HKEST Award 2024

Managing Director, ATI Engineering Ltd

Ir Dr Alex Chan is a Senior Vice President of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 1977 with a BSc(Eng) in mechanical engineering and in 1988 with a PhD in fluid dynamics.

He has extensive experience in engineering projects including buildings, power plants, road tunnels and mass transit systems in Hong Kong SAR, Mainland cities, Singapore, Tokyo, London and New York. His focused areas are safety, efficient and reliable plant operation, improvement to environment, and products innovation and development.

Locally Ir Dr Chan was President of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (2003-04) and Chair of the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation and Vocational Qualifications (2015-21). Internationally, he was Chair of the Sydney Accord Chair (2007-11) and Chair of the International Professional Engineers Agreement (2014-17).

Dean of Faculty of Construction and Environment;
Director of Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development;
Chair Professor of Environmental Science and Technology;
Ko Jan Ming Professor in Sustainable Urban Development,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Professor Xiang-dong Li is a highly distinguished scholar in environmental science and sustainable urban development. In 2022, he was honoured with the prestigious Clair C. Patterson Award (Innovative Breakthrough in Environmental Biogeochemistry in the last decade) from the Geochemical Society. The award acknowledged Prof Li’s pioneering research in the fields of regional contamination, urban air PM2.5 pollution, and the origin and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance.

Professor Li’s groundbreaking research project entitled “Unravelling the Black Box between Air Pollution and Public Health for Transformative Air Quality Management” was awarded HK$44.52 million from the Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme in 2022/23. This project aims to identify the key toxic components and their associated sources responsible for PM2.5 health effects and develop effective and economical approaches to manage air quality and public health.

Professor Li has been the principal investigator of numerous research projects funded by the RGC, NSFC, and UGC Area of Excellence Scheme. He boasts an impressive publication record, with over 250 papers primarily appearing in prestigious international journals. Additionally, he has authored more than ten publications that rank among the top 1% most cited papers in Environment/Ecology, according to the ISI database.

Managing Director of Alphotonics Limited;
Former CEO of ASTRI

Professor Nim Cheung is Managing Director of AIphotonics Limited in Hong Kong Science Park, and director of several listed and start-up companies in Hong Kong. He was formerly CEO of Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), the largest ICT research organization in Hong Kong. He served as Inaugural Director of National Engineering Research Centre for Application Specific Integrated Circuit Systems, the first National Engineering Centre in Hong Kong.

Professor Cheung has held management positions at Bell Labs, Bellcore, and Telcordia Technologies. He is a Telcordia Fellow and a Fellow of IEEE and HKAES. He was President of IEEE Communications Society and has chaired IEEE’s Fellow Committee. He has been serving as Chair, IEEE Awards Board for 2 years (2023-24).

Professor Cheung is Honorary Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and served as Consulting Professor at Stanford University. He received his B.Sc. degree from University of Hong Kong and Ph.D. degree from California Institute of Technology. He was recipient of HKU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010.

Chair Professor of Building Environment,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong

Professor Yuguo Li’s research has been focused on environment studies of infection, urban climate and recently on city sustainability and resilience. His team redefined transmission routes of respiratory infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. His work has been widely adopted by WHO, CDC and professional engineering societies. He serves in the WHO Infection prevention and control Guidance Development Group. He co-chaired a WHO working group on transmission through air. He was elected as a fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. He received the Pettenkofer Award, Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize, Medal of Honour (MH) from Chief Executive of HKSAR Government， the Louise and Bill Holladay Distinguished Fellow Award, the Rydberg gold medal of SCANVAC and an honorary doctor degree of Aalborg University.

Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of New World Development Company Limited

Ir Ma is the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of New World Development Company Limited. He was the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of NWS Holdings Limited, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park Limited and Principal Consultant of the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation. Ir Ma was previously the Secretary for Development of the HKSAR Government, overseeing policy areas ranging from urban planning to heritage conservation, and addressing the supply-demand imbalance in land and housing. He was Executive Vice President, Civil & Infrastructure, Asia Pacific, of AECOM before joining the HKSAR Government. He is senior vice president of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.

