journal of Constructional Steel Research (Elsevier) and serves as an editorial board member for ten other journals. He has published over 400 international journal and conference papers. Professor Young was one of the code writers for the “Hong Kong Code of Practice for the Structural Use of Steel” for the Buildings Department of the HKSAR Government. He is the Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institute of Steel Construction and also a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Professor Young received the Michael G Gale Medal for Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004 from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Furthermore, from HKU he received the Best Teacher Award in 2006, Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2006, Outstanding Teacher Award in 2008, and Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award in 2015. Professor Young also received the Best Research Paper Award given by Structures (Elsevier) in 2016.
Professor Young believes that innovation in research is essential to solve difficult problems with simple solutions.
Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award: Professor Zhang Tong, Department of Civil Engineering
HKU Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Andy Hor (left) presents the Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award to Professor Zhang Tong.
Professor Zhang Tong earned his BSc and MPhil degrees from Nanjing University in 1990 and 1993, respectively, and his PhD degree from the University of Hong Kong in 2001. Since September 2001, he has been working in the Department of Civil Engineering at HKU, where he is now a Professor. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor of the Southern University of Science and Technology, China, and an Honorary Professor at the School of Public Health of HKU.
Professor Zhang’s main research fields include environmental bioinformatics, omics technologies, anaerobic digestion and bioenergy from waste / wastewater, biological wastewater treatment, biodegradation of emerging pollutants, and antibiotic resistance genes. His research on these topics has produced over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications, with more than 11,400 citations. He has an h-index of 60 and has been in the top 1% researchers (Clarivate Analytics) for the past nine years (2009 to 2017). He is an associate editor of Microbiome and Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, and an editorial board member of a few international peer-reviewed journals. He was Yi Xing Chair Professor of Nanjing University (his alma mater) from 2013 to 2016. Professor Zhang won a Second-Class State Natural Science Award from the China State Council in 2016, as well as a First-Class Natural Science Award from the China Ministry of Education in 2015.
Professor Zhang believes the most important activity of a postgraduate supervisor is to mentor students to identify their strengths and develop their own independent thoughts and ideas. Four of his 17 PhD graduates won HKU Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student Awards in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015, respectively.
Outstanding Young Researcher Award and Research Output Prize: Dr Anderson Shum Ho Cheung, Department of Mechanical Engineering
HKU Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Andy Hor (left) presents the Outstanding Young Researcher Award to Dr Anderson Shum. Dr Shum’s family shares his joy on the stage.
Dr Anderson Shum received his BSE degree in Chemical Engineering (summa cum laude) from Princeton University and his SM and PhD degrees in Applied Physics from Harvard University. He joined the University of Hong Kong in 2010 and is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the Medical Engineering Programme.
Dr Shum’s research interests include emulsions, microfluidics, emulsion-templated materials and soft matter. In particular, he focuses on the manipulation of fluids in micro-scaled devices to form droplets, which can be used as tiny containers of bio-active molecules for biomedical applications, and as building blocks for the fabrication of soft biomimetic materials. Specifically, his team his pioneered a new type of all-aqueous droplets with superior compatibility to biomolecules and cells through the removal of oils. These droplets have demonstrated promise in mimicking biological cells and in generating microcapsules with cell-like delivery properties, with potential in the encapsulation and release of active ingredients in biomedicine, food and cosmetics. Dr Shum received the Early Career Award from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong in 2012.
Standing at the interface of different disciplines opens researchers’ eyes to new possibilities to advance technology. Dr Shum believes that the full potential of the work on microfluidics and soft matters can only be realised through multidisciplinary collaborations, as evident by this award, which has been made possible by the joint efforts of many students, postdocs and collaborators from different research areas and regions.