N e w s l e t t e r N o . 1 0 S p r i n g 2 0 0 6
New Faculty Member
■ Prof Ying CHAUAssistant Professor, Chemical Engineering PhD - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New Adjunct Faculty Appointed
■ Prof Vijay K BHARGAVAAdjunct Professor,
Electrical and Electronic Engineering PhD - Queen's University
■ Prof Andrew Ka-Ching CHAN
Adjunct Professor, Civil Engineering PhD - University of Cambridge ■ Prof Arthur LAU
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering PhD - HKUST
■ Prof Terence YEE
Adjunct Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering PhD - Carnegie Mellon University
COMP Programs Gain HKIE Accreditation
The Department of Computer Science's Bachelor of Engineering degrees in both Computer Science and Computer Science (Information Engineering) were recently accredited by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE). This is the first time the Department's programs have been officially recognized by the HKIE, whose visiting team commended academic staff for their enthusiasm and students for being so supportive of the programs.
IELM Program Changes Name
The Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management has changed the name of its BEng in Logistics Management to the BEng in Logistics Management and Engineering.
Biggest Conference
on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics
The HKUST Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility (GCF) will host the forthcoming International Conference on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics between 4 and 6 August 2006. Held every four years, HKUST won the bid over major US and UK universities to hold the prestigious event in Hong Kong.
The conference is being organised by HKUST in collaboration with the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society. It will be the biggest since 1988. Around 250 papers have already been received for review. It will provide an excellent opportunity for academics, engineers, scientists, government officials and planners to present and exchange the latest developments in the field.
For details, please visit www.icpmg2006.ust.hk.
Forum Focuses on
Region's Future
New Academic
Appointments
Announcements
Mainland Development
Dean's Message
08 09Industry Collaborations
Outreach Angle
Industry Collaborations
Mobile Innovations:
Enhancing Phone Video
Academic News
Research and Development
Research and Development
International Honors & Awards
Prof Philip Chan
Dean of Engineering P TC -G 11 11 7
Traditional Calligraphy Joins
Digital Revolution
Nelson Chu, a Computer Science research assistant, h a s t r a n s f o r m e d t h e traditional art of Chinese calligraphy for the third millennium by developing a dig ital ink painting s o f t w a r e p a c k a g e
named MoXi.
MoXi makes use of a p r e s s u r e s e n s i t i v e pen and tablet device to simulate Chinese calligraphy and ink painting on the computer screen. The research on ink simulation has been so well received that it is the first purely local project to be entered at the prestigious International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH). Born in Hong Kong and raised in Macau, Nelson's interest in calligraphy began when he was a youngster and was matched only by his passion for computers, which he developed in the summer of his P4 year.
Combining both of these great interests was always a d r e a m o f h i s . A t H K U ST, h e h a s s p e n t f i v e y e a r s researching and developing the computer simulation of oriental painting styles.
Software such as Corel Painter already replicates some art media, including chalk, pencils and oil. Add some after effects, such as embossing and lighting, and an untrained eye would find it difficult to distinguish between paintings created digitally and those created conventionally.
However, existing brush models couldn't simulate the delicate real-time brush deformations and ink dispersion needed for oriental ink painting. Therefore, Nelson's goal was to simulate these processes of brush painting so that artists could use a virtual tool to paint with a spirit that is lively, dynamic and brisk.
His research thus far focuses on brush and ink simulation, but under the supervision of Prof Chiew-Lan Tai, he is now extending MoXi to simulate Western watercolors.
Nelson is now studying for his PhD in Computer Science having received his MPhil in 2001. His paper "Real-Time Painting with an Expressive Virtual Chinese Brush" was published in the IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
journal in 2004. Another, "MoXi: Real-Time Ink Dispersion in Absorbent Paper" was published in ACM Transactions on Graphics in 2005 (SIGGRAPH 2005 issue).
Today's innovative engineers strive to optimize device performance while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. Two postgraduate students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering are two such idealists.
PhD candidate Tsz-Yin Man has developed a new technology for designing the power converter used in battery-powered electronic products. He presented his idea at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, commonly referred to as the "Chip Olympics", in San Francisco on 7 February.
Existing design technology only enables an efficient voltage conversion under a single operating condition, but Man's newly developed technology can adaptively minimize conver ters' power losses under different conditions. He finds that the power efficiency of a converter can be significantly enhanced with the proposed technology, which enables a converter supplying the input voltage to circuits by transforming battery voltage in a power-effective manner. Thus, the effective operational time of the electronic products can be extended from each charging cycle.
Meanwhile, Wing-Lun Ng, an MPhil candidate making his second appearance at the Chip Olympics, has concentrated his research on quadrature signal generators - a key component of new-generation high frequency communications equipment capable of regulating output frequencies accurately
at low voltages and low power consumptions. Conventional quadrature signal generators
employ active devices that increase power consumption, limit the maximum operation frequency and degrade the accuracy of frequency regulation in high-frequency applications. Ng's innovative findings resolve these shortcomings by replacing the active devices with an on-chip passive transformer, hence reducing the circuit's power consumption while simultaneously improving performance in terms of operation frequency and accuracy.
Both Ng and Man say their work has benefited greatly from the discussions they have had with other graduates in the Department's dynamic IC design team.
IC Designs
Enter Chip Olympics
Among the many enrichment elements to the highly acclaimed Dual Deg ree Prog ram in Technolog y and Management (T&M), 16 top students have been selected to participate in a new joint corporate project sponsored by Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) Limited, the well-known integrated international container transportation, logistics and terminal company.
The project is entitled "Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) in Logistics Business: an eLogistics Solution", and an opening ceremony was held on 8 February at the CL3 Admiralty Learning Center to kick-start the initiative.
"Students will be engaged in an intensive study to apply RFID technology to logistics services in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone (the first comprehensive and multi-functional free trade zone in China). Their work will provide practical eLogistics solutions for foreign companies", said Prof Kar Yan Tam, Co-Director of T&M.
The students, divided into teams of 4, made a site visit to Shanghai in early March to observe foreign companies operating in the Free Trade Zone and to interact with local government officials.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Steve Siu, OOCL's Chief Technology Officer, conveyed the company's full support for the project and presented a check to the students to sponsor their air ticket expenses for the site visit. Mr Siu said that he saw the project as a great learning opportunity for both the teams and his company. In a motivating speech, he pointed out that in a rapidly changing environment like China's where regulations and laws are still in the developmental stages, students will be able to understand better the rationale or even contribute to the development of certain regulations by engaging in the project.
