Center Director
Vice-President for Research and Development
Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Director of HKUST-WeBank Joint Lab
HKUST
Center Director, Prof. Tim CHENG is an internationally leading researcher with excellent experience in fostering cross-disciplinary research collaboration, a world authority in the field of VLSI testing and design verification, as well as an impactful contributor across a wide range of research areas including design and automation of electronic and photonic systems, computer vision, and medical image analysis. He had previously served as Director of the US Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Center for 3D Hybrid Circuits. Prof. Cheng has published more than 500 technical papers, co-authored five books, held 12 US patents, and transferred several of his inventions into successful commercial products. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and his works are of high impact with due recognition from the field, including 10+ best paper awards in major conferences and journals and Pan Wen Yuan Foundation Award for Outstanding Research.
Associate Center Director
Professor, Division of Integrative Systems and Design
Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Director of Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers
Director of Entrepreneurship Education
Associate Director of Center on Smart Sensors and Environmental Technologies
HKUST
Prof. TSUI obtained his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Hong Kong, and MS and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from University of Southern California. Prof. TSUI received the IEEE Transactions on VLSI System Best Paper Award in 1995. He also supervised the best student paper award of IEEE ISCAS in 1999. He is an IEEE member and has reviewed several IEEE transactions and journals, and served on the organization committee of ASP-DAC’99 and program committees of IEEE ISLPE, VLSI, ASP-DAC and other conferences. Prof. TSUI also consulted for local and multinational companies.
Associate Center Director
Alex Wong Siu Wah Gigi Wong Fook Chi Professor of Engineering
Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Director of the Academy of Continuing Education
Director of MSc program in IC Design Engineering
HKUST
Prof. Mansun CHAN received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. Subsequently, he joined The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and he is now the Alex Wong Siu Wah Gigi Wong Fook Chi Professor of Engineering and Chair Professor of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering. He was one of the major contributors to the unified BSIM model for SPICE, which has been accepted by most US companies and the Compact Model Council (CMC) as the first industrial standard MOSFET model. His current research interests include emerging nano-device technologies, 2-D device for flexible electronics, CMOS interconnect technology, Artificial Neural Network systems, new-generation memory technology, BioNEMS, device modeling and ultra-low power circuit techniques. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE and Fellow of IEEE.
Associate Center Director
Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, HKUST
Prof. Yuan XIE received B.S. degree in Electronic Engineering from Tsinghua University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from Princeton University. He has rich industry experience with IBM, AMD, and Alibaba Group. He was also on the faculty of Pennsylvania State University and University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of ACM, and a Fellow of AAAS. He is a recipient of many awards, including NSF CAREER Award (2006), IEEE Computer Society Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award (2021), and IEEE CAS Society Industrial Pioneer Award (2023).
Executive Director
Dr. Luhong LIANG received his B.S. degree in 1997 and his Ph.D. degree in 2001, all in computer science from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He worked as senior researcher and staff researcher at Intel China Research Center (2001-2007), associate professor with the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2008-2011), director of System Research Group at National Engineering Laboratory for Digital Video Technology (2009-2011), principal engineer and director of Machine Learning Platform group at Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (2011-2020). Dr. Liang joined ACCESS as executive director in November 2020. He authored and co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and 10 U.S. patents in video coding, computer vision, pattern recognition, image processing, and AI accelerator areas. He is IEEE senior member from 2013.
Head of Administration
Ms. Pandora CHAN graduated from the City University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts degree (first class honours) in Translation and Interpretation and then obtained her Master of Arts degree in Language and Law. She has served in various public organizations and statutory bodies, including the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Occupational Safety and Health Council, Hong Kong Sports Development Board, Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel where she was responsible for corporate administration, publicity and external relations. Ms. CHAN has rich experience in administration, startup operations and management. Prior to joining ACCESS, she was the General Manager (Operation and Service) at the Property Management Services Authority in charge of the organization’s Administration, Corporate Services and Professional Development divisions.