Teaching and research at the University are supported by a number of academic service units.
University Library
As an integral component of the academic programme, the Library supports the University's teaching and research in science, engineering, business and management, the humanities and social sciences. There are seminar rooms for meetings and instruction, areas for group discussion, and study carrels for individual use.
Audio-visual materials, both educational and recreational, are available for use in specially equipped facilities. The Library is much more than a repository for the accumulated knowledge of civilisation; it serves as the heart of the intellectual enterprise.
The rapid development of the University requires a correspondingly rapid rate of growth in its library collection. In 1994 the Library had a collection of over250,000volumes ofbooks and bound periodicals, as well as a sizable collection of non-print materials. The Library plans to add about 50,000 items per year to support the growing demand of the University's expanding programme. Reaching beyond local holdings, the Library has made extensive provisions for automation. The Library Online System forms a part of the campus-wide network, and is accessible from every part of the campus. Through the Online System users are able to consult a broad range of bibliographic and full-text information as well as to search CD-ROM databases. The University Library is linked via telecommunications to libraries and databases in institutions locally and overseas.
An experienced staff assists users in a variety of ways, from the selection, acquisition, and cataloguing of materials to using the collection, online searches, and interlibrary loans. There is also a
ACADEMIC SERVICES
fully equipped classroom and a computer laboratory for group instmction. The University Library has a strong service orientation in order to effectively meet the information needs of its academic community.
Language Centre
The Language Centre has a pan-University role in the provision of language courses, both as academic disciplines and as a support service. English is the medium of instmction in the University, and a priority of the Language Centre is to assist students in all Schools to acquire the necessary language skills for them to gain the maximum benefit from their subject courses. In addition, the importance of Putonghua is reflected in the number and variety of courses in this language offered to all students.
The Language Centre has two 24-booth audio-visual language laboratories (for oral/aural work), one 18-booth and one 24-booth computerised language laboratory (for oral/aural work as well as text processing and editing).
The Language Centre also runs a Self-Access Centre, a purpose-built facility that contains audio, video, satellite TV, computer and multimedia equipment, along with a variety of language-learning materials. The Self-Access Centre is open on weekdays and Saturday mornings. Its aim is to help staff and students to improve their skills in English, Putonghua and other languages through independent learning.
ACADEMIC SERVICES
Centre of Computing Services and Telecommunications (CCST)
The Centre of Computing Services and Telecommunications develops and manages the computing and networking infrastmcture of the University. It provides computing support to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and research applications in all school.
The Centre also serves the University's administrative needs by providing an integrated information system to support the day-to-day routines as well as to satisfy the need for information in management decision making. CCST also manages the University's P ABX telephone system.
The HKUST computing environment is highly distributed, and modelled after the client-server architecture. The cornerstone is an advanced, high-speed FDDI (Fibre Distributed Data Interface) network backbone, which operates at 100 million bits per second, with distributed wiring junctions from which various local area networks emanate. The network covers not only all the campus buildings but also reaches out to staff quarters and student dormitories. The Centre operates powerful server computers to provide campus-wide network services such as network printing, e-mail and electronic notice board. One important characteristic of the University's computing environment is its Chinese-English bilingual capability. Increasingly, more network services will have this feature. To support computation intensive research, CCST provides solutions in different forms. High performance computing resources include a workstation cluster, an 8-processor SGI/Onyx symmetric multi-processor machine and an 140-node Intel Paragon massively parallel machine, providing a powerful environment for scientific computing. All micro-computers and scientific workstations are connected to the campus network, providing desktop computing power as well as windows to a vast array of information and computing resources, such as the Library system and various scientific and business packages, on the University's own network or that of other institutions in Hong Kong, and
ACADEMIC SERVICES
through the Internet, on networks of educational and research institutions worldwide. In addition, the Centre also manages a number of "computer barns" in various locations in the academic buildings, providing PC, Macintosh and Unix workstation facilities for teaching and student use. Each academic department also has one or more computing facility rooms.
Educational Technology Centre (ETC)
The University is committed to high standards and up-to-date methods in teaching and in the communication of research results. To this end, the Educational Technology Centre sustains a comprehensive service for all academic and research staff. It provides and maintains a wide range of instructional media resources for academic purposes and it assists academic staff in producing teaching and learning materials, including those generated with computer graphics technology, such as slide presentations, overhead transparencies, video tapes and print materials. In addition, the Centre provides highspeed, high-volume repro graphic and off-set printing services.
