Chen Lei: At HKUST(GZ), driving cutting-edge technology with big data research.
Professor Chen Lei is currently the Director of Information Hub Data Science and Analytics thrust at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and an Outstanding Scientist of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). His academic achievements are widely recognized within the industry. Professor Chen Lei is the editor-in-chief of TKDE (Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering), a journal under IEEE that focuses on data mining in the field of computer science. He is also the former editor-in-chief of VLDB (Very Large Database) Journal. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Program Committee of the IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE), the top database conference in 2023, and Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the VLDB Foundation.
What is data like? According to Professor Chen Lei, data is not just simple and cold numbers, but a "data cube" that can take on multiple forms and flow and change. The information and value contained in the data are like treasures that need to be explored and mined. In the era of "Industry 4.0", data science and analytics is not only a typical interdisciplinary field, but also demonstrates the ability to drive the development of cutting-edge technology.
As a leading scholar in the field of world data science and analysis, Chen Lei joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2005 and participated in the establishment of HKUST(GZ) in 2019. He finds a broader research and application prospects for the big data discipline in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and also sees unlimited possibilities to be explored in HKUST(GZ).
"I don't like a predictable life."
In 2005, Chen Lei joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His academic career has been very successful, starting from assistant professor, associate professor, full professor, to chair professor. In the field of big data, his research results have been published in multiple top international academic journals and conferences, and have won many awards, such as the Test-of-Time Award at the 2015 SIGMOD conference (the winning paper with Chen Lei as the first author has been cited more than 1500 times) and the Best Regular Paper Award at the 2022 VLDB conference. Chen Lei has led his team to obtain multiple national level fundings and established long-term cooperative relationships with world-renowned enterprises such as Huawei and Microsoft. Under Chen Lei's leadership, HKUST launched the first taught master's degree program in big data technology in Hong Kong (MSc of Big Data Technology). With strong faculty, scientifically reasonable curriculum design, and close cooperation with the industry, this program has become one of the most popular and best-employment graduate programs at HKUST.
"Smooth sailing all the way, why come to HKUST(GZ) and start from scratch?" Chen Lei said he considered two aspects. "Around 2018 and 2019, I felt that in mainland cities, especially those with a concentration of technology companies, the public's acceptance of data intelligence was very high. In such an environment, there is a wealth of data sources, which provides a solid foundation for research and also breeds many research topics." Chen Lei said, for example, that there are still many places in Hong Kong that do not accept electronic payments and only accept physical currency, butin mainland China, electronic payments have become the norm. Compared to this, the widespread use of electronic payments can generate a large amount of consumer data, which can be mined to conduct more accurate analysis of consumer behavior patterns.
At the same time, the demand from the industry is rapidly increasing. Not only are internet giants such as Tencent and Alibaba emphasizing big data, but many traditional industries are also undergoing digital transformation. They hope to collaborate with universities for scientific research and provide internship opportunities for students. I thought at that time, if there was a platform in mainland China, especially in the Greater Bay Area, to carry out scientific research, exchanges, and student training, it would be much more convenient and many ideas could be implemented. Therefore, in 2019, when the innovative academic structure of HKUST(GZ) was still under discussion and improvement, I joined the team without hesitation," said Chen Lei.
"I don't like a predictable life," Chen Lei said. At HKUST(GZ), any idea can be immediately put into action. The platform here is vast and the opportunities are limitless.
In 2022, at the VLDB 2022, an international top conference in the field of databases held in Sydney, Chen Lei and his team's academic paper won the Best Research Paper Award at the conference. The picture shows Chen Lei giving a keynote speech on behalf of the project team.
Driven by data, interdisciplinary research has achieved multiple "firsts" since Chen Lei joined HKUST(GZ)
In August 2021, Chen Lei led the team to win the hosting rights for the top international conference in the database field, VLDB 2024, for the still-under-construction HKUST(GZ). This will be the first time that HKUST(GZ) hosts a top academic conference, and the second time that VLDB conference is held in mainland China. In 2022, the "Multimodal Data-Driven and Knowledge Fusion Explainable Knowledge Graph Reasoning Technology" project, led by Chen Lei, was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Key Program - Enterprise Innovation Development Joint Fund, with a funding of 2.54 million yuan. This is the first time that HKUST(GZ) has received support from the NSFC for this type of project.
The academic structure of HKUST(GZ) has also opened up new possibilities for data science. "For example, research on carbon capture and storage requires finding suitable materials. The traditional research method is to take the carbon capture materials to the laboratory for testing to understand their performance and application effects, which is time-consuming and costly. Professor Li Jia and I discussed and are trying to use data-driven AI to simulate and predict the performance of carbon capture materials, which can not only save time and money but also seek the optimal solution," Chen Lei explained. The so-called "data-driven" approach is that AI simulation is not "created out of nothing," but rather AI learns from the data accumulated before, through data augmentation, to conduct scientific simulation and prediction. Without the support of data, artificial intelligence and simulation calculation will be like water without a source.
