Staff Achievements 2025

Dr FAN Yubin, Postdoc under the supervision of Prof Din-ping Tsai, has won the Best Paper Award at Meta Photonics: Design, Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications (META) - Optics & Photonics International Congress 2025. The winning paper is titled “Metalens array for high-dimensional quantum random number generator”.

The Optics and Photonics International Congress (OPIC), co-organized with the Optics and Photonics International Exhibition (OPIE), brings together researchers and developers from around the world to discuss the science and industry of optics and photonics. OPIC currently comprises Specialized International Conferences covering a broad range of fields: lasers, biomedicine, nano-photonics, meta-surface, optical measurement, optical manipulation, x-ray optics, IoT, display and lighting, high energy density science, power transmission, space and earth science, and agriculture photonics.

Prof Chaoliang Tan (Associate Professor of EE), Prof Andy Chan (Associate Professor of EE), Dr Jiajia Zha (Postdoc), Mr Haoxin Huang (PhD student), and Dr Yunpeng Xia (PhD graduate 2024), have published a paper in the top journal – Nature Communications, on 24 April 2025. The paper titled “In-sensor compressing via programmable optoelectronic sensors based on van der Waals heterostructures for intelligent machine vision” is a collaborative work with scholars coming from CHEM and MSE Department of CityUHK, The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen University, and Shenzhen Technology University.

This Nature Communications paper can be found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59104-7. To give you a glimpse of the research work, here is a quote from the abstract: 

Here we demonstrate a programmable two-dimensional (2D) heterostructure-based optoelectronic sensor integrating sensing, memory, and computation for in-sensor data compression. Our 2D sensor captured and memorized/encoded optical signals, leading to in-device snapshot compression of dynamic videos and three-dimensional spectral data with a compression ratio of 8:1. The reconstruction quality, indicated by a peak signal-to-noise ratio value of 15.81 dB, is comparable to the 16.21 dB achieved through software. Meanwhile, the compressed action videos (in the form of 2D images) preserve all semantic information and can be accurately classified using in-sensor convolution without decompression, achieving accuracy on par with uncompressed videos (93.18% vs 83.43%). Our 2D optoelectronic sensors promote the development of efficient intelligent vision systems at the edge.

EE teams achieved remarkable results at the 50^th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (IEIG), winning 5 awards, including one Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury, one Gold Medal, and three Silver Medals. The results are encouraging and demonstrate the international recognition of EE's research and scientific achievements.

The exhibition is the world’s most important event exclusively dedicated to inventions. It offers a unique opportunity for universities, inventors and researchers, industrial and commercial companies, associations, private and state organisms and institutions to present the results of their research, their inventions, and their new products. The 50^th IEIG, held from 9 to 13 April in Geneva, Switzerland, featured more than 1,000 inventions from 42 countries and regions around the world.  

More details about this good news can be found at CityU NewsCentre.

Prof Hong Yan (Chair Professor of EE), Mr Zelin Li (PhD student), and Dr Jianfeng Cao (PhD graduate in 2021), have published a paper in the top journal – Nature Communications, on 18 April 2025. The paper titled "Cell lineage-resolved embryonic morphological map reveals signaling associated with cell fate and size asymmetry" is a collaborative work with scholars coming from Peking University and Hong Kong Baptist University.

This Nature Communications paper can be found at Nature Communications. To give you a glimpse of the research work, here is a quote from the abstract: Here we present a comprehensive real-time cellular map that covers over 95% of the cells formed during Caenorhabditis elegans embryogenesis, featuring nearly 400,000 3D cell regions. This map includes information on each cell’s identity, lineage, fate, shape, volume, surface area, contact area, and gene expression profiles, all accessible through our user-friendly software and website. Our map allows for detailed analysis of key developmental processes, including dorsal intercalation, intestinal formation, and muscle assembly. We show how Notch and Wnt signaling pathways, along with mechanical forces from cell interactions, regulate cell fate decisions and size asymmetries. Our findings suggest that repeated Notch signaling drives size disparities in the large excretory cell, which functions like a kidney. This work sets the stage for in-depth studies of the mechanisms controlling cell fate differentiation and morphogenesis.

The research work led by Prof Cheng Wang (Associate Professor) has been awarded China’s Top 10 Advances in Optics in the category of Applied Research which is organized by Chinese Laser Press.

The excellent research outcomes can be found in the journal paper "Integrated lithium niobate microwave photonic processing engine," published in Nature on 28 February 2024 . It is a collaborative work among Prof Wang’s PhD students or graduates, Postdoctoral Fellows, and scholars from CityU Dongguan, Nankai University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

You may visit here to learn more about the award and also the research work here. 

Prof K M Luk, Chair Professor of EE, has been selected to receive the 2025 IEEE AP-S Chen-To Tai Distinguished Educator Award for his significant contributions in education of antenna theory, design and applications. The award will be presented at the 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting, which will take place at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa, Canada, in July 2025.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (IEEE AP-S) is recognized as the leading society in the antenna field in the world. The Chen-To Tai Distinguished Educator Award was established in 2000 to recognize the individual who has given outstanding service to education in the field of antennas and propagation, who exemplifies the special humanities of Chen-To Tai, and whose exemplary career in teaching and research represents the highest qualities of service. Prof Luk’s lifelong dedication to teaching and research in the field of antennas and propagation earns him this great achievement.

Professor Derrick Jiang (Assistant Professor of EE) and his research team have been honored with the Y-LOT’s 3rd Hong Kong SciTech Pioneers Award 2023-2024, in recognition of their outstanding dedication and contributions to emerging technologies for electric vehicles.

The award, hosted by Y-LOT Foundation and sponsored by Herson Land and Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), aims to recognize and celebrate the valuable contributions of outstanding scientists and research teams in the fields of Deep Tech, Biotechnology, Space Science, ESG, and Future Innovation. Prof Jiang is the awardee in the Deep Tech category.

Prof Arindam Basu (Professor of EE) and his PhD students, namely Mr Pao Sheng Sun and Miss Biyan Zhou, have published a paper in the top journal – Nature Communications, on 11 February 2025. The paper titled “The neuro bench framework for Benchmarking Neuromorphic Computing Algorithms and Systems” is a collaborative work with scholars coming from a worldwide consortium on brain-inspired or neuromorphic computing spanning 57 institutes. Authors are grouped based on contributions. The team primarily developed the main algorithm track results on the non-human primate motor prediction task, one out of only four benchmark tasks chosen from around the world.

This Nature Communications paper can be found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56739-4. To give you a glimpse of the research work, here is a quote from the abstract: This article presents NeuroBench, a benchmark framework for neuromorphic algorithms and systems, which is collaboratively designed from an open community of researchers across industry and academia. NeuroBench introduces a common set of tools and systematic methodology for inclusive benchmark measurement, delivering an objective reference framework for quantifying neuromorphic approaches in both hardware-independent and hardware-dependent settings. For latest project updates, visit the project website (neurobench.ai).

The collaborative research team led by Prof Arindam Basu (Professor of EE) and Prof Haoliang Li (Assistant Professor of EE), has published a paper in the top journal – Nature Communications, on 29 January 2025.

Title: Efficient nonlinear function approximation in analog resistive crossbars for recurrent neural networks
Authors:

• Prof Arindam Basu (Professor of EE, CityUHK)
• Prof Haoliang Li (Assistant Professor of EE, CityUHK)
• Mr Junyi Yang - first author, Mr Shuai Dong and Mr Pao Sheng Sun (PhD student at CityUHK supervised by Prof Arindam Basu)
• Mr Yichuan Cheng (PhD student at CityUHK supervised by Prof Haoliang Li)
• Prof Can Li (Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong)
• Mr Ruibin Mao - first author and Mr Mingrui Jiang (PhD student, The University of Hong Kong)
• Dr Giacomo Pedretti, Dr Xia Sheng and Mr Jim Ignowski (Hewlett Packard Labs, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Milpitas, CA, USA)

This Nature Communications paper can be found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56254-6. To give you a glimpse of the research work, here is a quote from the abstract: 

In this work, we experimentally demonstrate the implementation of a non-linear activation function integrated with a ramp analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) at the periphery of the memory to improve in-memory implementation of RNNs. Our approach uses an extra column of memristors to produce an appropriately pre-distorted ramp voltage such that the comparator output directly approximates the desired nonlinear function. We experimentally demonstrate programming different nonlinear functions using a memristive array and simulate its incorporation in RNNs to solve keyword spotting and language modelling tasks. Compared to other approaches, we demonstrate manifold increase in area-efficiency, energy-efficiency and throughput due to the in-memory, programmable ramp generator that removes digital processing overhead.

The collaborative research team led by Prof Cheng Wang (Associate Professor of EE) and Prof Edwin Pun (Chair Professor of EE), has published a paper in the top journal – Nature Photonics, on 27 January 2025.

Title: Integrated lithium niobate photonic millimetre-wave radar
Authors:

1. Prof Cheng Wang (Associate Professor of EE, CityUHK)
2. Prof Edwin Pun (Chair Professor of EE, CityUHK)
3. Dr Yiwen Zhang- first author (PhD graduate in Feb 2025 at CityUHK supervised by Prof Cheng Wang)
4. Dr Hanke Feng (Postdoctoral Fellow of EE, CityUHK)
5. Mr Yongji Wang (PhD student of CHEM, CityUHK)
6. Prof Sha Zhu – first author (Nankai University)
7. Academician Ning Hua Zhu (Nankai University)
8. Miss Jiaxue Feng (Beijing University of Technology)
9. Mr Kunpeng Zhai (Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

This Nature Photonics paper has been selected as the front cover for the February issue. The paper can also be found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-024-01608-7. To know more about the research work, please visit the research story here.