r,
r
Decade of Achievement: Only the Beginning
It IS exCitmg to know that HKUST's Engmeenng School has ach1eved so much m only a decade. As 11 celebrates its tenth b1rthday, the School has won JnternalJOnal recogn1t10n for the high caliber of 1ts faculty and students. The School has blazed a trail and made 1ts technological mark 1n the short
t1me since its Inception Our faculty members have won numerous top prestig1ous 1nternat1onal awards. The School set up the first licensed Internet Service Provider "Supernet" and contnbuted the international multimedia stantlard "MPEG 4'' and many others. It offers superbly-tramed graduates who can h1t the ground runnmg m both the academic and pnvate sectors. "In a world in which technolog1es change overmght, transforming workplaces and often creatmg whole new tndustnes, the School keeps close hnks w1th busmess and government," says the School's Dean, Prof Kang L Wang. "We offer courses tailored to meet the needs of the busmess sector as well as soCiety. Th1s not only enhances our students' pracncal problem solvmg ability, but also ensures that we keep our feet on the ground and stay m contact With the real world," says Prof Yeou-Koung Tung. the AssoCiate Dean of the School.
"There 1s no room for '1vory tower' attitudes because if you don't keep a close eye on what's happenmg. you're likely to be overtaken by the real world," he says.
Prof ling Chuen Pong, the Assoc1ate Dean of Engineenng, says the School faces mnumerable challenges. At the forefront of these are attract1ng and keepmg high-quality faculty and students, while working with the government and the busmess community to create a strong technology base which is VItal to Hong Kong's future development
"Bulldmg on our ach1evements 1n the past decade, HKUST's School of Engmeenng endeavors to embark on new front1ers 1n the decades to come," says Prof Wang.
Con~omum Off~ee OIJt;;idP thf' Unrr d Sta~<•s. Lwope on./ loptm was mauguratcd ur HKU~ T t•n
13 November 1998
Th fo'.J moocm <"it mat n vigor flm co..cfevcloped by Prof Mmg L f.IOu, Prof Oscar Au. ond a
PhD cand1da<e. Mr Alf'xiS r.·wr 1p: of th• Of'partmPnl c•f llew 1/ mrf Uc.'droruc Eng1111.'Crtng f•us b n recoqntzed as a new standard for MPFG-4, the mtemabonal <;tandard for mr.~lrtrned1C1 app!rcat/fJfl
\
\'
h
a
t
's
HKUST Ranks Top
i
n
I
EEI~
Journal
Publication
Output
2 ,'J .J 5 (i 7 8
IN
IDE
CASMS:\fE Award
E1tvironnwntally F'rie111 lly
Buildin~ 1\laleri<~ls
Pearl Hivcr Est U<JJ)' and Coastal Monit.oring System Students Shine at Chip Olympirs Again Int ernat ioual l·:xdHIIlg<! lligh-Terh Eutrcprenrur Program
HK's First Gt!oteehniral Centrifuge Opens
In a recent survey of pubhcat1on output m Journals and mternatlonal conferences sponsored by the Institute of Electncal and Electronics Engmeers (IEEE), the most respected and world's largest engtneenng professional body, HKUST's Department of Electncal and ElectroniC Engmeering ranked No 1 m the number of papers published 1n the prestigiOUS IEEE TransactiOns on Electron Dev1ces dunng 1998-2000
The department also ranked 8th among top un1vers1t1es worldw1de m the number of papers presented
m
the International Electron Dev1ces Meeting (IEDM), one of the most prest1gious international conference m semiconductor and integrated CircUit technology, during 1 994-2000."The result exceeds our expedat1on It IS very encouragmg, espeCially to a young department hke ours.· says Prof Philip Chan, Head of the Electncal and Electron1c Eng1neenng Department.
·The department has fewer research resources compared w1th top research universities m the United States, and yet
we
come out very wellagamst the world's best research un1vers11ies tn these areas, • he says "In ten short years. we have established a strong research base with very high-caliber faculty members, hard-working students and state-of-the-art laboratory equ1pment, • Prof Chan says.
~..::~!
Message
from
the Dean
Th1s year, HKUST celebrates 1ls tenth anniversary. In the past ten years, we have come a long way. Both our faculty members and our students have ach1eved international
reputations. As you wdl see 1n this first issue of HKUST Engineering In Focus, our faculty members have rece1ved numerous international accolades for both academic and research
excellence. Our students have received awards
10 International compet1t1ons and our graduates are in demand in
Hong Kong and abroad. We are proud of the fact that our alumni are recognized for the1r seNtce and dedication.
This year, we added two 1nterdiscipltnary programs to our degree offering. Our b1oengineering program IS the first in Hong Kong.
Bioengineering 1s one of the most exciting disciplines to emerge m the last decade. Btoengtneenng offers the potent1al to cure cancer
from genetically engineered drugs as well as the potenttal to admintster effective health care by repamng the body cell by cell. The
study of btoeng1neering makes bto-medtcal knowledge immed1ately available to doctors by comb1mng electromcs and computer sCience with bio-medical practice and 1nformatics. Our faculty and students
from different disciplines are work1ng together to study thts new exciting area.
IIKUST Win
s
CASA
/
SME Award
HKUST is the 2001 winner of the University LEAD Award presented
by the Computer and Automated Systems Association of the Society of Manufactunng Engineers (CASA/SME). The LEAD award honors industry and research groups for Leadership and Excellence in the
Application and Development of integrated manufacturing.
"It IS dtfficult to win this prestigious international award. Only one
recipient a year worldwide is awarded for its program excellence," says Prof Mitchell Tseng, Director of HKUST Advanced Manufacturing lnst1tute and the founding Head of the Department of Industrial Engtneenng and Engineering Management
The LEAD Award Comm1ttee was particularly impressed by HKUST's
rapid progress in implementing plans for education in production
engineering and eng1neering management.
The award recogn1zed a Joint effort from HKUSTs Advanced Manufacturing Institute, Departments of Industrial Engineering and Engineenng Management, Mechanical Engineering. Electrical and Electronic Engineenng. Chemical Engineering and Computer Science.
Prof Chung
-
Yee Lee
t
o
L
ea
d
IEEM
Department
Prof Chung-Yee Lee, a renowned researcher 1n
production scheduling and operations
management, assumed duty as the Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Eng1neering Management (IEEM) on 20 August
2001. Prof Lee obtained his PhD in Operations Research from Yale University in 1984 and was appointed the Rockwell Professor of Industrial
Engineering at Texas A&M University in 1996.
He was the editor of the Institute of Industrial Engineering's (liE)
Transactions on Scheduling and Logistics.
II
Likew1se, environmental engmeering is important to secure a sustainable and safe enwonment. Our faculty and students in our enwonmental eng1neenng program are pursu1ng an interdisciplinary
approach to prov1dmg mnovat1ve solutions to enwonment problems.
Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship are the forte of engmeenng. One of our miss1ons IS to help develop a high-tech
mdustry base. That 1s why we started a new High-Tech Entrepreneur Program (HTEP) a1med to help our students become technology entrepreneurs. The program teaches students how to turn novel 1deas mto VIable businesses. Students will learn in practical
workshops both how to initiate a startup and technical know-how.
As Hong Kong becomes a knowledge-based soCiety, we are committed to excellence m eng1neenng education and cutt1ng-edge research to
add to the sum of human knowledge. Our future IS challenging. With your support, we believe we can meet the challenges that lie ahead.
With warmest regards,
Kong L Wang Dean of Engmeering
International Honors and Awards
• Prof Kin-Man Lee of the Civil Engineering Department and his research team were presented the Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award for their paper "Effects of placement method on geotechnical
behav1or of hydraulic fill sands" by the prestigious American Society
of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Prof Lee's team is only one of two non-US research groups to have rece1ved the award in its 45-year history.
• The paper "Traffic assignment and traffic control in general fre eway-artenal corndor systems," (1994) by Prof Hai Yang of the
Department of Civil Engineering and his coworkers was the only paper from Asia selected to be one of thirty classic papers published by Elsevier Science's h1ghly Cited journals: Transportation Research (Parts A & B) in the past 34 years.
• Prof Ming L Liou of the Department of Electrical and Electron1c Engineering was awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) Circuits and Systems Society Mac Van Valkenburg
Award and the IEEE Thtrd Millennium Medal in 2000.
• Prof RICky Lee of Mechamcal Engineering was selected as the reCipient of the 2000 JEP Best Paper Award by the Amencan
SoCJety of Mechan1cal Engineers (ASME) Transactions: Journal of Electromc Packagmg.
• Prof Tongxi Yu of Mechanical Engineering won a China Hi
gher-Education Science Award (First Class) in May 2001.
• Fellowship: * Prof Bertram Shi and Prof Kei May Lau of 8ectrical and
Electronic Eng1neering have been elected Fellows of the prestigious
IEEE.* Prof Tongyi Zhang of the Mechanical Engineering Department
has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Materials
(ASM) International.
• Prof Jtngshen Wu and Prof Tianshou Zhao of Mechanical Engineering have been awarded "State Key Laboratory Research Fellowships" from the Educat1on Mimstry of Ch1na for 2001. Prof Wu was also a reCipient 1n 2000.
Recycling Coal Ash into
Environmentally Friendly Building Materials
Prof Zongjin U, Associate Professor of HKUST's Civil Engineering Department, will employ extrusion technology in the development of novel build1ng materials with pulvenzed coal ash, an industnal waste produced by electricity-generating plants. He will work with 3E Enwotech Products Co Ltd. to recycle coal ash 1nto h1gh strength bncks, wall panels, light-weight aggregate, h1gh-quality filler materials
and masonry blocks with two-way jo1nts.
The joint proJect involves an Investment of HK$8 million by 3E. Under the agreement, both sides will develop an extruder for lhe manufacture of coal ash-based wall panels and other build1ng
matenals. The collaboration will help recycle coal ash, estimated to be in millions of tons each year, greatly min1mizing the pollution caused by this industrial by-product. It will also mimmize construct1on waste, save land, energy and production costs.
"Compared with the traditional cast1ng method, extrusion is a flex1ble technology, showing great 1mprovement in strength, toughness,
ductility and durability," says Prof L1, who is also the Director of the
Advanced Cement-Based Buildmg Products Cooperative Research Center at HKUST.
"Universities and industry can JOin hands to translate results of technological research into commercial products in a cost-effective way that ensures the sustainable development of the environment," says Mr Ding Wang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 3E "The appl1cat1ons of coal ash have not been fully utilized 1n Hong Kong. Tappmg the strengths of Prof Li's extrusion technology, we can develop a whole series of advanced building matenals that will benefit the construction industry and the environment eventually,"
he says.
1
Speech Recognition Technology
Researchers help Youngsters' Pro
n
oociation vvith
Hong Kong students have been criticized in recent years for havingpoor spoken English. To address this criticism, Prof Man Hung Siu of Electncal and Electronic Engineenng and Prof Brian Mak of Computer Soence JOined forces to develop a multimedia software application called "Pronunciation Learning via Automatic SpEech Recognition
(PLASER)" to teach English pronunciation and listening skills.
"Most students are shy. They do not get enough practice in the
classroom," said Prof Siu.
"School teachers don't have enough time to monitor each individual's learning progress.'' added Prof Mak.
Unlike many rival language products, PLASER can determme 1f a student says an English word correctly and can track individual students' progress.
PLASER, which targets Form I and Form 2 secondary school students, is a two-year project funded by the government's Quality
Education Fund with the part1c1pat1on of seven secondary schools.
A
B
righter
F
uture
for the
Local Optoelectronics Industry
Researchers at HKUST are developing new technologies [or themanufacture of high-brightness inorganic blue/green light-emitting diodes (LEOs) to help the local optoelectronics industry sharpen its edge in a fast-growing world market
"Currently local LED compames have to rely on overseas suppliers
for processed LED chips as Hong Kong lacks both the technology and Infrastructure to develop its own inorganic LEOs," says project coordinator Prof Ke1 May Lau of the Electrical and Electronic
Engineering Department, an expert in compound semiconductor
materials and devices.
Thts three-year project, awarded HK$15 milhon by the Government's Innovation and Technology Fund, is designed to help local compan1es develop new products, nurture local talents and, ultimately, spawn new
investment m the LED chip fabrication market. HKUST researchers will collaborate with mternat1onal and local LED companies to develop
technologies for prototype production of gallium nitride and related
inorganic LED structures that emit in blue/green spectral regimes. These LEOs are made with con1pound semiconductors, materials with relatively high complexity that have found mcreasing use 1n
photonic and h1gh frequency device applications. As these advanced
LEOs are very difficult to fabncate, they are always in high demand.
"Through the project, we will design, fabricate and test prototype LEOs before transferring the technology to industry. Local companies can in turn design their own devices for specif1c applications in terms of color, bnghtness and efficiency, to be integrated with their systems. All in all, they can produce LED products with unique
features, lower cost and greater flexibility," Prof Lau says.
"Moreover, Hong Kong will also benefit from a pool of locally trained experts specializing in LED device design and processing," she adds.
P
ea
rl River Estuary and
Co
a
stal W
a
ter Monitoring System
Prof Jay Chung Chen of the Department of Mechan1cal Engineenng and hrs team completed a Chmese government sponsored project, "Pearl Rrver Estuary and Coastal Water Momtonng System" m the f11st quarter of 2001. Prof Chen was honored with the prestrg1ous t1tle "
·it''
A'iii
tt
"
by the Chinese Mmrstry of SCience and Technology.This was a two-year multi-million dollar proJect 1n whrch a shore-based monrtonng system, satellrte remote sensmg systems, coastal radar systems, shrpboard sensor systems and mathematical models are mtegrated for the purpose of enwonmental monl\onng and predrdlons.
New Product Analysis Center
Prof Chen also part1c1pates 1n a HK$18 million Pearl River ~stuary
PollutiOn Project (PREPP), which IS now 1n its fmal stage of completion. The grant was awarded by the Hong Kong Jockey dub under the Chref Executive's Commun1ty Project.
The R&D work 1ncludes coastal and oceanographic investrgallon of vanous parameters affecting the Pearl River estuary and 1ts coastal water enwonment, scrent1fic data analysrs, and establishment of a network of shore-based and sh1pbome monrtoring systems.
to Up
g
rad
e
th
e
L
oc
al Scrnl
c
onclu
c
tor Indu
s
tr
y
The Semrconductor Product Analysrs and Des1gn Enhancement(SPADr) Center at HKUSl has recently been established to enhance the competillveness of the local semiconductor industry rn an mcreasrngly lucrative world market
Support of HK$14.9 million was awarded by the lnnovatron and Technology Fund (ITF) for the Center's inrtJal three years of operatron. To complement the ITI support, more than 20 local semrconductor compan1es have lent the1r support to the Center with a sponsorsh1p ot HK$2,400,000.
Posrlioned at the forefront of semiconductor research, HKUST is the only unrversity m Hong Kong equrpped wrth a complete mrcroelearonic fabncat1on lme and with the know~ow to provide support for the local semrconduaor industry.
