Campus Digest

HKBU scholars win State Natural Science Awards (Second Class)

13 Jan 2014

(From left) Professor Tang Tao, Associate Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor Raymond Wong, Professor Zhu Lixing and Professor Rick Wong, Vice-President (Research & Development) at the award presentation ceremony in Beijing (From left) Professor Tang Tao, Associate Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor Raymond Wong, Professor Zhu Lixing and Professor Rick Wong, Vice-President (Research & Development) at the award presentation ceremony in Beijing
(From left) Professor Tang Tao, Associate Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor Raymond Wong, Professor Zhu Lixing and Professor Rick Wong, Vice-President (Research & Development) at the award presentation ceremony in Beijing

 

Two HKBU scholars have received national honours for their outstanding research projects in the field of natural sciences. Professor Raymond Wong Wai-yeung, Associate Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry, who leads a research team, was awarded the 2013 State Natural Science Award (Second Class) for the project entitled “Multifunctional Metallopolymers/Metallophosphors and Their Emerging Applications”. Professor Zhu Lixing, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Mathematics, was awarded the 2013 State Natural Science Award (Second Class) for a project he undertook on his own entitled “Model Checking and Dimension Reduction in Regression”.

Professor Raymond Wong was delighted to receive the prestigious award. He said: “We are honoured by the national acclaim and recognition of our research.” His project focuses on the properties of metallopolymers/metallophosphors and their emerging applications in optoelectronics and energy industries. The materials and technologies developed in the project have various applications as electron donor materials in organic solar cells, light emitters in organic light-emitting devices, optical power limiters, and patternable precursors for fabricating nanoscale magnetic data storage devices.

On receipt of the same award, Professor Zhu Lixing said, “It is my honour to be granted an award at the national level. This is an important recognition of my research efforts in the past as well as a great impetus to my future research.” Professor Zhu’s research is concerned with regression analyses in statistics. It aims to investigate model checking under nonparametric alternatives and reduce dimensionality in a semiparametric structure.

Professor Albert Chan, President and Vice-Chancellor, expressed his gratitude for the awards bestowed on the two scholars. He said, “The University is committed to science and research development. It is encouraging to see the most esteemed awards in the areas of natural sciences at the national level given to HKBU scholars in recognition of their excellent achievements.” Professor Chan said that the University would continue to strive for better scientific advancements to contribute to society.