People
Chair researcher
Professor Alfonso, H.W.Ngan
Title: Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering
Professor, Chair of Materials Science and Engineering
Kingboard Professorship in Materials Engineering
Professor
​
Office: HW 7-12
Email: hwngan@hku.hk
Tel: +852 3917-7900
Prof. A.H.W. Ngan studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong and graduated with First Class Honours and as the Williamson Prizeman in 1989. He obtained an S.L. Pao Education Foundation Scholarship and a Croucher Foundation Scholarship to study for Ph.D. in Materials Science at Birmingham University. He took only two years and nine months to complete his thesis, which won the Thomas Turner Research Prize at Birmingham. After spending one year at Oxford University as a Croucher Foundation Research Fellow, he joined the University as a Lecturer in Materials Technology and Solid Mechanics in 1993.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, a concurrent Professor of Nanjing University and a Visiting Professor of the Central Iron and Steel Research Institute in Beijing . He is a recipient of the Outstanding Young Researcher Award of HKU in 2000-2001, and the Outstanding Researcher Award in 2006-2007. In 2007, he was awarded the Rosehain Medal and Prize by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK, and in 2008, he was conferred a higher doctorate (DSc) by the University of Birmingham. His research interests include the microstructural basis of mechanical properties in metallic materials, dislocation theory, electron microscopy of materials, novel mechanical testing techniques such as nanoindentation, mechanical properties of thin-films, theoretical modelling of material defects including atomistic simulation and dislocation dynamics simulation.
Post-doc researcher
Office: Composite Building 112
Laboratory: HW 3-29
Email: kkwkwan@connect.hku.hk
Tel: +852 6501-9308
Dr. Kwan K.W.
PhD student
K.W. Kwan received a first class BEng degree in Mechanical Engineering and graduated in MSc (Eng) with distinction from The University of Hong Kong in 2010 and 2011 respectively. He received his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2015 from the same university, supported by Hong Kong PhD Fellowship.
His research interest is the study of natural and artificial actuating materials. He is now working on the development of electrochemical actuators for his postdoctoral research.
Dr. Cheng Chuang (Post-doc)
2016 Undergraduate capstone project students
Law Wai Tsun
Lu Yu Chiao
Yeung Cindy
Chen Chong Chong
Wong Hon Leung
Group photos
Dr. Zhang Yuqi
Email: chuan.cheng@tuhh.de
Past researchers
During my time working in the lab, I used electrodeposition as the main tool for additive fabrication of ceramic materials. More specifically, the material of interest can be synthesized on-site with localized electrodeposition achieved by precise extrusion and activation of a small volume of electrolyte. I then applied this newly developed method to fabrication of smart actuators based on redox reaction between nickel hydroxide and nickel oxy-hydroxide.
Email: pywang.mse@gmail.com
Wang Pingyu (MPhil)
I have been fascinated by how materials science and engineering interrelates microscale structures and macroscale properties, which eventually led me to pursue research in the field. I joined Prof. Ngan's group in the summer of 2014, when I started to explore new methods for additive fabrication of ceramic materials. After obtaining my bachelor's degree (BEng in Mechanical Engineering, First Class Honours, 2015) from The University of Hong Kong, I continued to work in the group as an M.Phil candidate.
C. Cheng received a BEng in Materials Science and Engineering from Shandong University in 2006, a MEng in Materials Science from Lanzhou University in 2009, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Hong Kong in 2013. He received Mechanical Engineering Best Thesis Award (2013), Norman W.M.Ko Ph.D. Prize (2014), and Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student Award (2013) from The University of Hong Kong.
After PhD graduation, he received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from The University of Hong Kong in 2013, a Humboldt Research Fellowship from Alexandra von Humboldt Foundation in 2015 (hosted at Hamburg University of Technology). In 2017, he received both a Postdoctoral position at University of Oxford and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (Horizon 2020) from European Commission (hosted at University of Groningen); due to the time confliction, he has to choose the first position. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in University of Oxford working on a lithium-ion battery project sponsored by EPSRC of UK. His main research interest is functional mesoporous materials for energy storage and conversion applications.
I have become a member of Prof. Ngan’s group since 2014, after receiving BEng from the Harbin institute of technology. My research focuses on simulation and modelling inspired by the experimental observation of electrochemical actuation of nano porous metal. Molecular dynamics and finite element method are used in my study to understand the actuation mechanism from nano interface activity to macro scale deformation.