Head and Chair Professor of Department of Electrical Engineering,
City University of Hong Kong

Professor Luk is Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Science, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IEEE. He is Chair Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong. He is specialized in Applied Electromagnetics with seminal contributions in Antenna Designs for Wireless Communications and Sensing Connectivity. He was Founding Director of State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves. He is an author of over 700 publications. He received the State Technological Invention Award, Ho Leung Ho Li Foundation Prize, Guanghua Engineering Prize and IEEE John Kraus Antenna Award.

Provost and Chair Professor of Computer Science,
Hong Kong Baptist University

Professor Martin D. F. Wong is the Provost and Chair Professor of Computer Science at the Hong Kong Baptist University since August 2023. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Choh-Ming Li Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from January 2019 to July 2023. Before he joined CUHK, he was with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) from 2002 to 2018. He was the Executive Associate Dean of the College of Engineering (2012-2018) where he was the 2nd highest rank administrator in the College, and the Edward C. Jordan Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before UIUC, he was with the University of Texas at Austin where he was a David Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science. Prof. Wong received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from UIUC in 1987. He is internationally known for his research on electronic design automation (EDA). He has published over 500 technical papers. He has supervised and graduated more than 50 Ph.D. students, and many of them now hold leadership positions in industry and academia. He is a Fellow of ACM, IEEE and HKAES.

Tencent Professor of Engineering,
Chair Professor of Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Professor Zhang joined Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Sept. 2005 where she is now Tencent Professor of Engineering and Chair Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. She is also serving as the co-director of Huawei-HKUST innovation lab and the director of digital life research center of HKUST. Before that, she was in Microsoft Research Asia, Beijing, from July 1999, where she was the research manager of the Wireless and Networking Group. Professor Zhang has published more than 400 refereed papers in international leading journals and key conferences. She is the inventor of more than 50 granted International patents. Her current research interests include Internet of Things (IoT), smart health, mobile computing and sensing, wireless networking, as well as cyber security.

She is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Science (HKAES). Professor Zhang has received MIT TR100 (MIT Technology Review) world's top young innovator award, Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation the Science and Technology Innovation Award as well as the Second Class Award (the 3rd awardee) in Natural Sciences for Research Excellence by the State Council . She received the Best Paper Awards in several international conferences.

Professor Zhang served as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Trans. on Mobile Computing (TMC) from 2020 to 2022. She is a member of Steering Committee of IEEE Infocom.

Managing Director, ATI Engineering Ltd

Ir Dr Alex Chan is a Senior Vice President of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 1977 with a BSc(Eng) in mechanical engineering and in 1988 with a PhD in fluid dynamics.

He has extensive experience in engineering projects including buildings, power plants, road tunnels and mass transit systems in Hong Kong SAR, Mainland cities, Singapore, Tokyo, London and New York. His focused areas are safety, efficient and reliable plant operation, improvement to environment, and products innovation and development.

Locally Ir Dr Chan was President of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (2003-04) and Chair of the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation and Vocational Qualifications (2015-21). Internationally, he was Chair of the Sydney Accord Chair (2007-11) and Chair of the International Professional Engineers Agreement (2014-17).

Vice President (Research and Innovation)
Chair Professor of Thermal and Environmental Engineering
Director of Policy Research Centre for Innovation and Technology

Professor Christopher Chao is Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Chair Professor of Thermal and Environmental Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He oversees the planning and development of research, innovation and strategic research areas. As an accomplished scholar in thermal and environmental engineering, Professor Chao has published extensively in leading journals. He has been making active contribution to the professional community and the Government, and is keen to promote entrepreneurship and technology transfer.

Professor Chao received his BSc(Eng) degree in Mechanical Engineering (First Class) from The University of Hong Kong, and obtained his MS and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. He was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Hong Kong prior to joining the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in September 2021.

Managing Director of Alphotonics Limited and former CEO of ASTRI

Dr Nim Cheung is Managing Director of AIphotonics Limited in Hong Kong Science Park, and director of several listed and start-up companies in Hong Kong. He was formerly CEO of Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), the largest ICT research organization in Hong Kong. He served as Inaugural Director of National Engineering Research Centre for Application Specific Integrated Circuit Systems, the first National Engineering Centre in Hong Kong.

Dr Cheung has held management positions at Bell Labs, Bellcore, and Telcordia Technologies. He is a Telcordia Fellow and a Fellow of IEEE and HKAES. He was President of IEEE Communications Society and has chaired IEEE’s Fellow Committee and Awards Board.

