On December 29, an academic lecture titled Scientific Machine Learning and Its Applications to Engineering Problems was held at the International Lecture Hall on the Railway Campus. The lecture was delivered by Professor Ni Yi-Qing, Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Director of the Hong Kong Branch of the National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center. Attendees included Peng Yong, Vice Dean of the School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Central South University; Li Yingli, Liu Xiang, and Yang Chengxing from the Research Center of High-speed Trains; as well as more than 100 faculty members and student representatives.

At the beginning of the lecture, Vice Dean Peng Yong introduced Professor Ni’s background. Professor Ni then gave a detailed presentation on scientific machine learning and its engineering applications. By combining algorithmic principles, model optimization, and application cases in transportation engineering and civil engineering, he systematically introduced scientific machine learning methods, with particular emphasis on Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs). He further shared active explorations into the optimization of PINNs and frontier developments in their applications, and engaged in lively interactive exchanges with faculty members and students present.

It is reported that this academic lecture also facilitated a dual doctoral degree cooperation program between Central South University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which will contribute to enhancing exchanges and interaction between the two universities and promoting the development of intelligent structures and rail transit in the field of transportation engineering.

Biography

Professor Ni Yi-Qing holds the title of Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor appointed by the Ministry of Education. He is also Yim, Mak, Kwok & Chung Professor in Smart Structures, Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Director of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch).

He has published more than 300 SCI-indexed journal papers and over 350 international conference papers. His academic work has been cited more than 9,000 times in the SCI Core Collection, with an h-index of 52, and more than 17,000 times on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 65. He has received the 2017 Structural Health Monitoring Person of the Year Award from the International Journal of Structural Health Monitoring, the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the China Highway and Transportation Society, and the First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Chinese Society for Vibration Engineering. He has also been named among the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists in civil engineering in the Stanford ranking for four consecutive years.