Year In Review 2022

It's almost the end of 2022! Let's look back to all the highlighted events at IPO throughout the year! 

• T&M-DDP Students Awarded with Championship at Hong Kong Techathon 2022

Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management (T&M-DDP) Class of 2021 graduate, Log G CHENG and Class of 2022 graduate, Laurence NG were awarded with the championship in AI & FinTech theme at Hong Kong Techathon 2022.

Teaming up with Rex YU, a Year 2 Student in Sustainable Energy Engineering, Log G and Laurence have designed a product named “READily”, using A.I. technology to generate English comprehension questions from any selected passages. Their product aims at resolving challenges that private tutors may face during the process of exercise generation. Tutors can generate tailored exercises with READily according to students’ ability and interest.

To Read More: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/tm-ddp-students-awarded-championship-hong-kong-techathon-2022

• EVMT Sustainability Game Workshop for High School Students

Selected high school students were invited to join a half-day Sustainability Game Workshop held by Environmental Management and Technology (EVMT) on 8 July 2022. Led by Prof. Arthur LAU, Program Director of EVMT, participants worked in groups to address the waste issues such as food waste, product wastage, overwashing and overpackaging with a sustainable design framework. In the sustainable product design challenge, participants needed to brainstorm as many ways as possible about how their product design fit into a circular economy model.

To Read More: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/evmt-sustainability-game-workshop

• Joint Government and Academia efforts to Study and Develop Science-based Regional Ozone and Photochemical Smog Control Strategies

HKUST’s Institute for the Environment (IENV) and the HKSAR Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD) jointly held a press conference on 19 Sep 2022 to introduce the large-scale collaboration efforts to study and develop science-based regional ozone and photochemical smog control strategies led by the HKEPD and conducted by atmospheric research teams from HKUST, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). This research collaboration effort also involves numerous international experts and atmospheric research teams including those in Guangdong and Macao.

To Read More: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/joint-government-and-academia-efforts-study-and-develop-science-based-regional

• HKUST Develops New Smart Anti-Microbial Coating with Long Term Protection against Omicron

Researchers at HKUST have developed a new multi-level anti-microbial polymer coating effective in killing a wide range of bacteria, hard-to-kill spores, as well as inactivating 99.9 per cent of highly-infectious viruses – including the Omicron variant which has caused a tsunami of Covid-19 cases around the globe in recent months.

Invented by a team led by Prof. YEUNG King-Lun, Professor at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Division of Environment and Sustainability at HKUST, MAP-∞ is an upgraded version of MAP-1, one of the first lasting anti-microbial coatings co-developed and commercialized with the Chiaphua Industries Limited (CIL) against the coronavirus at the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. The original coating, initially effective for up to three months and eventually six months after each application, was quickly adopted by a wide range of facilities including hospitals, clinics, care homes, schools, public transports, shopping malls, restaurants, public venue in Hong Kong and abroad. It was also applied to the sportswear and gear of the Hong Kong Olympic athletes during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

To Read More: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/hkust-develops-new-smart-anti-microbial-coating-long-term-protection-against

• Prof. Naubahar SHARIF Received HK$2 Million Funding to Conduct a Mental Health Project Targeting Hong Kong’s Ethnic Minority Communities

Prof. Naubahar SHARIF, Acting Head and Professor of the Division of Public Policy (PPOL), has successfully obtained HK$2 million worth of funding from the HKSAR Government’s Mental Health Initiatives Funding Scheme for the 24-month project entitled “Preparing and Deploying Ethnic Minority Lay Leaders to Promote Mental Well-Being Among Hong Kong’s Major Ethnic Minority Communities”.

This project will be among the first to address mental health challenges faced by Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities, as well as pioneer the "lay-leader" model in promoting awareness regarding mental health issues among often-overlooked ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.

