HKUST Annual Report 2018-19

20 ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 Lab to Market EXCELLENCE RECOGNIZED Engineering faculty received three Natural Science (second class) honors in the 2018 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science and Technology) from the Ministry of Education. The accolades went to Prof. GAO Furong (Chemical and Biological Engineering) for robust batch control; Prof. Vincent LAU (Electronic and Computer Engineering) for 5G+ wireless networks; and Prof. Lionel NI (Computer Science and Engineering) for device-freewireless sensing. Locally, Prof. CHEN Guanghao (Civil and Environmental Engineering) and his teamwon a Gold Award at the 2018 HongKongGreenInnovationsAwardsand, internationally, the Chen research team became the first in Asia to collect the bronze award at the 2018 International Water Association (IWA) Project Innovation Awards in the category of breakthroughs in research and development. Both awards recognized the novel SANI sewage management process. Prof. WEN Zilong (Life Science) received a prestigious Croucher Senior Fellowship Award to study the origins of microglia – immune response-related cells associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Among younger researchers, Prof. CHEN Qifeng (Computer Science and Engineering, Electronic and Computer Engineering) was named one of “35 Innovators under 35” in China in 2018 by MIT Technology Review for his breakthroughs on image decomposition and synthesis, and optical flow algorithms, which could lead to films using computer vision technology alone. PARTNERSHIPS TO ADVANCE BREAKTHROUGHS It was a rewarding year for the formation of research institutes, centers and laboratories in fields related to HKUST’s areas of focus. These encompassed three research institutes and centers focused on smart cities, intelligent autonomous driving, and big data for bio intelligence, and eight joint laboratories with mainland industry and institutions (see also P37). Centers related to artificial intelligence (AI) included Hong Kong’s first university cross-disciplinary AI unit to look broadly across fields at the implications of the associated technologies and a unit focused on the integration of robotic and automationtechnologies intothebuildingandconstruction life cycle. A further center, launched in partnership with scientists from Harvard, Stanford, and University College London, is seeking to propel forward understanding and identify new drug candidates to tackle neurodegenerative diseases. In line with HKUST’s focus on sustainability, a joint laboratory was also set up by the HKUST Institute for the Environment and Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon at the University of Zaragoza in Spain for material characterization and safety assessment of advanced functional nanomaterials and environmental samples. To assist economic and industry endeavors to benefit from new knowledge, a collaboration was initiated between the world-leading semi-conductor device leader Nexperia and the Department of Mathematics. The cooperative arrangement is set to fund a joint lab. In addition, Prof. Fugee TSUNG (Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics) launched the first customer relationship index consortium, involving the Departments of Industrial Engineering & Decision Analytics and Computer Science & Engineering and the Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium. The initiative seeks to leverage big data analytics to develop the first service quality big data platform integrating customer satisfaction index and online text mining. Separately, the University reached the sixth year of its wide-reaching collaborationwithMIT to develop industrial and socially beneficial technologies under the HKUST-MIT Research Alliance Consortium. Two new projects were added, bringing the total number of Consortium projects to11,allsupportedbytheInnovationandTechnologyFund. Helping to widen global understanding of management and corporate issues in Asia, HKUST’s regionally-focused business cases became available for public access on Harvard Business Publishing website in August 2018, with some 60 titles being distributed through the Harvard platform during the period under review. Requests for cases totalled almost 2,000 from individuals and institutions from over 25 regions, besides Hong Kong, by end of March 2019. The HKUST Case Collection, including joint cases developed with other institutions, is also publicly available via the University website. A collaboration between HKUST scientists, led by Prof. ZHANG Mingjie (Life Science), and Pangu BioPharma, a Hong Kong subsidiary of US biotherapeutics company aTyr Pharma, Inc., has helped to initiate an investigational therapeutic for pulmonary sarcoidosis, a rare form of fibrotic lung disease which currently has no cure. aTyr Pharma, Inc. was co-founded by Prof. Paul SCHIMMEL, an IAS Senior Visiting Fellow from The Scripps Research Institute. To improve quality of life and contribute to easing the aging challenge, the University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hong Kong social welfare organization Haven of Hope Christian Service to develop technologies ranging from a virtual assistant to tap water disinfection and therapeutic garden spaces to assist seniors and their caregivers. MAINLAND PLATFORMS The University has several long-established research platforms in Nansha, Shenzhen, and Foshan in neighboring Guangdong Province. Working through these platforms, the University generated a range of new research initiatives with local governments in Guangdong Province (see also P37). In the past two years, the endeavors have been extended to Zhongshan. The HKUST-Zhongshan Joint Innovation Center was established under HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School at the Clear Water Bay campus, with total funding of