(From left) Dr Mo Li, Prof Yunhao Liu, Prof Nancy Ip, Prof Lionel Ni and Dr Zheng Yang.

(Clockwise from top) Prof Bo Li, Prof Hai Yang and Prof Shing-chi Cheung.

Four School of Engineering (SENG) research advances were among the five HKUST projects to receive prestigious State Science and Technology Awards, the highest accolade in these fields in China. The awards for 2011, announced earlier this year, saw HKUST collect the largest number among tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. The honors are conferred by the State Council for significant contributions to the development of science and technology.

SENG academics received three State Natural Science Awards – Second Class for their pioneering research. Their areas of study covered range-free localization for wireless networks and internet of things (Prof Yunhao Liu; Prof Lionel Ni, Chair Professor; Dr Mo Li; Dr Zheng Yang; Computer Science and Engineering); stochastic models and performance optimization for computer network resource management (Prof Bo Li, Computer Science and Engineering); and behavior-based spatial temporal features of urban traffic flow distribution (Prof Hai Yang, Civil and Environmental Engineering).

One State Scientific and Technological Progress Award – Second Class was also awarded for research on the integration of software technology, users and their environment (Prof Shing-chi Cheung, Computer Science and Engineering). The fifth award went to a life science research project (Prof Nancy Ip, Dean of the School of Science).

In conducting their research and development, the SENG academics often worked with researchers at leading mainland universities, some over many years, building ties and fostering new perspectives.

HKUST President Prof Tony F Chan was delighted by the awards, which he said demonstrated the University’s outstanding work in frontier and applied research.