Two School of Engineering senior academics were among the four named professors inaugurated at HKUST in April 2015. The prestigious honor of a named professorship recognizes eminent faculty members and the donor who supports the title.

 

At the ceremony, the second in HKUST’s Named Professorship Program, Prof Qiang Yang, Head and Chair Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, was appointed New Bright Professor of Engineering and Prof Xin Zhang, Chair Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, became Swire Professor of Aerospace Engineering. The professorships were the result of donations by long-time HKUST supporters Wong Check She Charitable Foundation and The Swire Group Charitable Trust respectively.

 

Prof Yang joined HKUST in 2001. His research focuses on frontier work in big data, data mining and artificial intelligence. He was the founding director of Huawei’s Noah’s Ark Lab, also specializing in big data and artificial intelligence, and program chair for the 2015 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Prof Yang is the founding editor-in-chief of ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology and IEEE Transactions on Big Data and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR).

 

Prof Zhang specializes in aircraft aerodynamics and aeroacoustics and racing car aerodynamics and performance. Reducing aircraft noise is a major part of his research.

 

President Prof Tony F Chan said that such appointments ensured the University would maintain excellence in education and research by giving due recognition to exceptional faculty. There are now a total of six named professors at the School of Engineering.