Currently, small- and medium-srzed enterpnses (SMEs) in the semrconduaor mdustry go to Tarwan or Singapore for product analysis, design enhancement and failure analysrs servrces because they do not have a cnt1cal mass of expertrse themselves. As a result, they cannot produce h1gh value-added semrconductor products or Improve therr product development
The SPADE Center, to open by the fourth quarter of th1s year, will be equipped With state-of·the-art faolltJes to conduct product analysrs, desrgn enhancement and larlure analysrs. The Center wrll attract 1ntematronal semiconductor companies to set up their deStgn houses m Hong Kong and more 1mportantly, wrll entree local experts to stay 1n Hong Kong.
Prof Johnny Sin, ProJect Coordinator and Professor of HKUST's Department of Electncal and Electromc Engrneenn& estimates that the establishment of the SPADE Center alone Will help boost Hong Kong's share m the world market by 30%, amounnng to HK$17.85 bill1on (US$2.3 billion). In 2000. the total market value for the worldwide semiconductor 1ndustry was estimated to be at US$195 billion, with the Asia Pac1fic reg1on accounting tor about US$44 bdlton, 4% of whrch IS attnbuted to Hong Kong.
The availabrltty of product analysrs serv1ces at HKUST IS one of the
decrsive factors for ON Semiconductor to estabhsh 1ts reg1onal head office, rndud1ng a des1gn center, rn Hong Kong. "We belteve the establishment of SPADE IS meanrngful as 11 will providt! a basic
semrconductor product analys1s laboratory Infrastructure rn Hong Kong. wh1ch can help ON Semiconductor to conduct its product analysis at lower cost and in faster cycle tune," sard Mr Henry Leung. President ol Asia Pacific, ON Semiconductor, a global broadband and power management chrps supplier and the largest sponsor of SPADE.
"The Center could help lower our manufactunng cost. mc.rease our
competitiveness as well as provide training for our staff,'' sard Mr
Johnny K H Tsui, Managrng Director of ASITC Custom Power (HK) Ltd, another sponsor of SPADE.
I
Air Pollution Forecast
h
y
JI
K
U
S
T
The daily A1r Pollut1on Index (API) forecast presently provided by lhe Hong Kong Envrronmental Protectron Department to the medra IS the product of research work led by Prof See Chun Kot, Sen1or Lecturer of Mechanrcal Engrneenn& and the Center for Coastal and Atmospheric Research. The accuracy of the forecast is better than 850to.
~
Students
and
Alumni
Engineering Studeuts
Shin
e
al Chip Olympics Again
Two Engineering PhD students have developed novel techniques in
the design and fabrication of integrated circu1ts (ICs) that could result
in cheaper, smaller and more durable wueless dev1ces such as mob1le
phones, MD players and pagers.
Vmcent Cheung and Zhaofeng Zhang, both PhD cand1dates 1n the
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engmeenn& presented their
papers at the prestigious IEEE International Solid-State Circuits
Conference 2001 (ISSCC)--or the "Ch1p Olymp1cs"-in San Francisco
from 4 to 8 February 2001.
To date, HKUST is the only un1versity from Hong Kong and the
Chinese Mamland to have tts research papers accepted and
presented at the world's top solid-state CirCUits conference.
Th1s ts the fourth time, and the third year runnin& Hong Kong
students have been 1nv1ted to present the1r research at the Ch1p
Olympics alongside top industry and academic researchers. Intel,
Sony, IBM, Lucen~ NEC, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Bell, MIT and
Stanford are JUSt a few of the compantes and umvers1tles that also
presented the1r latest research findtngs this year.
Exploring Computer Animation
at
NYU
Gary Tam Kwok Leung. a final-year Computer Science student, took
off for a three-week, full-time summer course titled "Computer Animation and Visual Effects" at New York Untversity (NYU) from 6 to 24 August 2001.
CCIIY (tlurd from left),
w1th the other seven
Hong Kong students and the NYU msi1uctor and teachmg aSSIStant
The microchip that Vincent has created will s1gmfic.antly reduce the
SIZe, we1ght and the power consumptton of portable electroniC
dev1ces tncluding mobile phones, laptops, and CD and MD players.
