Welcome to the College of Engineering (the College) at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). As the College Dean, it is both my role and responsibility to equip students with the engineering knowledge and critical thinking skills needed to pursue inspiring and productive lives and to make genuine differences in today’s challenging and rapidly changing world.
As an engineer, I always believe that the best way to ensure a rewarding, inclusive and sustainable future is by building it. This indeed fully aligns with the College’s vision – Growing the impact of engineering within and beyond Hong Kong through nurturing young talents and fostering the next generation of engineers. It was truly an overwhelming experience for me to witness the College make outstanding progress on a host of mission-critical fronts since the past decade when I served as the Dean of the College of Science and Engineering.
The College is ranked as one of the world’s top 50 engineering institutions and is a major contributor to research and development projects in 13 engineering disciplines. Six of the engineering disciplines were ranked first in Hong Kong according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2023 List.
Better yet, we are one of the driving forces behind CityU’s flagship HK Tech 300 programme that aims at creating 300 brand new start-ups in three years. The College has already helped launch more than 220 innovative start-ups. Some of them received HK$100,000 from CityU’s Seed Fund; others were awarded grants of up to HK$1 million from Angel Fund; and a number of them received support from both funds.
The College continues to broaden its understanding of a host of frontiers. We have scored numerous firsts, including the designing and manufacturing of the next generation of electron microscopes. According to Clarivate Analytics, in 2023 the College was home to 20 highly-cited researchers who were among the top 1% in their fields. In a report by Stanford University, 132 faculty members were listed in the top 2% of the world’s most highly-cited scientists. Professor Luk Kwai Man’s project named Advanced Antenna Technology for a Smart World is a good example of basic research. His project recently secured a funding of over HK$69 million from the Areas of Excellence Scheme (AoE), operated by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (RGC). The project aims to reduce the visual impact and physical inconvenience of wireless infrastructure by using transparent antennas that can be invisibly integrated into glass windows, walls, and vehicle windscreens. Professor Luk’s team is also designing compact antennas for low-cost medical imaging, diagnosis and treatments by using microwave and millimetre waves.
There have also been major successes in applied research. They include Professor Wang Jianping’s breakthrough QCNet modelling framework, which uses AI technology to push the boundaries of trajectory prediction for autonomous vehicles. Developed in collaboration with the Hon Hai Research Institute and Carnegie Mellon University, QCNet offers critical insights that can enhance vehicle reliability and increase safety for pedestrians, passengers, and other road users. This ground-breaking research was awarded in the Argoverse 2 Multi-Agent Motion Forecasting Challenge Workshop on Autonomous Driving, which was held during the IEEE/CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR) 2023. These achievements have helped the College earn the top spot in Hong Kong for its international outlook, according to Times Higher Education.
On the teaching front, as part of CityU’s internationalisation strategy, the College strives to provide more overseas experiences for students, such as the joint bachelor’s degree programme with Columbia College. The College aims to instil in its students the 4 Is: an International outlook; an Interdisciplinary background; an Innovative approach; and Interpersonal skills. Students will learn and implement these skills in the College’s seven departments that possess expertise across diverse domains in engineering. Further advantages for students are made accessible by an interdisciplinary background honed through a highly active, inter-departmental collaborative initiative. A constant flood of new technologies is transforming the engineering landscape and creating even more openings for advanced research and innovative applications. The College of Engineering is committed to maintaining at the forefront of engineering excellence and strengthening its presence as a leading institution for engineering science and technology.
Professor Jian LU
Dean, College of Engineering
Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering
