HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY VOL.12 NO.2 7 MARCH 2001
Confluence of lives
Y
ou might think having a three-hourdinner with a group of strangers could be quite meaningless. However, many HKUST students who have taken part in a Confluence dinner have found them a good way to make new friends and gain fresh insights into their career plans.
Meeting professionals
The Student Affairs Office (SAO) first started organizing Confluence dinners in 1998. By the end of 2000, a total of 56 dinners had been organized. More than 1,650 guests had been inv ited to come on campus to meet more than 10,800 student participants (with some students attending more than one dinner). Accord-ing to SAO’s Yvonne Leung, who is responsible for the function, the Confluence din-ner has been successful because of the active participation of many different people—in particular, the guests from out-side the University. She said, “At the dinner, Confluence guestsshare their work and life experiences with our students. This is one of the major reasons why our students like to attend.”
HKUST faculty and staff are also invited to the dinner. Their support is another en-couraging factor for student participation.
“Through this activity, we hope our students can extend their social network, widen their scope of view, and gather more information and opinions for their future development. We really encourage our students to attend the function in their first year in order to benefit the most from it,” said Yvonne Leung.
Sharing life experience
Johnny Ngan, Chairman of the HKUST Finance Society, attended a Confluence dinner in his first year. “Life is like a blank sheet of paper. What is there is simply what you put into it. We all learn through our interaction with people. Why then don't we widen our
experience and explore the world through meeting leaders f rom different professions? That's what I thought after meeting Mr Kwong Ki Chi, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Exchanges andClearing Ltd, at a Confluence dinner.
“I found Mr Kwong's insights into vari-ous political and economic issues really inspiring. And his path to success encouraged me to keep on learning new things,” said Johnny.
New arrangements
Starting from this semester, SAO plans to intensify the educational component of the Confluence dinner to enable students to explore and develop their interests more effectively through the activity. They also hope that the dinner will further enhance students' competitiveness in their future career development.
As part of the new format, guests will be invited to provide a brief introduction to themselves and their work, and to suggest topics for sharing and discussion prior to the dinner. This will enable students to know something about the guests in advance. SAO will also coordinate the seating plan and try
to match students with those guests they would particularly like to meet. However, students are encouraged to meet people from different fields and not to limit their scope of interest to their immediate areas of study. Knowing more about other fields will offer them insights into making smarter career decisions.
To further enhance the educational benefits of Confluence, SAO has invited representatives from the professions, commerce and industry who are willing to make a commitment to mentoring HKUST students and sharing their experience on a longer term basis to participate in a new Confluence Membership Program.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Letter from the President ... 2
Venture capitals for HKUST start-ups ... 3
Students pick best lecturers ... 3
Indoor Swimming Pool ... 4
Story of the Red Bird ... 4
Students’ Union elections ... 4
Calendar ... 6
There has been a gradual growth in Confluence culture as students enjoy the opportunity to enhance their social and interpersonal skills.
The active participation of outside guests and HKUST staff and faculty are major reasons why students like to attend Confluence dinners.
GENESIS, 7 March 2001
2
HKUST LETTER
Chia-Wei Woo
Letter from the President
Dear students, colleagues and friends,
HKUST has now entered its 10th year, and is preparing for its 10th anniversary celebrations.
Some would say: Most of the world's prominent universities took hundreds of years, or at least many decades, to reach where they are. So, what's 10 years?
Using age as a measure, we, indeed, have taken only our first step.
However, times have changed. Over the past century, the pace of human progress has much accelerated. Never has one year gone by without a scientific breakthrough or a new discovery that could improve the world's standard of living. Witness the following: At the turn of the 20th century, “Indian Wars” were still being fought on the “New Continent”. Not far from what we now call Silicon Valley, people were still throwing
tomahawks at one another on horseback. People were still digging for gold using primitive tools. People were still shooting at one another for land or water. No one could have foreseen that a few decades later man could land on the moon. Or systematically decimate our Mother Earth with weapons and pollutants. Or improve man's quality of life and revamp the world order with information technology and biomedical science. Some of these miracles were constructive, and some were admittedly destructive. What cannot be denied is that it makes little sense to measure present progress with past yardsticks.
When one looks at things this way, 10 years hardly represents a short time. One should rather ask: Has HKUST moved fast enough? Has HKUST been able to catch up and keep pace with the world's rapid advance?
History and geography endowed us with great opportunities. We started high and hit the ground running, and were able to achieve much in the 10 years. Our graduates are now valued by employers both locally and abroad. Our scientific research and technology development place us at the international forefront amidst knowledge-based societies. In terms of management education and research, we clearly hold the lead in Asia. In terms of the humanities and social sciences, despite the smallness of size and scope, we are very highly regarded in the local academic community. All these have resulted from the efforts of our dedicated faculty and staff, and the hard work of our increasingly motivated students. The HKUST family can ask with confidence and pride: “Go everywhere in the world. How many universities can you find which have matured so fast and achieved so much in just 10 years?”
