Wen Jung LI is Vice President (Talent and International Strategy) and Chair Professor (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). Prior to joining CityU in 2011, he was with the Dept. of Mechanical and Automation Engineering of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 1997 to 2011, where he also served as the Director of the Centre for Micro and Nano Systems from 2002 to 2011. His academic honors include IEEE Fellow, ASME Fellow, AIAA (Asia-Pacific AI Association) Fellow, and 100 Talents of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He served as the President of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council in 2016/2017 and as the founding Editorin-Chief of the IEEE Open Journal on Nanotechnology (2019-2022) and the IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine (2007-2013).
Prof. Li was educated at the University of Southern California (BS Aerospace Engineering ‘87; MS Aerospace Engineering ‘89) and the University of California, Los Angeles (PhD ‘97, Aerospace Engineering). Before joining CUHK, he held R&D positions at the NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, USA), The Aerospace Corporation (El Segundo, USA), and at Silicon Microstructures Inc. (Fremont, USA). He received a NASA technical innovation award (group award), Aerospace Corporate Fellowship, and Silicon Microstructures Employee Award for his contributions to those organizations. Since 1997, his research group has published more than 430 technical papers, 2 books, and 5 book chapters related to MEMS, nanotechnology, and robotics. His research areas are tied by diverse engineering disciplines, including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and artificial intelligence. Some of his research results are published in prestigious journals such as Nature Communications, Science Advances, Nature Methods, Nature Machine Intelligence, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Science, IEEE/ASME J. MEMS, IEEE Internet of Things J., etc. He is recognized worldwide for his contributions in MEMS/nano sensors, micro-power generators, and micro/nano/bio manipulation and assembly, and has been invited to give more than 100 keynote/plenary/seminar lectures at universities and international meetings. His research work has consistently received international recognition through winning several prestigious IEEE conference prizes such as the Best Conference/Student paper awards from IEEE-ROBIO (2021, 2011, 2007), IEEE-NANO (2016, 2003), IEEE-NANOMED (2014), IEEE/ASME-AIM (2007), and IEEE-ICRA (2003).
Prof. Li’s research team has been continually funded by both basic and applied research agencies in Hong Kong and the Mainland, including the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese National 863 Plan, Croucher Foundation (Hong Kong), Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee, and the Hong Kong Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. He has led more than 40 research projects as PI and 15 projects as Co-I since 1999. He currently holds 20 patents (US, EU, China) with 7 more (US/China) pending in micro/nano technologies and AI-sensor based motion analytics. He was a key contributor in developing the fabrication process of the first NASA gyroscope based on MEMS technology, which was billed as “a new high-performance, long-life gyroscope that serves as a balancing inner ear for spacecraft” and was licensed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to Hughes Space and Communications Company in 1999. Based on IPs generated at CityU and CUHK, he supported his students in founding 4 start-ups since 2004, which have created intelligent sensing products for human-machine-interface motion engines, construction and aerospace industries, and more recently, for sports education management. These companies have won awards such as the “Gold Medal at the Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days (IGED)” in 2021, “Best Innovative Technology Project Award” from China Hi-Tech Fair in 2020, “Most Promising Start-up Technology Enterprise Award” from China Hi-Tech Fair in 2019, “Gold Award of the 2018 World IoT Expo”, and the “Grand Award of The 14th HKEIA Award for Outstanding Innovation and Technology Products”. These companies’ businesses now cover more than 50 countries and regions and serve more than 5,000 customers. Their smart sensors were used at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games (2022) to provide real-time monitoring of the competition ski jump ramp, in monitoring historical mud houses of the Qiang Village for preparation for inclusion in the World Heritage List, and in Lithuanian, Ukraine, and Italy to monitor structural vibrations and solar panel orientation. Their AI-sensor based SaaS sports education platform is currently used by more than 100 schools and institutions in the Mainland.
Prof. Li has also been very active in serving the professional communities over the past two decades. Besides serving as the President and co-founded two publications for the IEEE Nanotechnology Council, he actively promoted interdisciplinary technical activities between the Council and the Robotics and Automation Society. He served as a key organizer of several well-known international conferences since early 2000’s, e.g., as the Program Co-Chair of IEEE/ASME-AIM (California, USA), General Chair of IEEEROBIO 2005 (Hong Kong), General Chair of IEEE-NANO 2007 (Hong Kong), General Chair of IEEE-NMDC 2012 (Hawaii, USA), General Chair of IEEE-NEMS 2014 (Hawaii, USA), and as the General Co-Chair of the IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019, Macau). Prof. Li is currently a member of the Engineering Panel (HK RGC), a Board Member of the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning, and the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium (a consortium of 8 government-funded universities in Hong Kong) in 2023. He is an advisor to the Transport Department’s Committee on Application of Autonomous Vehicle Technologies, and serves on the Panel of Experts of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks.
Prof. Li has also held affiliated/adjunct/guest professorships at the University of Toronto, Peking University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Xiamen University, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Northeastern University, and the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