Data-driven cutting-edge technology development is also reflected in multiple fields such as artificial intelligence. Chen Lei explained that Chat GPT, which is currently the most popular, uses massive data to pre-train the model, enabling artificial intelligence to analyze and process information and interact with people in real-time and complex ways. On the other hand, data also limits the boundary of artificial intelligence's ability. "For example, the training data used by Chat GPT only goes up to 2021, so the 'knowledge' of AI is only up to 2021, which highlights the fundamental role of data in the field of artificial intelligence from another perspective."
Chen Lei's team is collaborating with Shanghai Jiao Tong University on a cross-disciplinary research project of "big data + fintech" - intelligent quantitative trading. Advanced mathematical models are used to replace subjective judgments, and investment strategies are developed through learning from historical data. "All information released by the company, including financial reports, announcements, and news reports, is included in the dynamic knowledge graph representation learning, which is constantly updated with the market," Chen Lei explained.
"The charm of data science is also that it is unpredictable," Chen Lei said. Many problems in basic disciplines such as physics and chemistry have a "unique solution," but data science does not have a "unique solution" but is always searching for the "optimal solution."
Chen Lei shared his views at the academic seminar on "The Application of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Teaching".
Strong faculty and diverse backgrounds and the first undergraduate students were recruited this year.
The data science and analytics discipline at HKUST(GZ) has recruited 15 full-time professors, becoming one of the fastest-growing disciplines at the university with a diverse and strong faculty background. For example, Professor Chu Xiaowen's research interests include GPU computing, distributed machine learning, cloud computing, and wireless networks, with a particular focus on high-performance machine learning, achieving a series of influential results. Professor Luo Qiong's research on the application of artificial intelligence in science (AI for science) and scientific data processing is very profound. Professor Wang Wei's research direction is high-dimensional data modeling and querying, the integration of databases and artificial intelligence technology (DB+AI), knowledge graphs, and natural language processing, and has published many high-level papers.
"When recruiting outstanding talents, I often say, 'This is a blank sheet of paper, let's start a business together!'" said Chen Lei. The teachers are pleasantly surprised that the more they get in touch with HKUST(GZ), the more they feel the university's emphasis on talent and comprehensive support. The university provides ample research start-up funds, sufficient laboratory space, large high-performance computer servers, and other equipment, laying a solid foundation for the smooth development of data science-related scientific research. The university's administrative departments, such as the Talent Service Office, Human Resources Office, and Research Office, provide professional assistance for relevant talents and scientific research project applications. In terms of life, the university also cares for the professors in a meticulous manner.
Chen Lei mentioned that the country attaches great importance to and strongly supports the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which has already had an application environment for the entire industry chain, and the innovative vitality here is attracting outstanding talents from all over the world. In such an environment, researchers can easily find breakthroughs in their research interests and industry integration, thereby expanding the influence of scientific research. "The satisfaction of bringing scientific research results to affect people's lives is different from the satisfaction of publishing academic papers. I believe that HKUST(GZ), located at the core of the Greater Bay Area, can provide such opportunities."
In 2023, HKUST(GZ) will recruit undergraduate students from four mainland provinces, including Guangdong, Henan, Shandong, and Sichuan, as well as China's Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions. "Data science and big data technology" is one of the three majors that our university will recruit for the first time.
Chen Lei introduced that the discipline practices the interdisciplinary concept of HKUST(GZ), closely follows the development needs of society and industry, and provides students with more opportunities to learn and practice in the industry. Currently, the data science and analytics discipline has recruited about 20 mentors from the industry, including technical experts and senior managers from well-known companies such as Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent, ByteDance, Beike, Microsoft, and Korea Telecom.
On September 29th, 2020, HKUST(GZ) and China Mobile Communications Group Guangdong Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Branch signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Now, their cooperation is about to bear fruit, and the Metaverse Joint Innovation Laboratory is about to be established. Chen Lei is the leading scientist of this laboratory.
At the same time, Chen Lei's team has submitted a course-based graduate program plan for Data-Centric Artificial Intelligence to the university's Senate. Unlike the common one-year course-based graduate programs in the United States, the United Kingdom, the program plans to have students learn data science and AI-related knowledge at the university in the first year and then follow industry mentors in the second year to learn in the industry.
For students interested in applying for the data science program, Chen Lei has given some advice. "I hope that students have a solid mathematical foundation and are interested in data, such as data patterns, data linkage, data combination optimization, and so on. I also hope that students have a spirit of scientific challenge. Let's explore the treasure of data together!"
"Technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary driving force. We will deeply implement the national strategies of revitalizing the country through science and education, strengthening the country through talent, and driving development through innovation. We will open up new areas and new tracks for development, and continuously shape new development momentum and advantages." This is a major strategic direction and deployment of the country.
In response to the needs of the country, HKUST(GZ) has been recruiting leading scholars and young talents globally. We welcome those who are interested to join our university and work together to create a "China-characteristic, world-class" high-level university!