To underpin these services, ETC organises workshops and seminars for faculty, teaching assistants, and tutors on educationalissues and instructional practices in higher education, including selection and use of mediated instructional materials, production of teaching and learning packages and methods for student feedback of teaching effectiveness. The Centre also serves as a resource for information on teaching methods, instructional formats and materials related to research on teaching.
In addition, ETC is responsible for administering the course evaluation exercise as part of the University's quality assurance process for all undergraduate and postgraduatelevellecture classes, and English language enhancement courses.
VI.
THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
INTERDIEIPARTMIENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
To both support and supplement research based in academic departments, the University has established a number of research institutes and centres to identify and provide focus for research at HKUST. All operate across traditional disciplinary boundaries, and provide a full range of research and specialised research services from developmental and applied activities to basic investigations. Together with disciplinary research in academic departments, these specialised research organisations provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with a wide range of opportunities for participation in exciting programmes and projects that deal with the extension and application of knowledge. Several hundred research projects have been funded and are in operation.
These research units are described briefly in this Handbook in three groupings: the Research Centre, Research Institutes and Central Research Facilities.
Research Centre
The Research Centre has been established to encourage and conduct multidisciplinary, contractual and applied research, the results of which may lead more directly and quickly to implementation and economic benefit. Some of its objectives are to conduct mission-orientedscientific, engineering, industrial, and management research relevant to Hong Kong's technological and socio-economic development; to establish and manage research facilities that are critical to the need for development of technology in Hong Kong;
to incubate critical technologies required by government and industry; to establish research and scientific databases; to provide institutional management and planning support for research to faculty members; to co-ordinate collaborative overseas research programmes; and to develop and maintain research sponsorship and contractual relationships.
INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
The Research Centre has a programme of wide-ranging R&D initiatives with research topics and projects chosen in the collaboration with faculty and staff. The selection process gives consideration to the impact of research results on the local community, availability of the University's skills for conducting outstanding research, involvement of postgraduate students and academic faculty, and potential to strengthen existing areas of activity or to build areas of future research strength. Examples of technology and research initiatives in current operation are:
operational windshearwarning system at ChekLap KokAirport Hong Kong/Pearl River Delta contaminated sediment research satellite remote sensing technology on environmental studies pollutant source identification; air quality index and prediction productive electrochemical desulphurisation of fuel gas abatement of diesel air pollution and clean technology biological wastewater treatment- using immobilisedmicroalgae and mangrove wetland system
heavy metal toxicity and tolerance in plants
conservation and utilization of mangrove stands in Hong Kong environmental ecotoxicology
INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
Research Institutes
Each research institute is managed by a Director who is responsible for programmes, projects, facilities and personnel. Faculty, staff, student and visitors should contact the director if they wish to become involved in a particular programme. Presently, the following ' institutes have been established or are being established:
Institute for Environmental Studies
The institute for Environmental Studies was formally opened on November 4, 1993 to assist government and industry in the solution of the many urgent environmental problems facing Hong Kong and its surrounding region. A further aim is to assist departments in the development of interdisciplinary applied educational programmes, particularly at the Master's level and in continuing education.
Postgraduate and undergraduate students play an important contributing role. Approximately twenty projects worth about $15 million are under way in areas such as
air quality (measurement, dispersion and reduction of pollutants, characterisation of aerosols)
water quality/quantity (measurement, water resource management, water and wastewater treatment by physical, chemical and biological processes)
industrial processes (waste minimisation and prevention, noise control, process control and management)
health studies (toxicological, epidemiology, microbiological and bacteriological studies)
ocean (transport, dispersion and sedimentation of pollutants, air-sea interactions, marine pollution studies)
Biotechnology Research Institute
The mission of the Biotechnology Research Institute (BRI) is to assist Hong Kong in its economic development, and in so doing
INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
contribute to the economic well-being of the Asia-Pacific region through research, development and training of specialists in biotechnology. The biotechnologicalindustry worldwide is entering into a period of unprecedented growth opportunities. Besides rapid scientific advances that are bringing a constant stream of new processes and products, the business environment of the industry is also undergoing dramatic changes in the form of increasing globalisation, as new entrants, both national governments and corporations, seek participation. The founding of BRI helps Hong Kong strive to become one of the important centres ofbiotechnology in the world.
Biotechnology covers a wide range offast-growing areas of economic importance. The five research areas that have been targeted for development by BRI are :
1. Biomedical instrumentation and diagnostics 2. Drug delivery and development
3. Agricultural and Plant Biotechnology 4. Genetic engineering and protein design 5. Environmental biotechnology
The activities of BRI include the recruitment of biotechnology related faculty, the purchase of equipment, the planning and construction of facilities, and the support of research projects in the targeted areas.
