Issue No. 4 (August 2007) - The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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14 SPECIAL FEATURE A notable milestone of further change came about with the conferring of honours degrees and with a strong focus on research. The first batch of honours degree students graduated in 1988 from the CSE Department. The first research degree student graduated in 1989 from the BSE Department. In the Division after 1985 (the forerunner of the Faculty), the stimulus for research was driven initially by Associate Director, Howard Ward, supported by the then Director John Clark. Dr. Ward had previously been Head of the CSE Department and a research start had already been made in that Department by a small hard core of staff during the early 80s, work which continued under the succeeding Head Dr. K.K. Wong. The BSE Department under Dr. Marsden had also started doing research in the 80s. The embryo Faculty was sufficiently ambitious to recognize that becoming more “outward” looking via research was the pathway to realizing its potential in the international arena. In this respect, Keith Legge, Director from 1975-84, recognized early the importance of forging links with China and determined to lay a strong foundation in readiness for the time when China and Hong Kong would be one country. Coincidentally and conveniently, the above need to forge links with China was likewise recognized by a Hong Kong philanthropist, Croucher who established a foundation in his name. Importantly, it was tripartite, encouraging collaboration between Hong Kong, where Croucher lived, China from where he made his money and the United Kingdom, in which he was born. Fortunately there was political encouragement, in that by this time China’s “open door policy” had been begun by Deng Xiaoping in December 1978. A Construction Research Culture in Hong Kong Before 1990 was Virtually Non-existent However, the Division, as described above and true to its commitment to serve the construction industry had begun to make appropriate research a priority. Of valuable assistance in this regard were our alumni who made available research sites and data. Additionally, research leadership, particularly in the CSE Department was particularly strong and also in the BSE Department under A.M. Marsden, to a lesser extent enabled the research culture to quickly become established and which has now become endemic across the whole Faculty. The Division, partly for strategic reasons, focused its research interests in areas comparatively untouched by other research institutions. In the CSE Department, emphasis was placed on coastal and structural engineering. It has subsequently gone on to be a world leader in structural dynamics, and remains strong in the modeling of coastal waters and estuarine flows. One of the first collaborative research examples was driven by Dr. K.K. Wong (fluid mechanics), Dr. Howard Ward (structural dynamics) and Dr. Kwan Lai, a Structural Engineer, with specialized knowledge of offshore drilling in the North Sea and Persian Gulf. A National Conference was organized with Mainland Universities on offshore structures, motivated by the oil crisis in 1980. This conference was one of the first examples of collaborative work and was followed by collaborative contacts with the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology. The aim was to design and create investigation equipment for work on waves in the South China Sea. A more recent example of collaboration with China is seen in the Fire Research Centre, jointly established by the PolyU and the University of Science and Technology of China on the latter’s campus. The Centre has been highly commended by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Another example is the collaborative study on Acid Rain in Research Area 4, under China’s National Basic Research Programme. The establishment of the Faculty of Construction and Land Use, with Professor Mike Anson as Dean, finally occurred in 1992, 2 years before the inauguration of the Polytechnic as a university. This change of name was a progress leap in that it gave notice of the appropriate scholarly status now developed in construction disciplines in the Polytechnic. The already established structure of the Departments remained the same, with the Centre of Land and Engineering Surveying developing into the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and the Department of Building and Surveying, being renamed the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) in 1993. The signal given by the change of name, indicated parity with the international academic world. Professor Anson draws attention to the fact that this quality had already been well grounded in the preceding years of the Division, as a result of the research efforts of a hard core of staff, co-operation of alumni and a sensible restructuring of Departments and all in line with the changing requirements of industry. Since the establishment of the Faculty, that leap has been firmly
SPECIAL FEATURE 15 HEADS and ACTING HEADS of CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENTS and COORDINATORS of CENTRE Building Department (before 1967) Department of Building, Surveying and Structural Engineering (1967 - 73) J. Clarey * D.D. Waters S.H. Ng (Acting) Department of Building and Surveying (1973 - 93) Department of Building and Real Estate (1993 - now) * R.D. Stringer M. Anson R.W. Couchman (Acting) A.N. Baldwin * J.S. Ratcliffe F. K.W. Wong * D. Scott DIVISIONAL CHAIRMEN and FACULTY DEANS Division of Construction and Land Use (1982 - 1992) Faculty of Construction and Land Use (1992 - now) Chairmen of Division Deans of Faculty * H.S. Ward * M. Anson R.D. Stringer J.S. Ratcliffe * J.M. Ko A.N. Baldwin J.G. Teng R.D. Stringer M. Anson D. Scott F.K.W. Wong Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (1973 - now) M.C. Wong (Acting) M. Anson D.J. Peake * J.M. Ko H.S. Ward * Y.S. Li * K.K. Wong Y.L. Xu K.H. Lai (Acting) J.S. Ratcliffe J.M. Ko Y.S. Li Y.L. Xu Department of Building Services Engineering (1981 - now) * A.M. Marsden * J. Burnett J.D. Gilleard S.W. Wang (Acting) A.N. Baldwin J.D. Gilleard J.G. Teng J. Burnett * Denotes service of 5 years or more S.W. Wang Centre for Land and Engineering Surveying (1982 - 92) Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (1992 - now) * C. Heathcote A.J. Brimicombe * Y.Q. Chen Y.Q. Chen cemented in place with growth in the number of research areas covered and the spread of a research culture to all corners of the Faculty. Alumni may be interested in seeing precisely where their own technical education era and hence their personal contribution fits in the structural development of the Faculty. The above shows how the Faculty developed and how it has been spawned from the original single Department of Building to the present.
Page 1 and 2: From Trade School to University No.
Page 3 and 4: MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN Message from
Page 5 and 6: SPECIAL FEATURE Yesterday's Hong K
Page 7 and 8: SPECIAL FEATURE A Second though Ne
Page 9 and 10: SPECIAL FEATURE Among the flood of
Page 11 and 12: SPECIAL FEATURE Industry Grew to M
Page 13 and 14: SPECIAL FEATURE 11 The Original Kes
Page 15: SPECIAL FEATURE 13 From Slide Rule
Page 19 and 20: SPECIAL FEATURE 17 Technician Assis
Page 21 and 22: SPECIAL FEATURE 19 In conclusion, t
Page 23 and 24: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND RESEARCH DE
Page 25 and 26: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND RESEARCH DE
Page 27 and 28: AWARDS 25 Young Scientist Paper Awa
Page 29 and 30: AWARDS 27 HKAUW Thomas HC Cheung Ou
Page 31 and 32: AWARDS 29 Dr. Lennon Choy Appointed
Page 33 and 34: RECENT EVENTS 31 Keynote Speech: Pr
Page 35 and 36: RECENT EVENTS 33 practitioners, cos
Page 37 and 38: RECENT EVENTS 35 Faculty Distinguis
Page 39 and 40: RECENT EVENTS 37 FCLU 70th Annivers
Page 44: FCLU News is published biannually b

Issue No. 4 (August 2007) - The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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