HKUST Annual Report 2018-19

19 HKUST FROM FUNDING TO NEW KNOWLEDGE HKUST’s external research funding took a major step forward, reaching a cumulative $834.9 million for 1,125 projects in 2018-19, as new funding schemes under the University Grants Committee and Hong Kong government came on stream. Major support of $169.7 million was provided by Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council (RGC) for 227 new projects. The University’s success rates for proposals to RGC’s General Research Fund and Early Career Scheme stood at 47% and 59% respectively in 2018-19. HKUST remained the top performer for its General Research Fund success rate among local institutions. The University received several prestigious RGC funding awards for multidisciplinary projects tackling key community and global issues. A project to create an extreme weather prediction and landslide early warning system using artificial intelligence received $91.85 million under the Areas of Excellence Scheme. The endeavor is led by Prof. Charles NG (Civil and Environmental Engineering). Prof. Nancy IP (Life Science) was granted $37.97 million under the Theme-based Research Scheme to conduct Alzheimer’s disease-related studies that seek to identify novel drug targets using stem cell and genome- editing technologies. Prof. TAM Kar-Yan (Information Systems, Business Statistic andOperationsManagement) and his fintech development strategy project became the first to receive funding under the Theme-Based Research Scheme’s theme of “Enhancing Hong Kong’s Strategic Position as a Regional and International Business Center” in the three most recent rounds. The project, involving a high-flying team of business and computer systems academics, was granted $20.66 million. Further support came from the Collaborative Research Fund, with Prof. Jensen LI (Physics) granted $7.28 million to look into manipulation of wave propagation in optical and acoustic systems while Prof. CHEN Lei (Computer Science and Engineering) was awarded $3.72 million to develop a human-powered machine learning system to assist medical diagnoses, and other applications. Four HKUST-led proposals received a total of $30.28 million under the RGC’s Research Impact Fund, introduced in 2018-19. With such funding support, Prof. CHEN Jing (Electronic and Computer Engineering) will establish a center for research on wide-bandgap semiconductor power electronics; Prof. YU Jianzhen (Chemistry) is seeking to identify the sources of airborne particulate matter pollution in real time; Prof. SHENG Ping (Physics) is developing broadband absorbers for microwaves and ultralow frequency mechanical waves; and Prof. Henry YAN He (Chemistry) is looking at how to improve organic photovoltaic systems and make them commercially viable. Separately, the Environment and Conservation Fundawarded$1.68milliontoProf.NINGZhi(Environment and Sustainability) to investigate diesel vehicle fleet emissions on the road and evaluate emission control policy effectiveness over a two-year period. In 2018-19, the University submitted 126 research proposals to the Hong Kong government’s Innovation and Technology Fund, with 36 being funded for a total of $158 million. Among these projects, Prof. Jack CHENG (Civil and Environmental Engineering) secured $10 million to develop a system that can automatically generate building information models based on unmanned aerial vehicle and indoor 3D laser scanning technologies; Prof. QU Huamin (Computer Science and Engineering, Electronic and Computer Engineering) received a similar amount to explore e-learning data analytics, and an open-learning design and visualization framework; and Prof. YEUNG Dit-Yan (Computer Science and Engineering) was granted $8.75 million to generate a personalized e-learning platform suitable for all ages. Beyond Hong Kong, Prof. Patrick YUE (Electronic and Computer Engineering) became the first HKUST faculty member to successfully compete for state fundingwithout applying through a mainland body. This followed the directive from the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Finance in May 2018, allowing Hong Kong universities and research institutes to apply for earmarked research funds from Mainland China for research in Hong Kong. Prof. Yue’s project on optoelectronic interconnect technology received RMB4.5 million from Guangdong Province’s Department of Science and Technology. Prof. ZHANG Mingjie (Life Science) was awarded a three- year grant of US$350,000 per year under the International Human Frontier Science Program for leading-edge research into molecular mechanisms of receptor trafficking and retention at neuronal synapses. The program is based in France and supported by 13 countries and the EuropeanUnion. Out of more than 650 preliminary applications, just 25 were eventually funded (less than 4%). Prof. Zhang will work with scientists from Kyoto University in Japan and Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany in carrying out the project. The University actively extended funding, infrastructure support, and knowledge transfer to industry and the wider community for its world-class research