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n April 2009, coinciding with Earth Day, HKUST’s Institute for the Environment held its second annual Environment Week. This year’s theme was “Uncovering the Student’s Role in Sustainability.”Several workshops and seminars were offered with the objectives of increasing student awareness and recognition of how far-reaching climate change issues are. For this event, HKUST invited several renowned expert speakers, including the Hong Kong Civic Party’s the Hon Audrey Eu; Director of the Climate Change Business Forum Ciara Shannon: and Marketing Director of the Business Environment Council Estrid Wai. Each of the speakers provided invaluable insights into the climate change and greenhouse gas emission challenges we face today. Indeed, socially relevant organizations and countries around the world are also beginning to recognize these issues, resulting in new career opportunities. In Hong Kong alone, it is estimated that a local green movement will lead to the creation of nearly 90,000 new jobs.
In addition to workshops and seminars, Environment Week 2009 marked the recognition of HKUST’s inaugural cohort of Green Ambassadors from the Hang Seng Bank Green Ambassador Program.
Students involved in the program liaised
with various campus departments to promote several environment and sustainability related activities, including a
‘No Plastics on Campus’ campaign, student led energy conservation workshops and the reallocating of recycling bins to more efficient and recognizable locations on campus.
In keeping with the environmental and
sustainability motif, this year’s Environ-ment Week had several key targets, including minimizing waste production, paper consumption and calculating the event’s carbon footprint. This required several innovative approaches. Among them a viral advertising campaign that replaced the Windows background on all ITSC computer barn desktops. A series of cryptic background images were designed and strategically launched a week prior to the actual event. This generated discussions among students and publicity for Environment Week 2009 while only utilizing existing resources and generating zero waste.
As a follow-up to this year’s Environ-ment Week, a carbon footprint for the event is being calculated with input from students and faculty. The purposes of this exercise are to establish a baseline for future Environ-ment Week events to improve upon, and better still, to initiate a culture of carbon management at HKUST.
Videos of the Environment Week 2009 workshops and seminars are available online at the UST Video Channel. The Environment Week 2009 carbon footprint as well as presentation slides will be available shortly, and can be requested from Calvin Lee Kwan.
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Members of HKUST's inaugural cohort of the Green Ambassador Program
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By Sustainability Steering Committee
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Brian Au, Senior Consultant, RESET The Honorable Audrey Eu, Legco
Bo Chung, VER Project Manager, Cenergy 1
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The event’s speakers Ciara Shannon, Director, Climate Change Business Forum
Estrid Wai, Head - Communications &
Marketing, Business Environment Council
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Kalmond Ma, Head of Pearl River Delta Regional Programme at The Climate Group Liam Salter, Managing Director, RESET
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fter joining the REDbird Award Program for a year — a new whole person development program for HKUST students — Ragavan Meenakshi Sundaram, a student in Electronic Engineering and Business Administration, talked about what he has been through as a member of the Program.“The REDbird Award Program has helped me map out my personal development plan. I know where I am now, where I want to be, how to get there, what support I need and how to assess my progress. In short, I have the ‘flight plan’ and I am the captain of my aircraft.”
The Program has three major components, namely training, service learning, and internship. Under the guidance of peer coaches and trainers from SAO and other agencies, individual members will be guided to work out a roadmap for self-improvement and self-actualization. They will be given the knowledge, skills and vision to prepare them to live a fuller life and become contributive members of the University and society at large.
Each year about 100 student members and 20 student coaches will be recruited for the Program.
As the Program lasts throughout the students’
3-year or 4-year stay on the Campus, being its
member is no mean feat.
For its members, the program is a journey of metamorphosis. At the end of their REDbird journeys these green, inexperienced birdies will be transformed into bright, mature REDbirds with sprightly figures,
gaudy plumage and the desirable REDbird
attributes — Respectful, Energetic, Diverse, Bright, Innovative, Responsive, Diligent and Dependable.
In the 2008-2009 academic year, a total of 108 students and 20 coaches have been selected to join this REDbird Award Program.
The REDbird Award Program Inauguration Ceremony was held on 11 May at HKUST campus. Attending the ceremony were distinguished guests from HKUST and the local community, including HKUST President and Vice-Presidents, as well as the Patrons - Chairman of the Court Dr John Chan,
Vice-Chairman of the Council Dr Michael Mak, Council Members Mr Marcus Lee and Mr Maximilian Ma, and mentors of the Program who were there to celebrate student members’ take off on the most exciting journey to learn, to serve, and to soar!
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ԞҺߞᛕᐯ֜)ცЄЍфЍᇒನ*ᐯӠ Ragavan Meenakshi Sundaram ࣏ॊЂ॓൧ᄑߞ৶ȄҁԴ
Whole Person Development
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team of three Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE) students have each bagged HK$10,000 for their final year project on display technology.
ECE students Chan Chin Pang, Chan Ming Pui and Li Hon Kwok have won the inaugural Varitronix 30th Anniversary Scholarship for the Best Final Year Project on Display Technology.
Varitronix Limited is a leading LCD manufacturer in Hong Kong. The Company has set aside an amount of HK$30,000 each year as scholarship to award the best final year ECE project on display technology. The Scholarship covers five years.
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Students Awarded Scholarship
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After an internship program, Jaroslav Skyba, an international student from Prague says the program “has given me insight into foreign trade practices and increased my adaptability in a foreign environment. “ Training is a core component of the REDbird Program
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