Dr Cheung is Honorary Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and served as Consulting Professor at Stanford University. He received his B.Sc. degree from University of Hong Kong and Ph.D. degree from California Institute of Technology. He was recipient of HKU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010.

Research Professor of Electronic Engineering and Director of Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Prof Ching Pak Chung is Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Prof Ching is a dedicated scholar and educator. He has engaged himself in frontier research in the areas of wireless communication, signal processing and speech technologies for almost four decades. He has published widely in international top tier journals and conference proceedings. His research achievements include pioneering the development of efficient automatic speech recognition algorithms for code-mixing utterances; developing efficient power control strategy for multiple-spectrum-sharing networks, and designing advanced space time code for asynchronous cooperative communications.

Prof Ching helped CUHK to establish one of the largest research-oriented engineering schools majoring in computer science, information technology and electronic engineering in Hong Kong in the nineties. He also actively participates in technology transfer and many of his research outcomes have been licensed to local and overseas organizations. He is also involved in various capacities in the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Ltd, Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre, and Nano and Advanced Materials Institute Limited.

Prof Ching was awarded the IEEE Third Millennium Award in 2000 and the HKIE Hall of Fame in 2010. In addition, Prof Ching also plays an active role in community services. He was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) and the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) by the HKSAR Government in 2017 and 2010, respectively, in recognition of his long and distinguished public and community services.

Research Professor of Electronic Engineering,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Kei May Lau is a Research Professor of Electronic Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She served as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She is a Fellow of the IEEE, Optica, and the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, a recipient of the IET J J Thomson medal for Electronics, OSA Nick Holonyak Jr. Award, and IEEE Photonics Society Aron Kressel Award. Lau’s research work is focused on the development of monolithic integration of semiconductor devices on industry-standard silicon and SOI substrates. She was an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (1996-2002) and Electron Device Letters (2016-2019), an Associate Editor for the Journal of Crystal Growth and Applied Physics Letters.

She was born in Hong Kong and received all her pre-college education (K-12) from the Pui Ching Middle School, B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Chair Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering,
City University of Hong Kong

Professor Luk is Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Science, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IEEE. He is Chair Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong. He is specialized in Applied Electromagnetics with seminal contributions in Antenna Designs for Wireless Communications and Sensing Connectivity. He was Founding Director of State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves. He is an author of over 700 publications. He received the State Technological Invention Award, Ho Leung Ho Li Foundation Prize, Guanghua Engineering Prize and IEEE John Kraus Antenna Award.

Managing Director, Urban Renewal Authority

Ir Wai Chi Sing is a civil engineer by profession. He joined the Hong Kong Government in August 1980, and has since served in the Transport Department, the Highways Department, and the former Environment, Transport and Works Bureau. He was a former Director of Highways and was Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) from June 2010 to April 2015. Ir Wai has taken part in a vast variety of major infrastructural projects.

After retirement, Ir Wai has been appointed the Managing Director of the Urban Renewal Authority since 15 June 2016; and a Director of the Board of Urban Renewal Fund. Ir Wai has recently advocated a set of bespoke planning tools aiming to restore the momentum of urban renewal.

Ir Wai holds a master's degree in transportation engineering from Purdue University in the United States. He has professional experience in civil, structural and geotechnical engineering and is a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Lam Woo and Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Dr Wu obtained his BEng in Electrical Engineering from Tianjin University in 1984, MSc in Medical Physics from University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1988, and PhD in Radiological Sciences from University of California – Irvine in 1993. From 1990 to 2003, Dr Wu worked in Columbia University first as an Assistant Professor and later as an Associate Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering. Dr Wu moved to University of Hong Kong in 2003. His primary research focus is to develop state-of-the-art functional MRI methodologies for probing brain circuits in rodent models by combing functional, diffusion and spectroscopic MRI with electrophysiology, behavioral assessment and emerging neuromodulation approaches such as optogenetics. Dr Wu is an elected Fellow of ISMRM, IEEE, and AIMBE. He is the recipient of 2018 China Guanghua Science and Technology Award (中国光华科技奖). Dr Wu is the Asia-Pacific Editor of NMR in Biomedicine (NBM) since 2011 and Editorial Board Member of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM).