HKUST Genesis = 同創, Volume 2, Number 6

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Developments and

Perspectives

MATHE:MA TICS DEPARTMENT

Mathematics is as fundamental to education as it is to human civilisation itself. But you can be sure maths at HKUST will be more complex than-simple arithmetic--oreven than abstract algebra. With four professors, one reader, five (or six) lecturers, and one visiting professor, the Mathematics Department will offer formidable intellectual and academic challenge to entering undergraduates this year.

The programme that the Head of the Department, Professor Din-Yu Hsieh, has planned for these stu-dents is unique and, if successful, could become a prototype for mathematics programmes at tertiary institutions throughout the world. The heart of the scheme is a conceptual division into two which will help both focus research and structure curricula. Professor Hsieh has named the divisions "Pure and Applicable Mathematics (PAM)" and "Mathematics Science and Applications (MSA)". PAM is tradi-tional, "pure" or abstract, mathematics. It includes such fields as probability and statistics, operations re-search, and theoretical maths. According to Profes-sor Hsieh, pure mathematicians are interested in, for example, the properties of numbers and the internal consistency and beauty of equations. "Pure mathe-maticians are not concerned with solving equations-putting numbers in and getting numbers out Instead they ask questions such as, Does a solution exist? Is it unique?"

MSA is mathematics used to solve specific prob-lems in other fields. In direct contrast to their "pure" colleagues, applied mathematicians seek to solve equations. Their interests centre on the scientific con-tents of the subject matter they investigate, and their work is judged mainly by its contribution to those applied fields.

The MSA division of mathematics is a histori-cally recent phenomenon, created and distinguished by the modem trend of specialisation which has affected virtually every sphere of human endeavour. Pure mathematics is becoming increasingly pure, while applied mathematics is integral to the disci-plines it serves, particularly in physics and engineer-ing. "The great mathematicians before the 20th

An Internal Communication

century were both pure and applied," observes Pro-fessor Hsieh. "Like Newton. But Einstein, for example, would belong to the MSA group as his main interest was physics, not mathematics."

AtHKUST, undergraduates in the Department of Mathematics will join either the PAM strean1 or the MSA stream. Thl: MSA programme will be interdis-ciplinary in thai c~ich student must choose a minor field and take up to as much as one-third of his courses from that field. Fields which would make a good pair with m:nhematics include computer sci-ence, business, physical sciences, and engineering. In such a program me, students will develop not only a solid foundation in mathematics but also a finn grasp of one other discipline.

Part of the go;ll is to provide students graduating in mathematics with a wider range of job opportuni-ties. "Employmrnt is a problem facing mathematics majors all over the world, including in the US and especially in China. Students graduating from HKUST's MSA programme will have three career options: First, thcy will be able to compete in the field of their minor, with a better background in mathematics than other theoretical scientists. Sec-ond, they will always be able to teach.and the applied minor will make them particularly good teachers. Third, they could go on for a higher degree, and they would be welcomed by both mathematics depart-ments and deparunents of their minor." The scheme seems particularly suited to Hong Kong, where the number of qualified students wanting to study maths is high but job opportunities for pure mathematics graduates are relatively few.

Professor Hsieh has advocated the MSA-sort of approach to tertiary education in mathematics for more than ten y~rs, but this is his first chance to put the scheme into practice. With the support of his faculty he hopes the HKUST programme will con-tributetomathematics in Hong Kong-and the world.

See tlzc campus from tlte sea!

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SOCIAL CLUB

CRUISE

29 June

What's

Inside

...

P.2: Staff Introductions P. 3: Campus Inspect.ions P.4: HKUST in Action P.5: A Bit of This, A Bit of That The Versatile Secretary P.6: Administration Circulars P.7 Graphically Speaking On the Light Side Movie of the Month

P. 8 Staff Movements Caterer Chosen Dragon Boat non-Races Bus Service Advertisements Announcements

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Raymond Sze-Chung Wong, Senior Lecturer, Biochemistry. Born 7 Au-gust in Guangdong; married wilh two

sons, aged 11 and 17. Graduated from .

HK Baptist College with a Dipl. in Biology; from South Dakota State U.

with an MS in Cylogenetics and a PhD in Biochemistry. Since 1983 Dr Wong has been working for the Allelix Corp, primarily in research developing canola oil. Fencing is, and has been since high school, Dr Wong's favourite leisure sport.

Vivien Shuk-kau Lau, EO II,

Bio-chemistry. Born 1 October in HK;

single. Graduated from York U. (Toronto) wilh a Bachelor of Admin-istrative Studies. After reluming to HK she worked as an administrative assistanl for an import/export com-pany. Now she is involved in admin-istrative work in the Departmenl and, particularly, in establishing the Bio-technology Research Institute. For fun, Ms Lau walks her dog, a poodle-terrier mixture born in Canada and known Lo her (af-fectionately) as "Big Fat Boy."

Flora Wai-man Yeung, EO II,

Biol-ogy. Born 29 January in HK; single. GraduaLed from CUHK wilh a BA, having majored in history. She then

taught Chinese and world hisLory and Chinese language in a secondary school. Afler two years she sought a change of career and became an EO for Caritas' family service section. At HKUST she is enjoying "a different exposure in the same field." In her spare time, Ms Yeung plays squash and badminton, and reads.

Doris Kam-ying Lee, EO II, Chemis-try. Born 12Novemberin HK; single. Graduated from CUHK with a BA in English. After graduation, Ms Lee taught English for two years in a sec-ondary school, and then worked as an executive officer in the Extra-Murals Dept. of CUHK. In her spare time Ms Lee particularly enjoys playing tennis or reading.

Yue-KuenKwok,Lecturer,Mathemat-ics. Born 24 July in Guangdong;

mar-ried with two daughters, aged-4 and 5. Graduated from HKU with a BS in

Me-chanical Engineering, from Brown U.

with an MSc and a PhD in Applied Mathematics. Since then he has been an Assistant Professor of Mathematics

at San Jose State U. Table tennis (among

June 1991

othersporls) is DrKwok's foremost hobby, and one in which he has demonstrated exceptional skill, winning a place as second

runner-up in the US College Open Singles Tournament in 1982. Allanus Hak-man Tsoi, Lecturer,

Mathematics. Born 20 July in HK; married. Gradualed from U. Washing-ton with a BS, from U. Illinois at Ur-bana-Champaign with an MS and from U. Alberta with a PhD. Dr Tsoi taught

as an Assistant Lecturer in Mathematics atLingnan College and HK Baptist Col-lege before going to Canada for his

PhD. Playing table tennis and bridge are his favourite pastimes. Priscilla ,vong, EO II, Mathematics.

Born 7 December in HK; single. Gradu-ated from HKU with a BA, having majored in translation. She then worked as an English sub-editor for a magazine publishing company. In her evenings,

she is working toward a degree in Ac-counting at City Poly. For entertain-mentMs Wong reads; for exercise, when

time and weather allow, she cycles. Clara Li, EO II, Physics. Born 26 July in HK; married. Graduated from CUHK with a BA in English Literature. Before joining HKUST, she worked as an ad-ministrative/personnel officer for an electronics company. She now handles general office work for the Departrnen t. Her favourite pastimes include reading, swimming, and listening to music. Flora Yin-ping Tai, EO II, Office of Dean of Science. Born 27 April in HK; single. Graduated from HKU with a Bachelorof Social Science. Since gradu-ating, Ms Tai has worked in administra-tive positions for a construction com-pany, a property management comcom-pany, and, most recently, for the Vocational Training Council. As for hobbies, Ms Tai enjoys nothing better than a good movie.

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CCST staff have also been busy on campus, installing the computer network. Director of the Centre of Com -puting Services and Telecommunications, Max! vey, has forecast the following moving schedule but emphasises, like

Mr

Hudson, that these dates are provisional and extremely sensitive to poten -tial delays.

HKUST's main academic complex has met requirements of the local fire services ordinance, and a Fire Certificate was issued in early June. A Building Occupation Pennit (OP) was immedi-ately applied for. Inspections are in progress, and issuance of the OP is expected by the end of June. With OP in hand, contractors

can

proceed to finish the interior of the building and then hand-over the keys to HKUST.

Finishing all of Phase I should take approximately one month, but advanced access will be possible to some parts of the building, starting with the multi-purpose sports hall. This space will be used as a warehouse for the storage of equipment and furniture waiting to be installed.

By mid-August, the academic complex is expected to be finished and ready for occupancy. Director of Estates Manage-ment, Mike Hudson, has devised a moving schedule (below), but hastens to add-and emphasise-that these dates are provisional and extremely sensitive to a great number of factors, any one of which could initiate a "domino effect" in delays.

12-25 August:

13/F

offices move to campus. 19-25 August:

12/F

offices move to campus.

26 August-1 September:

5/F

offices move to campus.

While the moving dates represent the time when most staff will begin working on campus, many staff are already there. Commissioning the building-Le., bringing it into operation-began in April. Since then, increasing numbers of staff have been reporting for work on campus rather than to Harbour City.

Mr

Hudson estimates about 40 staff now visit the campus daily: approximately 20 from Estates Management, and the balance from CCST and Laboratory Services. Appropriately enough, the Estates staff go to attend classes taught by the contractors and suppliers who have installed building services. The classes deal with how to operate the building, from controlling the air condi-tioning and lifts to monitoring power supplies. All of these functions are part of a computerised automatic system designed by Honeywell, which is, in

Mr

Hudson's words, "the next generation beyond the Convention Centre."

10 June: Staff of HK.UST and of Digital Equipment Corporation began to install the fibre optic network on campus. Installing the "backbone" is expected to take approximately one month. 1 July: Installation of the Ethernet subnet will begin. This phase involves wiring floors and individual offices, and is also expected to take one month.

26-28 July; 9-11 August; 23-25 August: VAX systems will be moved, two on each weekend. On Friday, all files will be backed up; on Saturday and Sunday, the move will be executed. By Mon-day, systems should be operating nonnally.

As for computer service during the transition, additional low-speed and high-low-speed computer lines between Harbour City and campus will be leased. These "bridges" will enable the old Har-bour City network and the new campus network to operate as one. For the most part, users will experience little or no degradation of service. After the

13/F

moves, it is possible that the two floors remaining in Harbour City may experience lag because the bridges are slower than the backbone, and because they may not have the capacity to handle all of the traffic. By 10 August these problems, if experienced, should begin to clear.

Meanwhile, work on staff residences is proceeding equally quickly. Hand-overisexpected toward the end of July, when delivery and installation of

fur-niture and air conditioners, and interiorfinishing,can begin. Staff can expect to move in during the latter weeks of August or early September.

Will the University be ready by 2 October? To this question,

Mr

Hudson responded with a spontaneous and unequivocal, "Of course. Everyone is exert-ing tremendous effort to ensure HK.UST will be completed in time. More than 4000 workers-a massive labour force--are on site, working simultaneously on all phases. But," he cautioned, "this tremendous speed means some things are not being done as carefully as we would like. People must be tolerant-particularly. in the beginning-when we move in .... The building is magnifi-cent, like no other tertiary institution in Hong Kong, but it won't be perfect New buildings never are. If people can live with the imperfections in the beginning, [Estates Management] will do what we can to accommodate changes after we are settled."

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4 June 1991

•

• The

School of Business and Man-agement, together with the John E. Anderson Gradu

-ateSchool ofMan-agement at UCLA and the Nolan Norton Institute, jointly sponsored their first execu-tive education pro

-gramme in Hong Kong, 26-31 May. Entitled, "Manag-ing the

Informa-Professor Moshe Rubinstein draws laughs from the class as he emphasises a point during his presentation, "Patterns of Human Problem Solving", as part of the "Managing the Information Resource" executive training programme.

tion Resource: Breaking Away with Information Technol-ogy in the '90s," the residential programme was fully subscribed. More than 40 executives from Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore attended, and faculty from the Norton Institute and UCLA led the daily seminars. In addition, HKUST's Professor Vincent Shen (Computer Science) delivered an evening lecture entitled, "Improving Your Productivity in Software Development."

HKUST, together with other local UPGC institutions, or-ganised a postgraduate studies symposium and exhibition at the newly-opened Science Museum, 24-26 May. En-titled, "Learning for the Future," the exhibition included standing exhibits, forums, and counselling sessions in order to encourage interest in postgraduate study in Hong Kong. More than

1000 people vis

-ited HKUST's booth and 20-30 students took ad-vantage of the counselling ses-sions to meet with faculty.

In addition to the standing ex-hibit and counsel-ling, the Exhibi-tion offered a se-ries of eight semi-nars and forums. Six were

pre-At the Postgraduate Exhibition, students learn of HKUST's programmes from display panels and from staff manning the booth.

sented by individual participating tertiary institutions; one entitled, "Postgraduate Study Opportunities in HK," was presented jointly; and one entitled, "Job Opportunities for Graduates with Higher Degrees," was presented by repre-sentatives of the private sector.

All events were open free of charge to the public.

•

The Research Grants Council has agreed to fund 18 of 20 research proposals submitted by HKUST academic staff. Among the seven local tertiary institutions, this is the highest proportion of successful applications. The total value of HKUST' s awards is $8.8 million, which represents

1n

of the total funds distributed.

The submission of proposals and awarding of funds is

an annual exercise. Each tertiary institution is given a quota; all are given a fonnat and deadline in late November by which time the proposals must be submitted. The Council's decision is announced subsequently in early June. This year HKUST' s quota was 20; next year it will be 40, although Vice-Chancellor Woo is seeking an even higher figure, given HKUST' s success this year and the fact that academic staff will number 4-5 times as many next year as they did this year.

Mike Hudson, Director of Estates Management, has been appointed Chainnan of the Building Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. With more than 10,000 members, this Institution is the main professional society of engineers in Hong Kong. Its 13 Divisions represent all en-gineering disciplines from marine to structural; the newly-created Building Division is expected to become one of the largest, given the importance of property and construction in Hong Kong's economy .

Professor Ernest Chu, Head of Biology (Acting), has re-ceived the Environmental Mutagen Society's Award, given "in recognition of pioneering research on mutagenesis in mammalian cells and his outstanding contributions as a leader in the scientific community and as a lec-turer." The Award includes US$500, which Prof. Chu has donated to a fund which helps cover travel expenses of third world scientists seeking to attend Environmental Mutagen Society meetings.

Heads of the UPCC institutions offering postgraduate programmes prepare to speak at the postgraduale exhibition's opening forum, "Vision and Perspectives: Postgraduate Studies in Hong Kimg.H

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Some readers of this column have complained that articles on computers are often full of acronyms and jargon. This article is intended to be A Light-Hearted Introduction to Computers for Everyone, or in computer terms, ALICE.

A computer has a CPU and a main memory. The CPU is usually a CICS or a RISC based on VLSI technology, but there are also SIMD, MIMD and other architectures. The speed of a CPU is measured in MHz, its performance in MIPS and MFLOPS; its cost in $ and cents.

The main memory, which on PC's may include EMS and XMS, is often divided into units of KB or MB. It can be a RAM, DRAM, FRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM or CD-ROM(?) based on CMOS or MCA technology. Information is stored in ASCII or EBCDIC and and can be displayed on a CGA, EGA or VGA. l/0 typically involves UART, EIA, SCSI, EISA, MCA and techniques such as DMA.

By following standards from ANSI, CCITT, IEEE, OSF and OSI oflSO, computers can be linked up to form LAN, WAN and ISDN using, e.g., FDDI and protected by UPS. The network

IP,FIP, 1ELNET,SMTP, UUCP, LAT, C1ERM, DDCMP, SDLC and CSMA/CD,and in support-ing applications such as e-mail, EDI, Ff AM and X.400 MHS throughBITNET,INTERNET,JANET,CSNET, USENETand other networks.

Major computer vendors such as IBM, DEC, HP, UNISYS, ICL, NEC, TI and SUN also market popular OS, including UNIX (SCO or non-SCO), XENIX, POSIX, VM, CMS (with CP or without CP), VMS, MVS, DOS, OS/2. The DBMS can be selected from RDB, DB/2, INGRES, ORACLE, SYBASE, etc. EIS, MIS and DSS are developed using SADT, SSADM, EER, NIAM, CASE, 4GL, SQL, X, GKS, GUI, OOP and AI, thoughBASIC,FORTRAN,COBOL,VTAMandCICSarestill popular. Sometimes, packages for CAD, CAM, CAE, CAI, CAL, CAAD and CBT are also used.

BTW, ALICE can also be interpreted as "AI LAN based on IEEE CSMA/CD for EDI"-which is of course not only an acronym, but also an acronym of acronyms. FYI, such entity is called a mega-acronym, or MA. Furthermore, it goes without saying, ALICE is a PhD.

THE VERSATILE SECRETARY

by Mece/1 Lee

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6

To facilitate commwucation on administrative matters, the General Admini -stration and Committees Office has taken these steps:

First,ithas compiled a list of all ciratlars, memos, and forms which have been issued by various branches of the administration. The list appears below and bas

been entered on the Electronic Bulletin Board. As new circulars appear, they will

be published in Genesis and also added to the Bulletin Board.

Second, it has established an Office Managers Network comprising one representative from each wtlt, section, department, and/or office. The Network

will disseminate information from the Administration to staff, and cany concerns

and information from staff back to the Administration. Members met for the first time on 20 June, in a seminar during which Directors of various administrative branches described the work of their respective offices. The Network will continue to meet monthly.

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Estates Management

Furniture and Appliances for Leased Quarters (Estates Circ., Am., 1/90) " " " " (Related: Financial Circ. 3/89)

Visits to Site (Estates Circ. 2/90)

Purpose-Built UST Senior Staff Quarters (Estates Circ. 31'){)) " Junior " " on Campus (Estates Circ. 4f)O)

Max. Permissible Rent for Quarters w.e.f. 1.2.91 (Memo Ref: EM0/5/3) Senior Staff Housing on Campus (Estates Circ. 2f)l)

Request for Office Maintenance (Form EMO 2f)l)

Requisition for Quarters' Maintenance (Form EMO Q5f)O, Amended) On-Campus Quarters for Support Staff

(Memo Ref: EMO /5f)l; Form EMO Ql6/91)

Application for Standard Office Furniture (Form EMO Fl/89) Application for Emergency Kit (Form EMO Q21'){)) Application for Removal Allowance (Form EMO Ql3/01)

(Related Ciratlar: Financial Circ. 2190) Finance Office

Furniture and Appliances for Leased Quarters (Financial Circ. 3/89) (Related Cirwlar: Estates Circ. 1/90)

Official Entertainment (Financial Circ. 4/89) Purchasing and Tendering Regulations & Procedures

(Memo Ref: USTF0/0042-007 /434)

Purchasing and Tendering Regulations & Procedures (Revised) (Memo Ref: USTF0/0042-007/1330

Petty Cash Policies and Procedures (Memo Ref: USTF0/0042-002/682) Emergency Passage (Memo Ref: USTF0/1060-001/436)

Business Passages (Financial Circ. 1/90) Removal Allowance (Financial Circ. 2/90)

Responsibilities and Contact Persons (Memo Ref: USTF0/0042-002/852) Subsistence Allowance (Financial Circ. If) I)

Advance of Subsistence Allowance (Financial Circ. 3f) 1) Hotel Accomodation in Hong Kong (Financial Circ. 2/91) Personnel Office

Reimbursement of Cantonese & Mandarin Course Fees (Pers. Circ. 1/89) Staff Medical Benefits _(Personnel Circ. 2/89)

Staff Medical Insurance Scheme (Personnel Circ. 9/90)

Staff Contribution to Hospital Maintenance Fees (Personnel Circ. 12190) Staff Medical Insurance Scheme-Outpatient Treatment (Pm. Circ. 161')1) Private Tenancy Allowance (Personnel Circ. 6/90)

Revised Procedures for Submission of Rental Receipts in Claiming Private Tenancy Allowance; Payment of Furniture and Domestic Appliances Allowance (Personnel Circ. I 0/90)

Private Tenancy Allowance (Personnel Circ. 4f)I) Option on Benefits (Personnel Circ. 8/90)

June 1991

Voluntary Personal Accident Insurance (Personnel Circ. 13/90) Children' 1 Education Allowance (Personnel Circ. l 4f)O) Overseas Education Allowance (Personnel Circ. 2191; 61')1)

Reg. on Contractual Passages and Baggage Allowance (Pers. Circ. 15f)O) Gratuity Payment fqr Exewtive, Clerical, Secretarial and Technical Grades Staff

