This year’s Outstanding Research Awards have been awarded to Professor Gary Feng Gang, Chair Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor Kim Sung-moon, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), Professor of the Department of Public Policy and Director of the Centre for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy to recognise and reward their excellence in research at CityU.

Professor Feng has made pioneering and fundamental contributions in theory and applications of intelligent fuzzy control systems, nonlinear control systems and multi-agent control systems. 

Intelligent fuzzy control systems are widely used in various engineering disciplines, from consumer electronics to robots, aircrafts and many others. Professor Feng has established a fundamental framework for developing intelligent fuzzy control systems that guarantee not only stability but also the performance of the systems. This helps to enhance the performance of controlled systems and has made unmanned vehicles and flights possible, among other technological advancements.

Joining CityU in 2000, Professor Feng has led over 300 impactful papers in top-tier international journals. He was recognised as a highly cited researcher from 2016 to 2018 by Clarivate Analytics of Web of Science.

He has also been conferred an IEEE Fellowship, the Changjiang Chair Professorship (by China’s Ministry of Education) and the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems Outstanding Paper Award.

 

Professor Feng said, “The University has provided research platforms and rewarded academics’ achievements and these enable academics to achieve their maximum capability. The Outstanding Research Award has shown the University’s recognition and support to us.”

He added that having strong interests and persistence in the chosen research area was essential for making breakthroughs. When he encounters difficulties, he loves to discuss with other experts and his PhD students. He said, “Working with my PhD students is always a wonderful experience and often inspiring.”

Professor Kim’s research interests include Confucian democratic and constitutional theory, comparative political theory, and the history of East Asian political thought. Some of his impactful normative research looks at how justice, democracy and citizen participation should be in Confucian societies including Hong Kong.

Based on his research, Professor Kim suggested to “reinvent” ancient Confucius practices, which include recruiting young “remonstrators” into the government. “Young people are fresh-minded, not so socially conservative. They keep closer tabs on evolving public sentiment. Recruiting them not only helps them to understand the complexity of public decision-making but also makes the government more accountable to the public,” Professor Kim said.

He added that other core values in Confucian ethics, including deep thinking, self-cultivation and mutual respect, bring about political negotiation and compromise. If both the government and the community adopt these values, a stalemate, which tends to be the result of self-righteousness and which may turn into a violent conflict, could be avoided.

 

Joining CityU in 2009, Professor Kim said he has experienced amazing support including research resources from the University. He said, “I feel appreciated and proud to be awarded the Outstanding Research Award. This shows that the University respects the work in liberal arts, humanities and social sciences. A lot of academics in CLASS are doing great and innovative work. The award encourages us to do better.”

In the past years, Professor Kim has received many awards and grants including The President’s Award 2016 from CityU, the Ministry of Education Award from the South Korean government and the General Research Fund from the University Grants Committee in support of his research related to politics and Confucianism.

In addition, the Outstanding Research Award Junior Faculty winners for this year are Dr Lu Yang, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Dr Wang Cong, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science.

By developing advanced in situ nanomechanical methods, Dr Lu and his research team have discovered “ultralarge elasticity” in nanoscale covalent crystals, such as silicon nanowires and diamond nanoneedles. The findings could have a profound impact on nanotechnology, strain engineering and biomedical fields, and even quantum information technologies.

Dr Wang’s work has had a significant impact on the emerging field of data security and cloud computing. He was awarded CityU’s Outstanding Supervisor Award in 2017 and The President's Awards in 2016, and has obtained three Best Paper Awards from IEEE, in 2015, 2017 and 2018, respectively.