The project is expected to last for a total of four months. Students will give full presentations of their findings and solutions by the middle of May, to be evaluated by a panel of judges comprising academics from HKUST and industrial leaders from OOCL.
Prof Chi Ming Chan, Co-Director of T&M closed the ceremony by announcing that more enrichment programs of a similar nature would be developed for students. Such a move will form bridges and foundations for integrating business with technology, he said.
Dual Degree Students Collaborate
with OOCL
T h e U n i v e r s i t y h a s d e v e l o p e d a c u t t i n g e d g e v i d e o s t r e a m i n g technology that is set to take the mobile world by storm. Not only does the technology allow mobile-phone users to receive any video source, it also allows them to play video on their handsets in real time, while providing equally high quality at a significantly lower cost than current technologies.
This is the first ever video streaming system for mobile phones based on Audio Video coding Standard (AVS) technology. AVS is a new coding standard for compressing digital audio and video that has been developed in China.
Content played in AVS format guarantees high video quality similar to H.264, and is significantly better than the popular H.263 and MPEG-4 formats commonly used in handsets, but uses as little as half the file size.
Dr Oscar Au, Director of the Multimedia Technology Research Center and Associate Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said: "Low cost is an added value of this technology. Unlike other dominant coding standards, AVS does not require royalty payments from operators. Consumers can now enjoy high-quality services at a lower cost."
The technology can be applied to numerous products and mobile communications services, such as video transmission in
2.5G and 3G systems, mobile TV streaming systems and mobile video surveillance systems.
Users can monitor what's going on at home while they are out at work, check the traffic situation before deciding on their route, or watch live TV broadcasts of their favorite programs, such as horse racing or breaking news!
Keeping ahead in the ever-changing mobile communications market, HKUST has also developed a transcoding technology which enables a 2.5G mobile phone to receive and play video content from a high-performance 3G handset.
This is made possible by converting between different formats of video coding, or between video and images. The transcoder converts video content between AVS, H.264, H.263, MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, or JPEG, JPEG2000 into animated GIF format. Mobile communications operators, content providers and eventually mobile-phone users will all benefit from this technology as it helps solve problems encountered in the transmission of Multimedia-Messaging-Services (MMS) arising from the incompatibility of different platforms and handsets. The development of these multimedia technologies is supported by the government's Innovation and Technology Fund and in partnership with the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), local telecommunications operators and content providers.
Standing Tall in Quake Comp
A team of Civil Engineering postgraduate students, Au Man-Kai, Bartlomiej Jan Backzkowski, Ho Yin-Bon, Wong Kin-Ming and Yang Cheng-Yu, has won the Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in Schools (IDEERS) competition.
Teams from across Asia, the US and UK participated in the challenge held at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taipei. Each applied their skills and knowledge to construct an earthquake resistant building of three stories.
Each storey of the wood and glue models was required to support 10 kg, mimicking the weight that furniture exerts on a real apartment floor. The model was then put on an earthquake simulator, known as a shaking table, to test its integrity during seismic activity.
Only the models built by HKUST and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) were still standing at ma ximum vibration - comparable to an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter Scale!
With their model weighing 30% less than NCKU's, HKUST won the first prize, an award of HK$5,000.
Digging Deep:
Data Miners Win ACM Victory
Alumni relationships are invaluable assets to the School and alumni. To foster the growth of our alumni network, please keep us informed of your recent news and send us your updated contact information via email to [email protected].
Stay connected and keep in touch!
Don't be the Missing Link ...
Editors: Margaret Wong, Mei Yee Ho Address: School of Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Phone: (852) 2358-8446 Fax: (852) 2719-3027
Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.seng.ust.hk
In Focus is published biannually by the HKUST School of Engineering. Its purpose is to communicate the School's developments and activities of interest to members, alumni and friends of the School. Comments, suggestions and contributions are welcomed.
Copyright © 2006 by the School of Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For reproduction of any part of this newsletter or for extra copies, please contact us.
12 01
2 Dean's Message
2 New Academic Appointments
2 Announcements
3 Academic Excellence
4 Forum Focus on Region's Future
5 HKUST, Microsoft Launch PhD Scheme
6 Development Course Bridges Transitions
6 Students' Achievements
7 Team Takes Microsoft Championship
7 Digging Deep: Data Miners Win ACM Victory
7 Standing Tall in Quake Comp
8 Traditional Calligraphy Joins Digital Revolution
9 IC Designs Enter Chip Olympics
10 Mobile Innovations: Enhancing Phone Video
10 IELM Team Helps Boost Air Cargo
11 Dual Degree Students Collaborate with OOCL
12 Ambassador Program Launched
12 Early Admission Scheme Update
WHAT'S INSIDE
Calendar of Events
The above events are subject to change without prior notice
May 10 - 12, 2006 JUPAS Mass Session
May 13, 2006 CSAA Annual Dinner 2006
Time: 7:00 - 10:30pm. Registration: http://alumni.cs.ust.hk/
June 25 - 28, 2006 INFORMS International Conference Hong Kong 2006 http://www.informs.org/Conf/Hongkong06/
July 24 - 29, IT Youth Summer Camp 2006
July 31 - August 5, 2006 Co- organized by Computer Science Department & HK Federation of Education Worker
August 4 - 6, 2006 International Conference on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics
http://www.icpmg2006.ust.hk
Welcome to Issue 10 of the School of Engineering
Newsletter. Only two issues ago the School was
named among the world's top 20 institutions for engineering education by London's Times Higher Education Supplement.
Now, as you will read on page 1, our Department of Mechanical Engineering has been named the world leader for research in its field. This is the result of the dedication of our faculty, staff and students, and I would like to thank them for their continued efforts in bringing such wonderful recognition.
This edition of the Newsletter highlights some of the
School's other recent achievements: from the development of a digital ink software package, to earthquake modeling, chip design and mobile communication advances. Each project further demonstrates the creativity and dedication of our faculty and students.
Page 4 carries a report on the first session of the Nansha Science and Technology Forum. During the last six months, the School has been an active participant in drawing up plans for HKUST's new Nansha campus, which will be an important site for our future teaching and research programs. With continued hard work, the future promises more exciting developments and I look forward to sharing them with you.
Academic Excellence
International Honors & Awards
Prof Khaled Ben Letaief, Chair Professor and Head of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, has been elected to the Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society.
Prof Amine Bermak, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, received the IEEE Chester Sall Award at the 2006 IEEE Consumer Electronics Award Ceremony in Las Vegas. The award was made for Prof Bermak's best paper published in IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics in 2004.
Prof Chak Keung Chan, Chemical Engineering, was presented the Asian Young Aerosol Scientist Award by the Asian Aerosol Research Assembly (AARA) at its 4th Asian Aerosol Conference held December 13-16 in Mumbai, India. The award came for Prof Chan's outstanding contributions in the field of thermodynamics and hygroscopic properties of atmospheric aerosols.
A joint paper, S-Club: An Overlay Based Efficient Service Discovery Mechanism in CROWN Grid, by Prof Lionel Ni, Chair Professor and Head of Computer Science and his colleagues Mr Yunhao Liu, Mr Yanmin Zhu, Mr Chunming Hu and Prof Jinpeng Huai , was named best paper at the IEEE International Conference on e-Business Engineering (IEEE ICEBE).
Two papers by Prof Yang Leng, Mechanical Engineering, are listed among Biomaterials' 25 hottest articles for downloading in 2005.
Prof Brian Mak, Computer Science, has received the Best Paper Award in the area of speech processing from the IEEE Signal Processing Society. His paper, Subspace distribution clustering hidden Markov model, was co-authored with Dr. Enrico Bocchieri of AT&T Labs.
Prof Huihe Qiu, Mechanical Engineering, has been named a first-class author by the Institute of Physics (IOP), in recognition of his contributions to the IOP's journals. Prof Qiu appeared in the recent article 60 seconds with... published on the front page of the IOP Electronic Journals website.
Prof Mitchell Tseng, Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, received the Outstanding Industrial Engineer Award from Purdue University's School of Industrial Engineering at its 50th anniversary celebration in October 2005. Purdue's is the second oldest IE school in the world.
Prof Danny Tsang, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, has received a US patent for his "Coding Scheme Using a Transition Indicator for Signal Transmission in Optical Communications Networks". The coding scheme has been adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an international standard.
Students' Achievements
Tik Pan Chan, a first year undergraduate in Civil and Structural Engineering and General Business Management, has been granted the Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarship 2005/2006.
Final year design project students Yeuk-him Chan, Ka-wai Cheung and Hau-sze Ma (Mechanical Engineering) took the First Class Prize at the 2005 National Final of the 2nd Design and Make Competition, Central Southern Provinces and Regions. The team was supervised by Dr Tim Zhao and the competition was held at Guangxi University of Technology.
Sheung-chak Cheng, a Computer Science PhD candidate, has been awarded the Solomon Systech Scholarships for academic excellence, positive attitude and strong commitment in the engineering field.
An EEE team of final year students, Yui-fung Cheung, Lap-wah Ng, Sau-wai Wong, Man-hong Yeung and Prof Mansun Chan, has been awarded First Runner-Up prize in the Business Facilities Safety Design Competition for Small & Medium Enterprises 2005.
Yat-hei Lam, an EEE PhD student, has won the University LSI Design Contest Special Feature Award organized by the Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference with his paper, Adaptively-Biased Capacitor-Less CMOS Low Dropout Regulator with Direct Current Feedback.
Wai-pun Yiu, a PhD candidate in Computer Networks and Multimedia Communications, and Hoi-lun Ngan, a PhD candidate in Wireless Sensor Networks, have been awarded Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowships 2005/06 for their outstanding academic achievement.
Ke Fu, Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, Advisee of Prof Chung-yee Lee, has won the Second Prize Award US$ 1500 of SCALE (Supply Chain and Logistics Engineering) Dissertation Proposal Award sponsored by SCALE Center at the University of Florida .
HKUST, Microsoft
Launch PhD Scheme
The University and Microsoft Research Asia (MSR Asia) have launched a Joint Doctorate Supervision Scheme that will nurture the region's next generation of IT talents.
Under the scheme, candidates will be nominated by MSR Asia for admission to HKUST's Computer Science PhD program. Students will undertake their first year coursework and examinations at the University and conduct their thesis research at MSR Asia, Beijing, jointly supervised by both institutions. Ultimately, students will be awarded their Doctor of Philosophy degree in Computer Science by HKUST.
A ceremony was held on campus in November with Prof Yuk-Shee Chan, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and Dr Harry Shum, Managing Director of Microsoft Research Asia signing the agreement that launched the scheme. HKUST President Prof Paul Chu commented: "It is an honor to advance our valuable and productive relationship with MSR Asia. With HKUST's research excellence and MSR Asia's industry expertise, the scheme will benefit students with the best academic and industrial supervisors and an unparalleled, dynamic research environment."
The partners have been working together for several years. In 2004, HKUST and MSR Asia established the Ministry of Education/MSR Asia IT Key Lab at HKUST. The lab, which explores next-generation IT technologies, is the first such national laboratory to be located in Hong Kong and provides students and researchers with the opportunity to engage in basic research projects with real-world applications.
Dr Shum was delighted to be partnering HKUST on another project. Referring to HKUST as one of the region's leading research universities, he said: "Since MSR Asia and HKUST are both committed to promoting innovation, enhancing the development of the IT industry and nurturing IT talents for the region, I am confident that the Joint Doctorate Supervision Scheme will mark an important step towards achieving our shared goals."
Digging Deep:
Data Miners Win ACM
Victory
A Computer Science research group has won the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)'s 2005 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining competition (The KDD Cup).
The 2005 contest, held from May to July by the ACM's Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, required competitors to solve a complex but practical problem related to Internet searching and the classification of 800,000 realistic search queries.
International teams from academia and industry completed the event with 37 solutions submitted. These included the design and implementation of algorithms based on artificial intelligence, statistics, database and information retrieval technologies.
The HKUST team used an ensemble based search method that innovatively applies machine learning algorithms. Their fine work saw them win first prize in all three categories of the competition: the Query Categorization Precision Award, Query Categorization Performance Award and Query Categorization Creativity Award.
The competition was held in conjunction with the 11th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, and the team's award was presented at the conference in Chicago last autumn. Since its inception in 1997, the KDD Cup datasets have become benchmarks for the data mining field. This year's tasks were particularly challenging due to the large size of the search problem and the lack of training data that are usually given in data mining problems.
The HKUST team comprised PG students and postdoctoral fellows Dou Shen, Rong Pan, Jiantao Sun, Junfeng Pan, Kangheng Wu, Jie Yin and their supervisor, Prof Qiang Yang and their solution will contribute to improving current internet search and information retrieval technologies.
IC Designs
Enter Chip Olympics
Today's innovative engineers strive to optimize device performance while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. Two postgraduate students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering are two such idealists.
PhD candidate Tsz-Yin Man has developed a new technology for designing the power converter used in batter-powered electronic products. He presented his idea at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, commonly referred to as the "Chip Olympics", in San Francisco on 7 February.
Existing design technology only enables an efficient voltage conversion under particular operation conditions, but Man's newly developed technology can adaptively minimize converters' power losses under different operation conditions. He finds that the power efficiency of a converter can be significantly enhanced when supplying the voltage input to circuits by transforming battery voltage in a power-effective manner. Thus, the effective operational time of the electronic products can be extended from each charging cycle.
Meanwhile, Wing-Lun Ng, an MPhil candidate making his second appearance at the Chip Olympics, has concentrated his research on quadrature signal generators - a key component of new-generation high frequency communications equipment capable of regulating output frequencies accurately with only low voltage and power consumption. Conventional quadrature signal generators employ active devices that increase power consumption, limit the maximum operation frequency and degrade the accuracy of frequency regulation in high-frequency applications. Ng's innovative findings resolve these shortcomings by replacing the active devices with an on-chip passive transformer, hence reducing the circuit's power consumption while simultaneously improving performance in terms of operation frequency and accuracy. Both Ng and Man say they their work has benefited greatly from the discussions they have had with other graduates in the Department's dynamic IC design team.
Mobile Innovations:
Enhancing Phone
Video
The University has developed a cutting edge video streaming technology that is set to take the mobile world by storm.
Not only does the technology allow mobile-phone users to receive any video source, it also allows them to play video on their handsets in real time, while providing equally high quality at a significantly lower cost than current technologies.
This is the first ever video streaming system for mobile phones based on Audio Video coding Standard (AVS) technology.
AVS is a new coding standard for compressing digital audio and video that has been developed in China.
Content played in AVS format guarantees high video quality similar to H.264, and is significantly better than the popular H.263 and MPEG-4 formats commonly used in handsets, but uses as little as half the file size.
Dr Oscar Au, Director of the Multimedia Technology Research Center and Associate Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said: "Low cost is an added value of this technology. Unlike other dominant coding standards, AVS does not require royalty payments from operators. Consumers can now enjoy high-quality services at a lower cost."
The technology can be applied to numerous products and mobile communications services, such as video transmission in 2.5G and 3G systems, mobile TV streaming systems and mobile video surveillance systems.
Users can monitor what's going on at home while they are out at work, check the traffic situation before deciding on their route, or watch live TV broadcasts of their favorite programs, such as horse racing or breaking news!
Keeping ahead in the ever-changing mobile communications market, HKUST has also developed a transcoding technology which enables a 2.5G mobile phone to receive and play video content from a high-performance 3G handset.
This is made possible by converting between different formats of video coding, or between video and images. The transcoder converts video content between AVS, H.264, H.263, MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, or JPEG, JPEG2000 into animated GIF format. Mobile communications operators, content providers and eventually mobile-phone users will all benefit from this technology as it helps solve problems encountered in the transmission of Multimedia-Messaging-Services (MMS) arising from the incompatibility of different platforms and handsets.
The development of these multimedia technologies is supported by the government's Innovation and Technology Fund and in partnership with the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), local telecommunications operators and content providers.
Dual Degree Students Collaborate
with
OOCL
Among the many enrichment elements to the highly acclaimed Dual Degree Program in Technology Management (T&M), 16 top students have been selected to participate in a new joint corporate project sponsored by Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) Limited, the well-known international container transportation, logistics and terminal company.
The project is entitled "Radio Frequency Identification Technology in the Logistics Business: an eLogistics Solution", and an opening ceremony was held on 8 February at the CL3 Admiralty Learning Center to kick-start the initiative. "Students will be engaged in an intensive study to apply RFID technology to logistics services in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone (the first comprehensive and multi-functional free trade-zone in China). Their work will provide practical eLogistics solutions for foreign companies", said Prof Kar Yan Tam, Co-Director of T&M.
The students, divided into teams of 4, made a site visit to Shanghai in early March to observe foreign companies operating in the Free Trade Zone and to interact with local government officials.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Steve Siu, OOCL's Chief Technology Officer, conveyed the company's full support for the project and presented a check to the students to sponsor their air ticket expenses for the site visit. Mr Siu said that he saw the project as a great learning opportunity for both the teams and his company. In a motivating speech, he pointed out that in a rapidly changing environment like China's where regulations and laws are still in the developmental stages, students will be able to understand better the rationale or even contribute to the development of certain regulations by engaging in the project.
The project is expected to last for a total of four months. Students will give full presentations of their findings and solutions by the middle of May, to be evaluated by a panel of judges comprising academics from HKUST and industrial leaders from OOCL.
Prof Chi Ming Chan, Co-Director of T&M closed the ceremony by announcing that more enrichment programs of a similar nature would be developed for students. Such a move will form bridges and foundations for integrating business with technology, he said.
Calendar of Events
TBC - (IELM) Conference
May 10 - 12, 2006
JUPAS Mass Session
June 25 - 28, 2006 INFORMS International Conference Hong Kong 2006
http://www.informs.org/Conf/Hongkong06/
July 24 - 29, IT Youth Summer Camp 2006
July 31 - August 5, 2006
August 4 - 6, 2006
International Conference on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics
http://www.icpmg2006.ust.hk
Ambassador Program Launched
The Inaugural Ceremony for the School's Student Ambassador (SA) Program was held on March 18. Twenty-eight ambassadors have been selected, representing each of the six departments and the CPEG program. For the next 12 months, they will visit local high schools to share their experiences of life at HKUST and useful tips on the admissions and interviews process.
The commissioning process began with a training workshop conducted by Prof Edmond Ko to polish the ambassadors' communication skills and help them reflect on their own education experience. Subsequently, at the inaugural ceremony and luncheon, the Dean presented a certificate to each Student Ambassador.
This is the first or a series of outreach and community service initiatives the School has planned. There will be other events such as campus visits and lab tours tailored for various high schools, mass sessions organized by different departments, and a possible Career Exploration Tour arranged by the CPEG program this summer. For further information on these activities, please contact Ms Janice Ho at [email protected].
Traditional Calligraphy Joins
Digital
Revolution
Nelson Chu, a Computer Science research assistant, has transformed the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy for the third millennium by developing a digital ink painting software package named Moxi
Moxi makes use of a pressure sensitive pen and tablet device to simulate Chinese calligraphy and ink painting on the computer screen. Nelson's advanced research on novel 3D brush model simulation has been so well received that it is the first local project to be entered at the prestigious International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (Siggraph).
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Macau, Nelson's interest in calligraphy began when he was a youngster and was matched only by his passion for computers, which developed at high school.
Combining both of these great interests was always a dream of his. At HKUST, he has spent five years researching and developing the computer simulation of oriental painting styles.
His research thus far focuses on brush modeling and ink depositing from brush to paper. Under the supervision of Prof Chiew-Lan Tai, he has developed an exciting prototype paint system called Bristle Studio, which allows artists to paint digitally in the spontaneous style of oriental ink artists, with the simulated ink flowing as if it actually came out of a bottle!
Software such as Corel Painter already simulates the effects of some art media, including chalk, pencils and oil. Add some after effects, such as embossing and lighting, and an untrained eye would find it difficult to distinguish between paintings created digitally and those created conventionally.
However, existing brush models couldn't simulate the delicate real-time brush deformations needed for oriental ink painting. Therefore, Nelson's goal was to simulate the process of brush painting - particularly the dynamics of a brush tuft - so that artists could use a virtual tool to paint with a spirit that is lively, dynamic and brisk. He and his advisor therefore designed an efficient deformable brush model with spreading bristles that works in real time with consumer-level hardware.
Nelson is a Computer Engineering graduate; he is currently studying for his MPhil in Computer Science. His thesis "Real-Time Painting with an Expressive Virtual Chinese Brush" was published in the 2004 IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications journal. Another thesis "MoXi: Real-Time Ink Dispersion in Absorbent Paper" was published in ACM Transactions on Graphics in 2005 (SIGGRAPH 2005 issue).
Page 01
Forum Focuses on
Region's Future
The School of Engineering played an integral role in the first session of the high-level Nansha Science and Technology Forum, held in February.
Co-organized by HKUST, the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, and the Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau, the Forum's goal is to identify key science and technology issues and explore the opportunities they offer.
Findings and recommendations will be made to government, industry, institutes and universities with a view to fully developing the opportunities that arise and enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. The Forum's first session was entitled "Information Technology: Digital Life". Internationally renowned experts and academics were called upon, including Lionel Ni, Chair Professor and Head of Computer Science at HKUST.
He was joined by others including Prof Song-De Ma, Vice Minister of Science and Technology; Dr Ya-Qin Zhang, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Corporation; Prof Xiaolan Luo, Director of the Computer Applications Institute of Sun Yat-sen University; and Prof Ke Gong, Vice President of Tsinghua University.
Prof Ni explained that the focus of digital life is to provide "4A" service, which he defined as "any content, any place, any time, with any kind of digital device."
"By applying advanced networking and communication technologies, along with innovations in automation, computerization and artificial intelligence, our homes and offices will become more efficient, safe, comfortable, convenient and environmentally friendly," Prof Ni said.
Approximately 500 senior government officials, business leaders, academics, professionals and students participated in the Forum, which was also broadcast to 10 major universities in China.
In upcoming sessions, to be held over the next two years, a variety of cutting-edge issues will be discussed including information technology, healthcare, the environment, globalization, materials, manufacturing, business, natural disasters, and population. The second session of the Forum, to be held in May, will explore energy and energy alternatives. The Nansha IT Park, where the Forum was held, is a collaborative project between the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, the Guangzhou Government and HKUST. Its mission is to foster high-technology industries to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta.
Phase One of the Park was completed in 2002, and in September 2006, HKUST will start offering Taught Master's Programs at the Park.
Announcements
International Honors & Awards MechEng Leads the World
HKUST, Microsoft Launch PhD Scheme
Academic News - HKUST, Microsoft Launch PhD Scheme Development Course Bridges Transitions
Digging Deep: Data Miners Win ACM Victory Standing Tall in Quake Comp
Research and Development
Development Course Bridges Transitions Students' Achievements
Digging Deep: Data Miners Win ACM Victory Standing Tall in Quake Comp
Traditional Calligraphy Joins Digital Revolution IC Designs Enter Chip Olympics
Mobile Innovations: Enhancing Phone Video IELM Team Helps Boost Air Cargo
Dual Degree Students Collaborate with OOCL CE Officiates at 13th Congregation
Early Admission Scheme Update
Biggest Conference on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics
Academic News
Digging Deep:
Data Miners Win ACM Victory
Standing Tall in Quake Comp
An innovative course developed by Prof Edmond Ko, Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering and Senior Advisor to the Dean, not only guides students towards academic success, but also develops the personal skills that will directly influence their lives and future goals. Academic and Professional Development (A&PD) I, is a pioneering compulsory course for first year Chemical Engineering students. A companion course, A&PD II, will be offered to third year students next year.
As well as contextualizing the engineering discipline from a societal perspective, Prof Ko enhances his students' personal and professional development through the examination of two significant transitions they encounter: namely from secondary school to HKUST, and HKUST to the workplace.
He teaches his students to be aware of the important challenges generated through each transition, and furnishes them with valuable self-analysis, assessment and generic skills that will make each transition smooth and successful.
Travis Leung, Fanny Fan, Connie Chow and Jacky Yeung are HKUST first-year students. Travis and Fanny study Chemical Engineering and Connie and Jacky dual degrees in Chemical Engineering and General Business Management. From different high schools, taking A&PDI together has made them firm friends.
Said Fanny: "We've refined our logical thinking skills during this course, and better appreciate the value to be derived learning from our peers."
Jacky concurred: "Prof Ko has taught us more than just facts. I've learnt that there is not always a right or wrong answer, but one's opinion counts. What's more, we have improved our communication skills and understood ourselves better through a variety of aptitude tests."
With increasing emphasis put on building well-rounded talents, some university students have yet to find ways to equip themselves accordingly. "Thanks to the course, I now understand that one's perspectives can change over time, but what's important is that you understand why they changed and always evaluate yourself," Jacky said.
Prof Ko's innovative way of teaching has encouraged academics to reflect on whether more courses focusing on personal development should be offered to university students, alerting t h e m t o t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f s e l f
-understanding and self-analysis - both vital components of their continued
success.
Development Course
Bridges Transitions
Prof Ng Gives Founders' Lecture
Ka Ming Ng, Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of the Consortium of Chemical Products and Processes, and Project Manager of the Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology gave the 2005-2006 WR Marshall Founders' Lecture at the University of Wisconsin- Madison (UWM).
Prof Ng's address was entitled Chemical Engineering in China: How it will impact our profession and beyond.
The annual lecture is a continuation of UWM traditions that date back to the turn of the last century. The Marshall Fund supports the lecture in honor of the founders of UW's chemical engineering department.
Smart New Publication
Lionel Ni, Chair Professor and Head of Computer Science, has published Smart Phone and Next Generation Mobile Computing. This is an in-depth technical guide essential for
anyone involved in the development of smart mobile wireless technology.
Editorial Appointments:
MechEng
Recent editorial appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering include: Prof Tongxi Yu, Associate Editor, International Journal of Mechanical Science and
Regional (Asia) Editor, International Journal of Impact Engineering; Prof Ricky Lee, Editor-in- Chief IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies;
and Prof Jang-Kyo Kim, Editorial Board Member,
Composites Science and Technology.
Early Admission Scheme Update
A briefing session on the Early Admission Scheme for outstanding local secondary six students was held in January. Students and their parents gained a more in-depth understanding of the scheme, and met faculty members as well as current EAS students to discuss available programs and life at the University.
There are about 422 local secondary six students qualified for this scheme, and HKUST has received the third highest number of first-choice applications. One of the most popular programs is the Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management, jointly offered by the School of Engineering and the School of Business. Final intake results will be announced in April.
IELM Team Helps Boost Air Cargo
MPhil students and research staff from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management are working on a project with Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited to devise dynamic routing policies for container storage systems. "We are delighted to be able to help improve efficiency and create value for the world's leading international air cargo terminal operator," said IELM Associate Professor, Dr Raymond Cheung. In anticipation of a boom in air freight volumes, the team also applied simulation models to identify potential bottlenecks in the cargo system and proposed methods to improve service efficiency.
Research and Development
10 11
06 07
Students' Achievements
Students' Achievements
HKUST, Microsoft
Launch PhD Scheme
The University and Microsoft Research Asia (MSR Asia) have launched a Joint Doctorate Supervision Scheme that will nurture the region's next generation of IT talents.
Under the scheme, candidates will be nominated by MSR Asia for admission to HKUST's Computer Science PhD program. Students will undertake their first year coursework and examinations at the University and conduct their thesis research at MSR Asia, Beijing, jointly supervised by both institutions. Ultimately, students will be awarded their Doctor of Philosophy degree in Computer Science by HKUST. A ceremony was held on campus in November with Prof Yuk-Shee Chan, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and Dr Harry Shum, Managing Director of Microsoft Research Asia signing the agreement that launched the scheme.
HKUST President Prof Paul Chu commented: "It is an honor to advance our valuable and productive relationship with MSR Asia. With HKUST's research excellence and MSR Asia's industry expertise, the scheme will benefit students with the b e s t a c a d e m i c a n d i n d u s t r i a l s u p e r v i s o r s a n d a n unparalleled, dynamic research environment."
The partners have been working together for several years. In 2004, HKUST and MSR Asia established the Ministry of Education/MSR Asia IT Key Lab at HKUST. The lab, which explores next-generation IT technologies, is the first such national laboratory to be located in Hong Kong and provides students and researchers with the opportunity to engage in basic research projects with real-world applications.
Dr Shum was delighted to be partnering HKUST on another project. Referring to HKUST as one of the region's leading research universities, he said: "Since MSR Asia and HKUST are both committed to promoting innovation, enhancing the development of the IT industry and nurturing IT talents for the region, I am confident that the Joint Doctorate Supervision Scheme will mark an important step towards achieving our shared goals."
Academic News
02 03
Editorial Appointments:
MechEng
Recent editorial appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering include: Prof Tongxi Yu, Associate Editor, International Journal of Mechanical Science and
Regional (Asia) Editor, International Journal of Impact Engineering; Prof Ricky Lee, Editor-in-Chief IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies; and Prof Jang-Kyo Kim, Editorial Board
Member, Composites Science and Technology.
04 05
Dean's Message
Welcome to Issue 10 of the School of Engineering Newsletter. Only two issues ago the School was named among the world's top 20 institutions for engineering education by London's Times Higher Education Supplement.
Now, as you will read on page 4, our Department of Mechanical Engineering has been named the world leader for research in its field. This is the result of the dedication of our faculty, staff and students, and I would like to thank them for their continued efforts in bringing such wonderful recognition.
This edition of the Newsletter highlights some of the School's other recent achievements: from the development of a digital ink software package, to earthquake modeling, chip design and mobile communication advances. Each project further demonstrates the creativity and dedication of our faculty and students.
Page 1 carries a report on the first session of the Nansha Science and Technology Forum. During the last six months, the School has been an active participant in drawing up plans for HKUST's new Nansha campus, which will be an important site for our future teaching and research programs.
With continued hard work, the future promises more exciting developments and I look forward to sharing them with you.
Best regards,
Philip Chan Dean
■ Prof Khaled Ben Letaief, Chair Professor and Head of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, has been elected to the Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society.
■Prof Amine Bermak, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, received the IEEE Chester Sall Award at the 2006 IEEE Consumer Electronics Award Ceremony in Las Vegas. The award was made for Prof Bermak's best paper published in
I E E E Transactions on Consumer Electronics in
2004.
■ Prof Chak Keung Chan, Chemical Engineering, was presented the
A s i a n Y o u n g Aerosol Scientist Award by the Asian Aerosol Research Assembly (AARA) at its 4th Asian Aerosol Conference held December 13-16 in Mumbai, India. The award came for Prof Chan's outstanding contributions in the field o f t h e r m o d y n a m i c s a n d h y g r o s c o p i c properties of atmospheric aerosols.
■ A joint paper, S-Club: An O v e r l a y B a s e d E f f i c i e n t Service Discovery Mechanism i n C R OW N G r i d b y P r o f
Lionel Ni, Chair Professor
and Head of Computer Science, and his co-writers Prof Yunhao Liu, Mr Yanmin Zhu, Mr Chunming Hu and Prof Jinpeng Huai, was named best paper at the IEEE International Conference on e-Business Engineering (IEEE ICEBE).
■Prof Brian Mak, Computer Science, has received the Best Paper Award in t h e a r e a o f s p e e c h processing from the IEEE Signal Processing S o c i e t y. H i s p a p e r,
Subspace distribution clustering hidden Markov model,
was co-authored with Dr. Enrico Bocchieri of AT&T Labs.
■ Prof Mitchell Tseng, Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, received the Outstanding Industrial Engineer Award f r o m P u r d u e U n i v e r s i t y ' s S c h o o l o f Industrial Engineering at its 50th anniversary
celebration in October 2005. Purdue's is the second oldest IE school in the world.
P06 (Replace 6th Paragraph)
Said Fanny: "We've refined our logical thinking skills during this course, and better appreciate the value to be derived learning from our peers."
Jacky concurred: "Prof Ko has taught us more than just facts. I've learnt that there is not always a right or wrong answer, but one's opinion counts. What's more, we have improved our communication skills and understood ourselves better through a variety of aptitude tests."
P06 (correction made on 5th Paragraph)
Travis Leung, Fanny Fan, Connie Chow and Jacky Yeung are HKUST first-year students. Travis and Fanny study Chemical Engineering and Connie and Jacky dual degrees in Chemical Engineering and General Business Management. From different high schools, they became friends through the course.
■ Tik-pan Chan, a first year undergraduate in Civil and Structural Engineering and General Business Management, has been granted the Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarship 2005/2006.
■Final year design project students Yeuk-him Chan, Ka-wai Cheung and Hau-sze Ma (Mechanical Engineering) took the First Class Prize at the 2005 National Final of the 2nd Design and Make Competition, Central Southern Provinces and Regions. The team was supervised by Dr Tim Zhao and the competition was held at Guangxi University of Technology.
■ Sheung-chak Cheng, a Computer Science PhD candidate, has been awarded the Solomon Systech Scholarships 2006 for academic excellence, positive attitude and strong
commitment in the engineering field.
■ An EEE team of final year students, Yui-fung Cheung, Lap-wah Ng, Sau-wai Wong and Man-hong Yeung, has been awarded First Runner-Up
prize in the Business Facilities Safety Design Competition for Small & Medium Enterprises 2005.
■ Qi Fu, PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, has won the US$ 2000 first prize (Supply Chain and Logistics Engineering) SCALE 2006 Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Award sponsored by the SCALE Center at the University of Florida.
■ Yat-hei Lam, an EEE PhD student, has won the University LSI Design Contest Special Feature Award organized by the Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference with his paper,
Adaptively-Biased Capacitor-Less CMOS Low Dropout Regulator with Direct Current Feedback.
Calendar of Events
May 10 - 12, 2006 JUPAS Mass Session
May 13, 2006 CSAA Annual Dinner 2006
Time: 7:00 - 10:30pm. Registration: http://alumni.cs.ust.hk/
June 25 - 28, 2006 INFORMS International Conference Hong Kong 2006 http://www.informs.org/Conf/Hongkong06/
July 24 - 29, IT Youth Summer Camp 2006
July 31 - August 5, 2006 Co- organized by Computer Science Department &
HK Federation of Education Worker
August 4 - 6, 2006 International Conference on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics
http://www.icpmg2006.ust.hk
Team Takes Microsoft Championship
First year Computer Science MPhil students Ting Cham Ho and Chan Kin Kong have won this year's prestigious Microsoft Server Championship.
The student track competition is open to under-24 year olds, and 39 teams from institutions across Hong Kong competed, including seven from HKUST. After the rigors of the preliminary rounds, the final saw teams compete to perform tasks related to the deployment of Microsoft Windows Server and Security. The champions' prizes included HK$20,000 and a summer internship at the Microsoft Advanced Technology Center in Shanghai.
"Studying at HKUST gave us with the theoretical foundation essential for solving the problems posed during the competition," said Ting and Chan. "We are really looking forward to the 8-week internship, which will be an important step for us building successful careers."
Digging Deep: Data Miners Win ACM Victory
A Computer Science research group has won the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)'s 2005 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining competition (The KDD Cup). International teams from academia and industry completed a problem, related to Internet searching and classification of 800,000 realistic search queries.
HKUST used an ensemble based search method that innovatively applies machine learning algorithms. The fine work saw the team win first prize in all three of the competition's categories - the first time such a feat has been achieved!
The postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and their faculty supervisor comprised Dou Shen, Dr Rong Pan, Dr Jiantao Sun, Junfeng Pan, Kangheng Wu, Jie Yin and Prof Qiang Yang . Their solution, posted at http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigkdd/explorations/, will now contribute to improving Internet search and information retrieval technologies. A demo can also be viewed at http://q2c.cs.ust.hk/q2c/.
Standing Tall in Quake Comp
A team of Civil Engineering postgraduate students, Au Man-Kai, Bartlomiej Jan Backzkowski, Ho Yin-Bon, Wong Kin-Ming and Yang Cheng-Yu, has won the Introducing Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in Schools (IDEERS) competition.
Teams from across Asia, the US and UK participated in the challenge held at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taipei. Each applied their skills and knowledge to construct an earthquake resistant building of three stories.
Each storey of the wood and glue models was required to support 10 kg, mimicking the weight that furniture exerts on a real apartment floor. The model was then put on an earthquake simulator, known as a shaking table, to test its integrity during seismic activity.
Only the models built by HKUST and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) were still standing at maximum vibration - comparable to an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter Scale! With their model weighing 30% less than NCKU's, HKUST won the first prize, an award of HK$5,000.
Early Admission Scheme
Update
A briefing session on the Early Admission Scheme for outstanding local secondary six students was held in January. Students and their parents gained a more in-depth understanding of the scheme, and met faculty members as well as current EAS students to discuss available programs and life at the University. Overall, about 1,200 students have applied this year, 374 to HKUST. One of the most popular programs is the Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management, jointly offered by the School of Engineering and the School of Business. Final intake results will be announced April.
Ambassador Program Launched
The Inaugural Ceremony for the School's Student Ambassador (SA) Program was held on March 18. Twenty-eight ambassadors have been selected, representing each of the six departments and the CPEG program. For the next 12 months, they will visit local high schools to share their experiences of life at HKUST and useful tips on the admissions and interviews process.
The commissioning process began with a training workshop conducted by Prof Edmond Ko to polish the ambassadors' communication skills and help them reflect on their own education experience. Subsequently, at the inaugural ceremony and luncheon, the Dean presented a certificate to each Student Ambassador.
