Pak-Chiu “Patrick” Cheung, a structural engineer and professor of civil engineering in China, and a passionate ambassador for ASCE, has died. He was 71.
For the past decade, there has hardly been anyone more important to the ASCE Greater China Section and its student chapters. He was key for maintaining continuity of the Society’s tradition in Hong Kong by passing on career wisdom and knowledge to students and helping the chapters to organize activities.
Cheung, Ph.D., C.Eng, F.ASCE, was continuing to make significant contributions in the development of the student chapters of the Greater China Section, serving as chair of the Student Chapter Committee as well as a practitioner advisor for other chapters for many years.
“Patrick was one of the most extraordinary individuals to have wholeheartedly served ASCE student members in the Greater China Region,” said Chao Li, Ph.D., C.Eng, M.ASCE, deputy technical manager, Technical Department at China Harbour Engineering Co., Hong Kong, and ASCE Greater China past-president.
Cheung worked until his 2010 retirement as a structural engineer at the architectural services department of the Hong Kong SAR government. His research interests focused on seismic structural design. He was also a Kwan-Hua Foundation visiting professor of civil engineering at Tongji University, Shanghai, and an adjunct associate professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
He joined ASCE in 1978 as an associate member, becoming a regular member in 1984. In 1997 he began a longtime membership in the Structural Engineering Institute. An ASCE fellow since 2011, he became a life member in 2015.
Cheung’s leadership roles in the Hong Kong Section (now Greater China Section) included vice president 2006-07; president elect 2007-08; president 2008-09; immediate past president 2009-2010; and director 2019-2020. All applications of the establishment of international student chapters went through Cheung, but he was also known for his valuable career advice and for facilitating connections with ASCE Greater China.
Recently, Cheung was a practitioner advisor at Hohai University and Zhejiang University, and a past practitioner advisor at Tongji University and Chongqing University. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at National Cheng Kung University and Cornell, and his doctoral degree in 1991 from the University of Canterbury.