We are deeply grateful to members of HKUST's founding University Council, especially its Chairman Dr Sze-Yuen Chung, for their vision, leadership and hands-on participation. We owe much to the mainstream support of government and community.
We should congratulate ourselves for our broad perspectives, explorative spirit and full commitment. We have been able to create our own personality, and in the process brought to Hong Kong a certain style and culture of innovation. We have been able to establish a sound reputation in the worldwide academic community, and in the process heightened Hong Kong's international prestige and respect.
HKUST has had a pretty good 10 years.
We are now engaged in consolidating our past achievements and present strengths into a concrete platform from which the University will once again lift off and soar. It should surprise no one that, in the University's second 10 years, we will rise far above the terrestrial horizon and venture into the wide blue yonder.
With warmest regards,
“The HKUST family can ask with confidence and pride: Go everywhere in the world. How many universities can you find which have matured so fast and achieved so much in just 10 years?”
President Woo at the dinner on 12 April 1988 to celebrate the inaugu-ration of HKUST.
At HKUST’s 10th
anniversary
The HKUST 10th Anniversary Launching Ceremony will be held on 23 April. A full program will be announced in the next issue of Genesis.
Ten of the best
Venture capitalists fund HKUST start-ups
S
everal technology-led HKUST start-upsseem to be getting the ingredients right when it comes to attracting funding and closing deals. This is cheering news for the would-be “technopreneurs” among us, particularly now that Hong Kong’s dotcom frenzy has calmed down.
iSilk is one company incubated at HKUST to make recent venture capital (VC) headlines. The 18-month old start-up, which specializes in groundbreaking software solutions using natural language processing and artificial intelligence systems, closed a deal for US$10 million (HK$78 million) in second-round funding at the beginning of February. “The bulk of the funding comes from imGO, a leading VC investor in wireless technologies whose shareholders include Investor AB, Ericsson and Hutchison Whampoa. Securing this level of support is great news for iSilk’s future,” says the company’s founding CEO, Associate Professor Dekai Wu (Computer Science).
Also in the news is Perception Digital, a start-up founded in late 1998 by Associate Professor Jack Lau with colleagues and former students of HKUST’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department. Perception Digital secured US$3 million (HK$23.5 million) in VC funding from private investors in mid-2000. Sales of its digital jukebox achieved HK$3 million in the first month after its launch in December 2000, and the company has contracts for another 10,000 units.
Four other companies being incubated on campus—Biodetection, PharmacoGenetics, Radica Systems and SinoCDN—have won pre-VC stage “seed” funding under the Government’s Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Program (SERAP). This is a dollar-for-dollar matching scheme that provides zero interest loans of up to HK$2 million to small, technology-based and entrepreneur-driven ventures deemed by experts to have “reasonable commercial potential”.
Another HKUST start-up with good
news to share is Googol. Specializing in motion control systems for industrial machinery, Googol is operating on first-round funding from private and institutional VCs based in Hong Kong and Singapore, and is now set to expand its marketing and manufacturing operations in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Prof Tony Eastham (Associate Vice-President for Research and Development) believes one of the reasons these start-ups are “moving ahead so nicely” is that they began with original and highly marketable core technologies spun off from frontier University research.
“The University is now incubating 21 start-ups. One only has to look at the daunting statistics against new companies making it to IPO to understand that to have even a handful doing this well at this stage is really beating the odds,” says Prof Eastham. “Starting out with substantive technologies definitely gives our start-ups an initial competitive advantage.”
Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Prof Peter Dobson (center), with (from left to right): Profs John Hulpke (Management of Organizations); Jimmy Fung (Mathematics) (4); Mike So (Informa-tion and Systems Management) (4); Vincent Poon (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) (3); Jae Hyon Nahm (Economics); Andrew Horner (Computer Science) (2); Wei-Min Dai ( C h e m i s t r y ) ; K i n g - C h u e n C h o w ( B i o c h e m i s t r y ) ; K P R a m a s w a m y (Accounting) (4); and Jong Hag Choi (Accounting). (Numbers in parenthesis indi-cate times elected.)
Another insight they emphasized is that teaching is very much a two-way process, with the students playing a pivotal role in the classroom dynamic:
“The secret of my success is good students! I previously taught in America where almost anyone can get into university. Here the standard is higher and HKUST students are really fun to teach,” says Prof John Hulpke.
“Firing the students’ imagination is one of the joys of teaching,” says Prof Andrew Horner. “I keep a careful eye out for students who are struggling. And I am always willing to go over concepts in greater detail and at a slower pace in my ‘surgery’ hours if there is not enough time to do so during the lecture,” says Prof Jimmy Fung.
