The College announced the recipients of the AY2021-22 President's Awards for Research, Teaching, and Service (launched in 2014 and granted to UIC staff annually) on June 2, 2022. The purpose of these awards is to recognize UIC staff who have demonstrated a commitment to the continual enhancement of their professional skills and to signify the College’s commitment to recognizing and promoting excellence.

Of the five deserving winners voted by the Selection Panelists, two are DBM staff members. They are:

Young Researcher Award: Dr. Don Junyi CHAI

 (Associate Professor, PD of EBIS)  

Dr. Chai's research focuses on an interdisciplinary theme: Quantitative Research on Informatics and Behavioral Decision Analytics. The research topics span across Decision Science, Economic Psychology, Econometrics, Machine Learning, and Informatics. Dr. Chai’s long-term research goal is to deepen the understanding of human behaviors on decision-making, exploit methods for improving the quality of decision-making, and develop approaches to enhancing decision makers' abilities in managing data, information and knowledge. Currently, some of his research results have been published in more than 15 top international journals and received nearly 1,800 peer citations, based on Google Scholar.

Service Award: Dr. Darren Zhiquan WENG

 (Assistant Dean, Assistant Professor, PD of AE) 

   Dr. Weng joined UIC in 2014. He was a key member in the planning and accreditation of the E-Business and Information Systems (EBIS) Programme in 2015, and served as the first EBIS Programme Director for 5 years. He received the President’s Award for Teaching in 2019. In September 2020, Dr. Weng was appointed concurrently as an Assistant Dean of DBM and the Programme Director of the Applied Economics (AE) Programme. Over the past two years, the number of freshmen who selected AE as their first-choice major has increased substantially. In 2021, AE was rated the provincial first-class programmes by the Department of Education of Guangdong. Apart from teaching, Dr. Weng has been helping to develop a series of new programmes in student services and development in DBM. Through these programmes, students can expand their academic achievements into broader areas, as well as develop close and supportive relationships with their teachers. Dr. Weng has been actively involved as an advisor, coaching students in academic competitions. To date, his teams have won 4 national-level prizes and over 20 provincial-level prizes. During the last eight years, through his continued involvement in voluntary service, Dr. Weng has sponsored two students in Ningxia for their tuition and living expenses through high school and university, helping them to realize their personal dreams.

Congratulations to Dr. Chai and Dr. Weng on winning the awards! They truly inspire us!