This is the first or a series of outreach and community service initiatives the School has planned. There will be other events such as campus visits and lab tours tailored for various high schools, mass sessions organized by different departments, and a possible Career Exploration Tour arranged by the CPEG program this summer. For further information on these activities, please contact Ms Janice Ho at [email protected].
Team Takes
Microsoft Championship
First year Computer Science MPhil students Ting Cham-Ho and Chan Kin-Kong have won this year's prestigious Microsoft Server Championship. The student track competition is open to under-24 year olds, and 39 teams from institutions across Hong Kong competed, including seven from HKUST.
After the rigors of the preliminary rounds, the final saw teams compete to perform tasks related to the deployment of Microsoft Windows Server and Security. The champions' prizes included HK$20,000 and a summer internship at the Microsoft Advanced Technology Center in Shanghai. "Studying at HKUST gave us the theoretical foundation essential for solving the problems posed during the competition," said Ting and Chan. "We are really looking forward to the 8-week internship, which will be an important step for us building successful careers."
A Computer Science research group has won the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)'s 2005 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining competition (The KDD Cup). International teams from academia and industry completed a problem, related to Internet searching and classification of 800,000 realistic search queries.
HKUST used an ensemble based search method that
innovatively applies machine learning algorithms. The fine work saw the team win first prize in all three of the competition's categories - the first time such a feat has been achieved! The postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and their faculty supervisor comprised Dou
Shen, Dr Rong Pan, Dr Jiantao Sun, Junfeng Pan, Kangheng Wu, Jie Yin and Prof Qiang Yang .
T h e i r s o l u t i o n , p o s t e d a t
http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigkdd/explorations/, will now contribute to improving Internet search and information retrieval technologies. A demo can also be viewed at http://q2c.cs.ust.hk/q2c/.
The School of Engineering played an integral role in the first session of the high-level Nansha Science and Technology Forum, held in February.
Co-organized by HKUST, the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, and the Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau, the Forum's goal is to identify key science and technology issues and explore the opportunities they offer.
Findings and recommendations will be made to government, industry, institutes and universities with a view to fully developing the opportunities that arise and enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. The Forum's first session was entitled "Information Technology: Digital Life". Internationally renowned experts and academics were called upon, including Lionel Ni, Chair Professor and Head of Computer Science at HKUST.
He was joined by others including Prof Song-De Ma, Vice Minister of Science and Technology; Dr Ya-Qin Zhang, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Corporation; Prof Xiaolan Luo, Director of the Computer Applications Institute of Sun Yat-sen University; and Prof Ke Gong, Vice President of Tsinghua University.
Prof Ni explained that the focus of digital life is to provide "4A" service, which he defined as "any content, any place, any time, with any kind of digital device."
"By applying advanced networking and communication technolog ies, along with innovations in automation, computerization and artificial intelligence, our homes and offices will become more efficient, safe, comfortable, convenient and environmentally friendly," Prof Ni said.
Approximately 500 senior government officials, business leaders, academics, professionals and students participated in the Forum, which was also broadcast to 10 major universities in China.
In upcoming sessions, to be held over the next two years, a variety of cutting-edge issues will be discussed including information technology, healthcare, the environment, globalization, materials, manufacturing, business, natural disasters, and population. The second session of the Forum, to be held in May, will explore energy and energy alternatives. The Nansha IT Park, where the Forum was held, is a collaborative project between the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, the Guangzhou Government and HKUST. Its mission is to f o s t e r h i g h - t e c h n o l o g y i n d u s t r i e s t o e n h a n c e t h e competitiveness of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. Phase One of the Park was completed in 2002, and in September 2006, HKUST will start offering Taught Master's Programs at the Park.
The School's first-rate research has been further recognized with the Department of Mechanical Engineering taking world number one spot for its research output, according to a recent survey conducted by Yuan Ze University, Taiwan. In the survey, released last November, HKUST outperformed more than 260 other universities. The ranking was based on the number of Science Citation Index (SCI) papers published, with the Department producing the highest average of 3.29 papers per faculty member in the years 2000-2002.
Other names in the top 10 include prestigious universities such as Princeton and Stanford. The University of Hong Kong (9th) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (30th) are the two other local institutions to make the top 30.
Mechanical is one of the oldest branches of engineering. It is often perceived to involve engineers working with heavy machinery and oily hands. But over the years, the discipline has evolved to become one of the pioneering sectors in the industrialization and modernization of society, and now embraces many hi-tech fields such as micro-machinery and computer chip packaging, to name a few.
Tongxi Yu, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: "This recognition is a testament to our vision of becoming one of the leading mechanical engineering departments in the world."
"Mechanical engineering is a traditional discipline but our internationally renowned faculty members maintain a driving pace in the pursuit of innovation in areas such as energy, electronic packaging, micro-systems, nanotechnology and
advanced materials, leading to high output and research excellence."
In the same survey, other engineering departments at HKUST also achieved top SCI standards in their respective disciplines. Research output from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management is ranked four in the world, with the Department of Chemical Engineering ranked 14.
Academic Excellence
Forum Focuses on
Region's Future
Forum Focuses on
Region's Future
MechEng
Leads the World
The School's first-rate research has been further recognized with the Department of Mechanical Engineering taking world number one spot for its research output, according to a recent survey conducted by Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.
In the survey, released last November, HKUST outperformed more than 260 other universities. The ranking was based on the number of Science Citation Index (SCI) papers published, with the Department producing the highest average of 3.29 papers per faculty member in the years 2000-2002.
Other names in the top 10 include prestigious universities such as Princeton and Stanford. The University of Hong Kong (9th) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (30th) are the two other local institutions to make the top 30.
Mechanical is one of the oldest branches of engineering. It is often perceived to involve engineers working with heavy machinery and oily hands. But over the years, the discipline has evolved to become one of the pioneering sectors in the industrialization and modernization of society, and now embraces many hi-tech fields such as micro-machinery and computer chip packaging, to name a few.
Tongxi Yu, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: "This recognition is a testament to our vision of becoming one of the leading mechanical engineering departments in the world."
"Mechanical engineering is a traditional discipline but our internationally renowned faculty members maintain a driving pace in the pursuit of innovation in areas such as energy, electronic packaging, micro-systems, nanotechnology and advanced materials, leading to high output and research excellence."
In the same survey, other engineering departments at HKUST also achieved top SCI standards in their respective disciplines. Research output from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management is ranked four in the world, with the Department of Chemical Engineering ranked 14.