(Personnel Circ. 3/91)

Personnel Procedures (Personnel Circ. 5/91) Salary Restructuring (Personnel Circ. 7 f) I) General Administration

Booking of University Vehicles (General Circ. lJ91)

Security Control for World Shipping Centre Office, 12/F & 13/F (Memo from AS/G, 18.8.89)

Switching Off ofElectric Lights (Memo from AS/G, 7.9.89) Computer Consumables (Memo from DCST, 1.5.90) Office Stationery (Memo Ref. TU 5/1/86 IlI, 15 .6. 90) Postage (Memo Ref.: USTF0/0042-002/1187) New Procedures in Requesting ETC Production Services

(Memo from DETC, 29·.5.91)

Guidelines on Acceptance of Advantages (Administrative Circ. 1/91)

Office Managers Network

I. Administrative Offices:

VC's Office - Miss Daisy W. S. Chan (EOII) PVC-AA's Office - Ms Meki M. K. Wong (EOI) PVC-AB's Office - Ms Stella M. C. Chan (SPS) PVC-R&D's Office - Ms Jane K. C. Li (PSI) ARR Office - Mrs Anne M. W. Lung Wong (EOI)

Estates Management Office -Mrs Codana Y. K. Yam Chan (EOI) Finance Office - Mr Michael K. M. Cheng (Purchasing Officer) GAC Office - Mr Mantes Y. M. Chung (EOII)

PER Office - Miss Pui-Man Leung (EOI)

Planning & Co-ordination Office - Ms Agnes Y. P. Cheung (EOI) Public Affairs Office - Dr Steven S. M. Kong (AA)

Student Affairs Office - Mr K. M. Siu (EOII)

Il. Schools and Teaching Departments:

School of Business & Management

Dean's Office - Ms Rovena T. F. Kwan (EOI)

Department of Accounting - Miss Winnie Y. F. Li (EOII) Department of Finance & Economics - Ms Eva W. C. Chang (EOII) School of Engineering

Dean's Office - Mr Kai-Leung Ku (EOI)

Department of Computer Science - Miss Angela P. Y. Yu (EOII) Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

-Miss Lorena K. L. Yuen (EOII)

Department of Mechanical Engineering - Miss Iris S. L Cheng (EOII) School of Humanities & Social Science

Dean's Office -Miss Mary F. K. Yuen (PSI) Language Centre - Ms Candice W. Y. Poon (EOII) School of Science

Dean's Office -Miss Flora Y. P. Tai (EOI)

Department of Biochemistry - Miss Vivien S. K. Lau (EOII) Department of Biology - Miss Flora W. M Yeung (EOII) Department of Chemistry - Miss Doris K. Y. Lee (EOII) Department of Mathematics - Miss Priscilla L. S. Wong (EOII) Department of Physics -Miss Clara K. N. Li (EOII)

Ill Othu Centres and Units:

Centre of Computing Services & Telecommwucations -Mr Tony K. I. Chan (Computer Officer)

Educational Technology Centre - Miss Sana T. S. Lai (EOI) Office of Laboratory Services - Miss Eva S. L Lau (EOI) Library - Ms Flora L L Yip (EOI)

(7)

June 1991

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Mix and Match

Perhaps you have heard about something called JUP AS. This acronym stands for Joint Univeristy and Polytechnic

,\dmissions Scheme. And quite a scheme it is. It works

sti111eLhing like this:

first, the applicant selects up to twelve courses of study f, t 1111 the six UPGC ins ti tu tions. But he or she can only pick

ftH1r from any one institution--except on odd-numbered

·1 foirsdays, in which case the number of choices can not be

grL'~lLCr than the smaller of four and the number of the

;1pplicant's brothers and sisters. The institutions then L'Y;iluaLC the applications, and make conditional offers to those students they think they want, or have a chance of gl·tLing. Students who get such conditional offers have a number of options open to them: (1) they can keep up to three offers, hoping to do well enough on the A-levels to 11Kel the conditions, (2) they can reject any offers they tltm'L want (but then why did they apply?) or which have rn11d i lions they have no chance to fulfill, or (3) they can go tti Chinese U and forget about the whole thing.

