Smart Urban Water Supply Systems (Smart UWSS)

A strong management structure has been put in place to oversee, administer, and execute the tasks, work activities and compliance to regulations, including facility design and health, safety, and environment.

The Project Coordinator (PC) is Professor Ghidaoui, who has overall directorial responsibility for ensuring that the research and management teams achieve project deliverables on schedule and within budget while adhering to standards and guidelines. Professor Ghidaoui also oversees interactions involving project collaborators and review / advisory board members.

Professor Ghidaoui is also a Principal Investigator (PI) primarily responsible for Tasks 2 and 4. Professor Ross Murch of HKUST’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is the Co-PI responsible for Task 3.

Professor JW Lee is the Co-PI responsible for Task 1 - field testing of transients in water supply systems. He is also responsible for the coordination with WSD.

The three PIs comprise the TBRS Management Committee (MC) who meet at least once per quarter to review progress and budget and to identify areas of concern that may require intervention to bring into alignment and conformity with project schedule, budget or compliance requirements. They are also responsible for directorial planning and management of all project activities. The MC is supported by the Project Assistant and by the Field and Laboratory Facilities and Services Manager Dr. Adriana Camino and the Research Coordinators Prof. Moez Louati and Dr. Zhou Li. Dr. Camino also provides Co-Investigator support to the Tasks 2 and 4.

Currently, the project primary activities are carried out and supported by a research team of approximately 20 Research Assistants, PhD and MPhil students as well as our senior lab technician, Mr. Man Fai Poon.

The TBRS Advisory Board is a key review and recommendation oversight committee. Each member is a renowned academic in the field of transient waves, acoustics, urban water systems and sensing robotics. The Board plays a key role in reviewing and advising the research team on both organizational and technical issues to ensure that the project proceeds in a manner that will achieve the program research objectives.

To maintain a cohesive and informed, integrated research team, the PC hold regular monthly team meetings. Individual research team members provide updates and presentations of their individual work on the project as well as provide general talks to inform the team about specific theoretical or practical matters related to their work and the TBRS project in general. General discussion and questions are also encouraged.