“My students have taught me how to bring
T
en HKUST faculty members werehonored by their students at the prize-giving ceremony of the Best 10 Lecturers Election 2000 on 23 February.
Now in its sixth year, this independent student initiative has become a popular fixture in the University calendar. It is organized by VERTEX, House II Students’ Association to give HKUST undergraduates a chance to show their appreciation of good teaching.
Nearly 30% of the undergraduate population voted this time, casting a total of 4,107 votes (they could cast up to three votes each) for 424 out of the 503 eligible lecturers. The voting was conducted online over the Student Intranet from 27 November to 1 December 2000.
The final line-up was divided evenly between newcomers to the award and repeat favorites, three of whom were elected for the fourth time. When interviewed, the 10 shared a general consensus as to the five key qualities that contribute to their success as teachers: good communication; enthusiasm for one’s subject; interesting notes and assignments; case studies relating the academic concepts to real life; and being accessible to students (through labs, tutorials, e-mail and/or individual appointments as well as in core lecture hours).
joy, imagination and optimism into the classroom along with hard work and good preparation. Mutual communication, care and encouragement are all part of the recipe,” says Prof Vincent Poon.
GENESIS, 7 March 2001 4 ! " # !"#$% !"#$% !"#$% ! " # !"# !"# !" NVVNNM ! !"#$% !"#$% !"#$% !"#$% !"#$%&'()* +,-.% !"#$%&'()*+,-./0 !"#$%&'()*+,-./0 !"#$%&'(EÖÉåÉëáë]ìëíKÜâF= !"#$%&'()*+,-./0 !"#$%&'()*+,-.! !"#$
Story of the Red Bird
T
he 10th anniversary logo introducedin our last issue uses a “Red Bird” as the major design element. Inspired by the red sundial standing in the Piazza, the Red Bird has become an HKUST icon over the last decade. Now, as we celebrate our 10th anniversary, Genesis would like to give you a brief introduction to this artistic symbol of the University and test out how much you know about it.
Entitled “Circle of Time”, the Red Bird was created by two Australian sculptors, the husband-and-wife team of Charles and Joan Walsh-Smith. It was modeled on the ancient sundial as a prime example of how art and technology can be blended. The installation took place on 8 October 1991, a few days after the University opened its doors to the first batch of students.
The whole installation, commissioned by the (Royal) Hong Kong Jockey Club, consists of the Red Bird sundial, a podium, a pool and a mural. The sundial is mounted on a paved podium of broad steps in the center of a small pool—a metaphor for the passage of time. Not many people notice, however, that the mural depicts a number of important inventions in the history of China.
Genesis would like to invite
m e mb e r s of t h e H K U S T community to count the number of inventions carved on the mural. Please submit your answer to
[email protected] before 15 March.
A total of three prizes will be awarded to the first three res-pondents drawn who provide the closest answers. The names of the winners and the correct answer will appear in April’s issue of Genesis.
Good news for the swimmers among us: the Indoor Swimming Pool will open any day now. As Genesis goes to print, Senior Physical Education Officer Kenny Chow reports: “We got the Occupational Permit on 23 February and are told the Pool License can be processed in under two weeks.”
The new facility is a heated, six-lane pool measuring 25 m long by 13 m wide, and deepening from 1.2 m to 1.5 m. Two lanes will be reserved for lap swimming when it is open for general use between November and March (7:30am to 2pm and 3pm to 9:30pm daily). It can also be booked through the Student Affairs Office for swimming-related programs in April and from June to October. Swimmers will be able to use the changing facilities in the new building or the larger Outdoor Pool changing room.
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In the February 2001 issue of Genesis:
Cover story top caption: the date of the University’s official Opening Ceremony should have read “10 October 1991”.
Page 5: the name of the Merit awardee for the entry HKUST Campus Suite I should have read “Jackie Jing-Yun Jau LEE”.
We apologize for the above errors.
Errata
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Design & Production Publishing Technology Center
Genesis is published by the Office of
University Development and Public Affairs to keep members of the HKUST community in touch with
University news and views. The next issue of Genesis will be published on
4 April 2001. Contributions are welcome,
but must be received at least three weeks before publication date either by fax at 2358-0537, or by
email to [email protected].
© 2001 by Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
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Until end of Mar
Ju Ming Sculpture Exhibition LG7 Lawn
26 Feb - 23 Mar
HKUST Arts Festival 2001
Programs: Exhibitions, Talks, Workshops, Concerts, Drama, Dance
For details please refer to Arts Festival leaflets, or Website: http://www.ust.hk/cfa
Until 18 Mar
Calligraphy Works by Grace Y T Tong
Ping Yuan and Kinmay W Tang Gallery, Library 2 Mar 7 pm
HKUST Intramural-Football Finals
Athletics Field 7 Mar 5:30 pm
HKUST Intramural-Basketball Finals
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