To Read More: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/prof-naubahar-sharif-received-hk2-million-funding-conduct-mental-health

• MPP students won the second prize in the 2022 Tsinghua International Case Analysis Competition of Public Policy on Sustainable Development Goals

On August 20, 2022, a team of four Master of Public Policy (MPP) students, including Bangyuan AN, Hanz Charles PONCE ACOSTA, Yijie ZHANG, and Yuqi LIU, won the second prize in the 2022 Tsinghua International Case Analysis Competition of Public Policy on Sustainable Development Goals. The title of the award-winning case analysis report was “Salient Altar of Saline Alkali Land: Lessons from the Development of Agricultural Technology in Saline Alkali Land in the Yellow River Delta” . Prof. Masaru YARIME and Prof. Xiaofan ZHAO were the advisors for this team.

To Read More: https://ppol.hkust.edu.hk/news/mpp-students-won-second-prize-2022-tsinghua-international-case-analysis-competition-public

• Nathan XU of Individualized Interdisciplinary Program Won Second Place in IEEE SusTech 2022 Student Poster Contest

Nathan Nan XU, PhD Candidate from Individualized Interdisciplinary Program, won the Second Place together with his team at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech) Conference Student Poster Contest held on 21 April 2022. A total of eleven posters were presented online. The research topic they presented was “Smart Tracking Tray System for A Smart and Sustainable Wet Lab Community”, which is part of the HKUST Sustainable Smart Campus (SSC) As Living Lab project outcome.

To Read More: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/nathan-xu-individualized-interdisciplinary-program-won-second-place-ieee

• HK01 Interview: Learning Without Boundaries – Watch the Video Interview about IPO Programs

Watch the video interview by HK01 about IPO programs, where Prof. Keith CHAN, Assistant Professor of Division of Environment and Sustainability (ENVR), as an alumnus of Environmental Management and Technology Program (EVMT), will introduce EVMT and Sustainable and Green Finance Program (SGFN). Irene CHEUNG, a Year 3 student studying Individualized Interdisciplinary Major (IIM) and Calvin TUNG, a Year 5 student studying Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management (T&M-DDP), will share their first-hand fruitful experience studying interdisciplinary programs.

Watch the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqnuYgXtp5Y

• Prof. Jimmy FUNG and Prof. Zhe WANG were Honored in the 4th HKUST Faculty Recognition Ceremony 2022

Prof. Jimmy FUNG, Chair Professor, and Prof. Zhe WANG, Assistant Professor, from the Division of Environment and Sustainability (ENVR)were honored in the 4th HKUST Faculty Recognition Ceremony on 7 December 2022.

Prof. Jimmy FUNG is commended for receiving the George Stephenson Medal (Second Best Paper Overall) in the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Publishing Awards 2020 and Prof. Zhe WANG is recognized by being named 2021 Excellent Young Scientist by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. IPO would like to extend our congratulations to their outstanding achievements in research.

To read more: https://vprd.hkust.edu.hk/files/events/4th%20HKUST%20Faculty%20Recognition%20Ceremony_Honorees.pdf

• HKUST CARE 2022 Creates an Opportunity of Stocktaking Policy and Measures on Hong Kong’s Climate Adaptation and Resilience

Government officials, business executives, financiers, investors, technologists, and climate action practitioners discussed Hong Kong’s adaptation and resilience planning in the face of climate change with scholars of HKUST at the University’s three-day Climate Adaptation and Resilience Conference (CARE2022) which was kickstarted on 10 December, 2022 and attended by about 1,000 participants.

Prof. Guo Yike, Provost of HKUST, said at the welcome remarks that HKUST has been committed to developing sustainability solutions for society.  “Research on severe weather is a major part of our work in this area. Our scholars, with a wide spectrum of expertise, have been putting efforts in many areas,” he said. “By collaborating with governments and other stakeholders, we strive to contribute at the policy level and help build a cleaner and safer environment for people locally, regionally, and globally.”

To read more: https://ais.hkust.edu.hk/whats-happening/news/hkust-care-2022-creates-opportunity-stocktaking-policy-and-measures-hong-kongs