HKUST Annual Report 2016-17

51 In line with its commitment to serving the local community, IPO joined hands with The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups to launch again the “Innovating Today, Imagining Tomorrow” Mentorship Program in 2016-17. Through interdisciplinary activities and mentoring sessions with faculty, the program aims to broaden local high school students’ horizons, and inspire them to unleash their potential and pursue personal goals. STRIVING TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE The Institute of Environment was funded a five-year project named “Personalized Real-time Air-quality Informatics System for Exposure (PRAISE-HK)” by the HSBC 150th Anniversary Charity Program. By combining state-of-the-art sensors technologies, air quality modelling system, big data, exposure science and more, PRAISE-HK provides personalized and location specific real-time air pollution data and health analysis to Hong Kong citizens. Based on the system data, users can plan cleaner routes and activities for the day, thereby effectively reduce exposure of polluted air and hence the health risks. The cross-disciplinary “Early Childhood Intervention Project”, led by Prof Xiaogang Wu, Division of Social Science, Faculty Associate of the Institute of Public Policy and Prof Pauline Sung- Chan, Adjunct Associate Professor of the Institute of Public Policy examined the effectiveness of internet-based intervention to promote the developmental outcomes of young children living in poverty. Prof Fei Sun, Division of Biomedical Engineering, and his research team successfully created photo-responsive hydrogels capable of controlled release of stem cells/proteins through covalently assembling recombinant proteins under mild physiological conditions. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , point to a versatile strategy for designing “smart” materials and open up opportunities for material biology and medical applications in the future.