pdf version - seng, hkust

Supersite Helps to Clear the Air
Prof Chak Keung Chan led a team of HKUST researchers
in developing the HKUST Air Quality Research Supersite,
which uses state-of-the-art real-time air quality instruments
to understand the characteristics and formation pathways
of atmospheric pollutants in Hong Kong and the Pearl River
Delta. Launched in 2011, the site is being used as part of a
major study seeking to find solutions for effective management
of particulate matter exposure in Hong Kong. The 1,000m²plus
Supersite facility is located at the shorefront of HKUST’s
campus. Equipment includes an automatic weather station
tower and outdoor plinths for samplers and equipment, a
weather-proof air-conditioned modular house with multiple
sample inlets and a sky-window for instrumentation. Many of
the instruments are exclusive and the most advanced in the
region.
Moving Ahead in Battle
Against Infection
A smart anti-microbial coating developed
by Prof King Lun Yeung and an
interdisciplinary HKUST research team
was unveiled in 2010. The revolutionary
coating – a world first – is transparent,
colorless and odorless, and can be
sprayed onto a wide range of different
surfaces where it is effective for at
least 30 days. Tests showed the HKUSTdeveloped
coating can kill 99.9% of
bacteria within one minute. It can
also sense when someone touches it,
releasing a larger amount of disinfectant
to inactivate the disease-causing microbes
and protecting other people touching the
same surface. It can be washed off by
using a solution of water and detergent.
Patent applications are underway in
various countries and regions, including
the US, Europe, India, Mainland China and
Taiwan. Clinical field tests started in 2011
at two public hospitals in Hong Kong.
Citation Record
Prof Gordon McKay’s paper “Pseudo-Second Order Model for
Sorption Processes”, co-authored with post-doctoral fellow Y S
Ho and published in Process Biochemistry (Vol 34 pp. 451-465
[1999]) has received over 1,600 citations and was the most
highly cited paper in the Science Citation Index (SCI) Chemical
Engineering section from 2008-11. It was also the only paper
in the section in both 2010 and 2011 to be cited more than 300
times in any one year.
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