7

Upon careful examination, we can see that this Scheme ll;1s several objectives. Consider the following two groups

uf applicants: (1) those who are accepted by a course of

study that they really want to take, and (2) those who are ;1t-cepted by a course of study that really wants them as

students. JUPAS is obviously designed to make these two groups as small as possible, and to ensure that no student is a member of both groups.

Policy makers are now hard at work on JUPITER, the Joint University and Polytechnic Integrated Technique for Employee Recruitment Under this scheme, a job ;1pplicant will apply for up to twelve different positions at tile six institutions. Properly designed, this system should ensure that few people will work atan institution that really wants them, or at one where they want to be employed (and surely not both). The only problem so far is that there remains a chance that JUPAS and JUPITER could acci-dentally cancel one another out, thus permitting a student and a teacher who actually belong together to be in the same class at the same time. As soon as a method can be de v iscd to prevent this, JUPITER will be ready forrelease .

(8)

8

After a tendering exercise, the Working Party for Selection of a Catering Operator has recommended the appointment of Cafe de Coral Catering Management Ltd (CDC) as t11e on-campus catering operator. This recommendation has been approved by the Sub-Tender Board, and discussions are now underway to prepare the final contract. The following are a few of the parameters and terms which will be included in that contract

• CDC will operate the staff catering facilities for a term of two years. The facilities will be operated as a restaurant with full table service. Set lunch/dinner, sandwiches, snacks, desserts, and drinks will be served. The price for a set lunch/ runner will be approximately $25-30 and for sandwiches and desserts, approximately $15-20. Toward tlle end of the contract, the operation of the facilities will be reviewed.

• CDC will operate the student catering facilities for a term of five years, two years at the temporary accommodation on Level 118, Phase I, and a further three years when the student canteen in Phase II is ready. These facilities will be operated along the lines of a self-service fast food canteen. Pricing will be 15-24% less than that of CDC's commercial opera-tions during the first two years; a furtller discount will be offered as the student body grows.

In an eleventh hour decision on Friday, 14 June, the City and New Territories Administration (CNT A) cancelled theSai Kung dragon boat races due to the threat of shark attack. Since then the CNT A and the Sai Kung Dragon Boat Association have decided that a team will nevertheless be selected to represent Sai Kung in the International Dragon Boat Races. "The CNT A will select the team members, probably on the basis ofrecords of past perform-ance and a lucky draw," speculated HKUST organiser Michael Cheng. "Because HKUST is a newcomer and we haven't raced before, it's unlikely any of our rowers will be selected."

The news disappointed HKUST's 45 participants, who had already spent five days practicing. "We had a good chance to win the men's small boat competition, and we felt we could have made a good show in the Open Competition," commented Wayne Yung (CCST), captain of the men's boats and one of the organisers of HKUST's teams.

June 1991

Welcome Aboard to New Staff!

Office of Estates Management: Mr Li Chun-kuen, Senior Estates Assistant; Mr Chan Wai-ping, Technician (Tech); Mr Kung Sui-Jun, Senior Tech; Miss Tsang, Wai-chee, Clerk II; Ms Yu Woon-ling, Workman II; Mr Chan Lam-fat, CruefTech;Mr Tang Siu-kai, Senior Tech; Mr leung Chi-keung, Works Super-visor II. Student Affairs Office: Mr Siu Koon-ming, Executive Officer II. Office of the Dean of the School of Business &

Management: Miss Choi Chow-kam, Clerk II. Department of Mechanical Engineering: Ms Tse Lai-har, Personal Secretary II. Department of Biology: Mr Ng Kwok-fai, Tech. Laborato-ries & Workshops: Mr Leung Wing-wah, Senior Tech. Transfer

Miss Wong Mi-sai, Clerk II, from Office of the Dean of Science

to Department of Mathematics.

Regrading

Library: Mrs Linda Tzeng Lee, from Assistant Librarian I to Sub-Librarian; Dr Terry S.K. Leung from Assistant Librarian I to Sub-Librarian.

Announcements

• Joe Wu Chung-nam (CCST) married Ivy Fung Lai-wan, an IT officer for Hong Kong Bank, on 25 May.

• Keith Tong (Language Centre) announces the birth of a son, Tong Heng, on 6 May.

In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist

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Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.