Professor Way Kuo is a Senior Fellow of Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study. He served as President and University Distinguished Professor of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) between 2008 to 2023. Under his leadership, CityU has been ranked top 100 under various world ranking systems. In recognition of his exemplary service, the Council made an exception to confer him the title of Emeritus President and University Distinguished Professor.

A pioneer in reliability research of systems at their infant stage, Professor Kuo is renowned for his work in designing the reliability of electronics and energy systems, and has recently made a most impactful scientific breakthrough in the applications and interpretations of prime numbers. He is a Member of US National Academy of Engineering and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and a Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, elected in 2000, 2002 and 2007, respectively. He was elected as an International Fellow by the Canadian Academy of Engineering, to endorse his long-term standing of separation of politics and education.

He was bestowed the title and rank of Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Legion d' Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by the President of France and awarded the Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia (the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy) by the President of Italy, in 2019 and 2021, respectively. In 2022, he was awarded the most prestigious medal in Management by the Chinese Management Association (CMA) of Taiwan.

Before joining CityU, Professor Kuo was University Distinguished Professor, Dean of Engineering at the University of Tennessee (UT), and a member of the senior management team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy. Professor Kuo dedicated his service to Texas A&M University from 1993 to 2003 in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He held the endowed Wisenbaker Chair of Engineering in Innovation from 2000 to 2003. From 1993 to 2000, he was the Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering, managing both the Industrial and Biomedical Engineering programmes. The NRC-Research Doctoral Programmes and US News & World Report rated the department under his leadership among the best in the US.

In addition to his remarkable academic achievements, he has received numerous professional awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from Beijing Institute of Technology and Life-time Achievement Award of IEEE Reliability. He has also been appointed as external advisor for internationally renowned institutions, hi-tech companies and research organisations, and is frequently invited to speak all over the world on topics related to education, reliability, energy and research.

Professor Kuo has co-authored eight academic books and over 200 high impact papers, some of which are deemed classics in systems optimisation design and are used as the basis for establishing the reliability standards.

His first popular science book Critical Reflections on Nuclear and Renewable Energy has created an impact since its publication in 2013 by Commonwealth Publishing Group in Taiwan. The book has been translated into English, Japanese, French and Russian, published in Massachusetts, Tokyo, Paris, and Moscow, respectively. It has also been published in Hong Kong and Beijing in both traditional and simplified Chinese under different titles.

He is well respected for promoting higher education with an emphasis on its relevance to societal needs and problem-driven research. His most recent book, titled The Absence of Soulware in Higher Education, was published by Wiley and its Chinese version 高等教育的心盲 by 聯經 in Taipei, both in 2023. The long standing theme of “integration of teaching and research” and “separation of politics and education” promoted in the book has been well received by the academic communities.