UM’s various research projects receive funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China
The University of Macau’s (UM) Zhuhai Research Institute (UMZRI) will receive a total of RMB 4 million in funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for ten research projects, according to the results of grants application for the year 2015 recently released by the NSFC. This year, UM submitted funding applications to the NSFC for 38 research projects. It is encouraging news that over 26% of them, or ten applications, have been approved. The ten funded research projects are respectively headed by Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) Chair Professor Philip Chen; FST professors Li Yangmin and Zhu Lei; FST associate professors Zhou Wanhuan and Xu Qingsong; FST assistant professors Dr U Leong Hou and Dr Xu Lihu; as well as Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS) assistant professors Dr Lu Jiahong, Dr Wan Jianbo, and Dr Wang Chunming. Five of the projects, namely ‘Ergodicity of Stochastic Partial Differential Equations Driven by Degenerate Jump Processes’, ‘Design and Control of Fully Compliant 3-DOF Constant-Force Micropositioning Stage for Cell Microinjection with Minimal Damage’, ‘Design Theory and Dynamic Hysteresis Nonlinear Control Method Studies for a 6-DOF Micro Manipulation Stage Based on Hybrid Giant Magnetostrictive and Piezoelectric Actuators’, ‘Wideband Antennas on Multi-Mode Radiator: Theory and Approach’, and ‘Evolutionary Computation Based Deep Learning Techniques for Disease Prevention and Control’, have been selected by the NSFC as some of this year’s General Programmes. Only projects that fulfill certain requirements with significance and research merits will qualify as General Programmes. The other five projects, namely ‘Shearing Behavior and Multiscale Constitutive Modeling of Silty Sand-Structure Interface’, ‘Reviewer Assignment Algorithm Design and Analysis’, ‘The Role and Mechanism of Beclin 1-VPS34 Complex in Regulating Intra-neuronal Aβ Homeostasis’, ‘An Injectable, in Situ-forming Glucomannan Biomaterial for Periodontal Tissue Regeneration’, and ‘Anti-atherosclerotic Effects of 20(S)-protopanaxatriol and 20(S)- protopanaxdiol Saponins from Panax Notoginseng’, stood out in the category which the NSFC has established specially for young scholars under the age of 35. Founded in 1986, the NSFC aims to encourage innovative scientific research and to promote balanced, coordinated, and sustainable development of various academic disciplines by awarding research grants to outstanding research projects in China on an annual basis.