Student Seminar by Mr. Chenming Niu on May 13, 2026, 2:00PM

Title: Unequal Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Identifying Vehicular Drivers of Exposure Disparity

Speaker: Mr. Chenming Niu (Department of Geography)

Date: May 13, 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Venue: Room 1010, CLL, Department of Geography, 10/F, The Jockey Club Tower, The University of Hong Kong

Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/r/cgThea0b4d

ITS Student Committee will provide a beverage for registered participants.

Abstract: Traffic-related air pollution is a major source of near-road environmental inequality in dense cities, yet the vehicular sources of exposure disparities are often obscured by broad vehicle groupings and daily average estimates. In this seminar, we present a data-driven framework for Hong Kong that integrates high-resolution traffic counts, street imagery, detector data, machine learning, and computer vision to estimate hourly vehicular NOx and PM2.5 emissions across all road segments. The results reveal substantial exposure disparities across income and ethnic groups, with the main vehicular contributors varying over the day. Delivery fleets play a larger role in daytime disparities, while franchised buses become more important in the evening. These findings show the value of vehicle-specific and time-resolved analysis for understanding environmental inequalities and informing more targeted transport and air quality policies.

Bios: Chenming's research interest lies in traffic emission modeling, shared mobility modeling, environmental justice analysis, and transport equity analysis. Prior to joining HKU, he earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Traffic and Transportation from Southeast University and a Master of Science in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. 

12 May 2026 (Tue) 17:00-18:00 | Seminar by Prof. Peng Zhang

Solution to static traffic assignment problem with shock structures on a single origin-destination parallel road network

Speaker:

Prof. Peng Zhang

School of Mechanics and Engineering Sciences

Shanghai University, China

Date:    May 12, 2026 (Tuesday)

Time:   5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Venue: Room 612B, 6/F Haking Wong Building, The University of Hong Kong

Language: Putonghua

Abstract

It mathematically indicates that shock structures are essential in static traffic assignment (STA) problems. The study is based upon the Lighthill-Witham-Richards (LWR) model or the theory of fundamental diagram, and takes a single origin-destination (OD) parallel road network as an instance, in which the user-equilibrium condition is satisfied.  Taking the total number of users on the network as the independent variable, it shows that there are no classical steady-state solutions to the problem for the number between two critical values, thus shock structures must be introduced to complete the solution in the interval.  Dynamic simulation of the LWR model on two ring networks is implemented to show that casually distributed traffic flow converges to analytical solutions, corresponding to the user number on the ring network. However, extensions of this study to more complex road networks are still challenging. For more details, see Z. Lin, P. Zhang, et al, Transportmetrica B: Transport Dynamics, 2024, vol.12, No.1, 2341012; Lyu, Y.P., Steady-State Solution on a Simple Single Origin-Destination Road Network based on LWR Model and User-Equilibrium Conditions, Dissertation, Shanghai University, 2022.

About the speaker

Professor Peng Zhang has a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Sichuan University, a PhD and DSc in Mathematics from the University of Science and Technology of China. He is now a full professor at School of Mechanics and Engineering Sciences, Shanghai University, China. Professor Zhang has an educational and research background in the computational theory of hyperbolic conservation laws, and he focuses on traffic flow problems using the theory. His contribution to traffic flow problems mainly involves the mathematical theory, which includes the analytical properties in (1) the higher-order model; (2) the multi-class model; and (3) the models with discontinuous fluxes or inhomogeneous road conditions. Since 2003, he has published more than 50 SCI papers on such reputed Journals as J. Comput. Phys., Euro. J. Appl. Math., Numer. Meth. Partial Diff. Equ., SIAM J. Appl. Math., Appl. Numer. Math., J Comput. Appl. Math., Phys. Rev. E, Trans. Res. Part B, etc.

1st Research Workshop on Safety of AI-Driven Autonomous Systems [May 6, 2026]

1st Research Workshop on Safety of AI-Driven Autonomous Systems

The first research workshop on safety of AI-Driven Autonomous Systems will be held at the Centennial Campus of HKU on May 6 morning. This workshop brings together leading experts from HKU, PolyU, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sichuan University, and HKPC to discuss topics including:

• UAV autonomy and control

• GNSS/SLAM localization

• Safe motion planning

• Smart mobility and low-altitude economy

• Networked AI security and privacy

The event includes invited talks, technical exchange, and a tea break for networking. No registration fee is required. Please consider to register and join the workshop in person or online if you are interested in the topic!

Date: May 6, 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 9:20 am – 12:20 pm

Location: Centennial Campus, Central Podium Levels - Two (CPD-2, The Jockey Club Tower) CPD-2.58, HKU or Online 

Please see the poster for the full schedule. You can register for the workshop by this link.