Hongkong Telecom Institute of Information Technology This Institute was founded with a grant of $100 million from Hong Kong Telecommunication Limited. The concept of the Institute is based on the recognition that in future there will be no economic development, no industry or commerce, no service or manufacturing capability of any significance without the full utilisation of telecommunication and information technology. All schools at the University are involved in the research activity of this Institute. At
INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
present, the Institute is sponsoringfourmajorresearch programmes, namely lightware technology, network technology, wireless communication, and video technology.
Postgraduate research studentships are offered through the Institute, and certain members of the academic faculty are designated as Institute Fellows.
Sino Software Research Centre
The Sino Software Research Centre (SSRC) was established within HKUST's Research and Development Branch in July 1992 with a
$20 million grant from the Sino Land Co., Ltd., has the dual aim of supporting software research that leads to practical applications, and provides assistance in transforming those applications into useful products.
The Centre's primary role is that of a catalyst, helping software research projects reach the critical phase in which ideas may be translated into prototypes that can be evaluated using large-scale trials. It also encourages development efforts in areas that are relevant to the economic and social development of Hong Kong.
One recent project was the "Hong Kong SuperNet", which made full Internet access available to the community, an important step to maintain Hong Kong's status as a regional communications centre.
Beyond its interest in software research and development, the SSRC also provides technical and consultative help to local businesses as they seek to implementthe latest software technologies.
As part of this effort, the Centre sponsors workshops, seminars and lectures on software topics related to the needs of businesses and public institutions. One such example was the UNIX Security Workshop, which offered practical advice, specific solutions, and hands-on experience in safeguarding UNIX operating systems in a networked environment.
INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
j Central Research Facilities
l_ ~aterials
Characterisation and Preparation CentreThe Materials Characterisation and Preparation Centre (MCPC) is a central facility for the synthesis, study and testing of small-scale samples of new materials and substances needed for in-house or collaborative research projects.
The Centre constitutes an important resource which houses state-of-the-art instrumentation, organises workshops and training, and is a focal point for interdisciplinary research. The facility serves academics in the science and engineering departments and is also available to external clients from other tertiary institutions, government bodies, and plivate indus tty. MCPC occupies about 4000 square metres of purpose-built laboratories and possesses a wide range of sophisticated and expensive equipment, e.g. electron microscopes, thin-film vacuum deposition systems, surface science and analysis machines. The scope of facilities is expanding to meet fully the needs of the growing research community of staff and postgraduate students.
Microelectronics Fabrication Centre
The Microelectronic Fabrication Centre (MFC) is a University central facility. It provides functional microelectronic fabrication laboratories for the faculty and students of HKUST to conduct teaching and research, particularly in new discrete semiconductor devices, novel microsensors and microactuators, advanced microelectronic process technology and application specific integrated circuits (ASIC). While closely associated with the Electrical and Electronic Department, this facility is used by scientists from many disciplines- including Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Physics and Chemistry.
INTERDEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH UNITS
The MFC phase I laboratory provides appropriate clean room environment of about 247 square metres with Class 1,000 clean rooms (containing fewer than 1,000 particles per cubic foot of air larger than a half micrometer) with five basic fabrication modules which provide photolithography, thermal diffusion I thin-film disposition, dry I wet etching and metallization. The phase I laboratory has also developed 3 micron MOS and bipolar base line processes to provide microelectronic fabrication at the discrete device and small scale integrated circuits (SSI) level, with the possibility to upgrade to LSI & VLSI level in its phase II development.
In 1995, the technical capabilities ofMFC will be further upgraded with the completion of its phase II laboratory. The laboratory occupies area of 10,000 square feet with Class 100 clean rooms constructed. State-of-the-art microelectronic processing equipment will be installed there such as the E-beam Direct Write System which facilitates the sub-half-micron photolithography and enables more advanced research work. In addition to the existing five modules in the phase I laboratory, phase II will provide the sixth module of mask-making. While the phase I laboratory mainly serves the academic departments of the University, phase II will extend its service further to the private sector through various technical collaborations.
VII.
THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
STUDENT SERVICES
The Student Affairs Office offers a range of services to students for the purpose of promoting the quality of campus life and assisting students in solving problems affecting their studies. Extra-curricular educational activities are also organised with the aim of broadening students' cultural and intellectual outlook as well as enhancing their social and interpersonal skills.