PolyU to honour four distinguished personalities at 18th Congregation

Oct. 18, 2012 - PRLog -- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) will confer Honorary Doctorates upon four prominent figures in recognition of their distinguished accomplishments and contributions at its 18th Congregation to be held on 27 October (Saturday).

This year’s honorary degree recipients include: Professor Chung K. Law, Robert H. Goddard Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University; Professor Harry Lee, Chairman of TAL Group; Professor Xie Heping, President of Sichuan University; and Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo, Vice Chairman of Kerry Group.

Professor Chung K. Law is the Robert H. Goddard Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of Princeton University and Director of the Centre for Combustion Energy at Tsinghua University in China. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research interests lie in combustion, propulsion, heat and mass transfer, energy, alternative fuels and the environment, and he has published over 400 SCI journal articles in these areas. Recognized as one of the world’s top 100 Highly Cited Researchers in engineering by the Institute for Scientific Information, Professor Law has received many awards from various professional societies for technical and career achievements. With close ties with his alma mater PolyU and especially its Department of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Law has contributed significantly to its extension of international network and improvement of research performance. In recognition of Professor Law’s impactful research and contributions to his alma mater, he was presented with the Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award in 2007. He will be conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering.

Professor Harry Lee is Chairman of TAL Group. Upon graduation from the Imperial College, London in the UK with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and from Brown University in the US with a Doctoral Degree in Electrical Properties and Materials, he worked as a Research Scientist at Bell Laboratories in the US and later joined Esso Research and Development Company. In 1973, he joined Textile Alliance Limited (TAL) in Hong Kong and was appointed Managing Director of TAL Apparel Limited in 1983. Under his able leadership, the company has gone from strength to strength, employing over 20,000 workers in 12 factories across Southeast Asia and the Chinese mainland. With nearly 40 years of experience in the textiles and clothing industry, he is actively involved in local trade organizations. In recognition of his contributions to the industry and the society, he was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the HKSAR Government in 2001. Professor Lee has also made notable contributions to PolyU by serving as Chairman of Advisory Committee, Institute of Textiles and Clothing from 1995 to 2005, and Member of its Council from 2005 to 2008. He will be conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration.

Professor Xie Heping is President of Sichuan University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has long been dedicated to research in rock mechanics and engineering applications and established a macro damage mechanical model for jointed rock masses in the 1980s, opening up new frontiers of the study in fractal rock mechanics. He has authored six books in English and Chinese and published over 200 journal papers, with nearly 80 of them in the SCI journals. Professor Xie has been instrumental in steering the establishment of The Institute on Disaster Management and Reconstruction which marked a new phase of collaboration between PolyU and Sichuan University since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. The Institute is the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland to provide support for reconstruction work and professional training in disaster management and research on global disasters. His research accomplishments have earned him the Second Prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award and the National Natural Science Award. He will be conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering.

Mr George Yong-Boon Yeo is a former Member of Singaporean Parliament and Minister for Foreign Affairs. He studied Engineering at Cambridge University, graduating with a Double First in 1976, and became a Signals Officer in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). In 1985, after earning an MBA from the Harvard Business School, he returned to SAF and rose to the rank of Brigadier-General. Mr Yeo’s political career started in 1988 when he was elected one of the Members of Parliament. He served 23 years in the Government, and was Minister of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Information and the Arts, Health, and Trade and Industry until 2011. He then moved to the private sector to become Vice Chairman of Kerry Group. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore. Mr Yeo is a member of the Governing Board of Nalanda University in India and chairs its International Advisory Panel. He is also a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, the Asia-Pacific Advisory Board of Harvard Business School and the International Advisory Board of IESE Business School. He will be conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Social Science.

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