"At present, most analog ICs still need a supply voltage of at least
2.5V to ach1eve acceptable performance. Our novel technique
enables the IC to perform at least ten times faster than existing designs,'' expla1ns Vincent.
Zhaofeng has developed the world's first CMOS fully integrated Slngl
e-chtp pager recetver, while overcommg the problems of d1rect current
offset and fltcker no1se commonly faced by direct convers1on
receivers. ''This breakthrough allows us to implement small-s1ze,
low-cost ICs w1th the same capabilities as more complicated and
expensive ICs," explains Zhaofeng.
Offered by NYU's Center for Advanced Digital Applications (CADA),
the course is regarded as one of the 15 best animation courses in
United States by Antmation Magazine. All of its instructors are
working professionals 1n the industry who bring to the classroom a modern aesthetic sens1b1hty and wealth of pract1cal dig1tal product1on expenence.
Students are led into the fascinating world of real-life production,
starting from the creation of 3D elements and ending with the
mantpulation of images using composing tools.
"This was a fruitful journey. I learned not only novel computer an1mation techn1ques, but also about the Amencan culture 1n great depth," says Gary.
The overseas summer study program was organized by the Hong
Kong Productivity Council and funded by the Film Development Fund.
A total of eight Hong Kong students from different tertiary institutions
were selected to join the program.
I
Triumphs
in
International Student Paper
Awards
• The paper ''An Analys1s on the Refngeratton Mechanism of a Student Paper Contest for the1r projects "Demosa1c: Color Filter
Compressible Flow Oscillattng tn a Tube" by Guoqiang Lu (a PhD Array Interpolation for Dig1tal Cameras" and "Multi Resolution Mesh
candidate 1n Mechamc.al Engineenng) co-authored with Prof Pmg Representation Using Vertex Cluster Contraction", respectively.
Cheng of the department, was honored as one of the two
Meritorious Student Papers for presentation al the 2001 Cryogenic
Engtneering/lnternational Cryogenic Materials Conference held in
July 2001
• Lam Suk Han and Alton Chan Kam Fat, ftnal-year students of
Electncal and ElectroniC Engmeering, won the first and th1rd
prizes in the IEEE 2001 Undergraduate Region I 0 (Asta Pacific)
• L1nda Lok-wan Chow, a Mechamcal Engineering MPhd student, was
awarded the Best Student Paper tn the International Sympos1um
on ElectroniC Materials and Packaging (EMAP 2000) conference for
her paper •Moisture Sensor us1ng Reactive Sputtered Ti02 film w1th
Negative Substrate Bias•, co-authored with Prof Matthew Yuen of
International Exchange:
l'v1uch More Than Fmt Times in a Forc>ign Country
Sally Ng Nga Lee, a final-year undergraduate student in Chemical
and Environmental Engineering, has returned from the University of
Minnesota where she went on exchange dunng her second year of
study in 2000-01.
Why study overseas? Sally says there are several reasons.
"To understand more about the world and to meet people with different cultural backgrounds," she says. "It was a great experience to study at the University of Minnesota where the Department ot
Chem1cal Eng1neering and Materials Sctence has an excellent reputation."
Studymg with students from all over the world was an eye-opener, Sally says. The students in the United States are more active in
lectures than their counterparts in Hong Kong, she says. The students emphasize understanding the problems over know1ng the fmal answers. If they don't understand, they ask questions.
Sally treasures the close friendsh1ps she formed with her Japanese roommate and her fellow classmates m Minnesota. "We spent a very spec1al year of our lives together,'' Sally says. She will never
forget how her classmates helped her during her toughest time in
Mmnesota when she took a few advanced courses without having
an adequate background.
·• I see a b1gger world than before and I have become more
mdependent and mature s1nce the exchange," Sally says.
Sally found her expenence overseas Invaluable and exc1ting and
strongly recommends other HKUST students JOin the program to
broaden the1r honwns.
''I had a fruitful and fun year 1n Mtnnesota and I would say 1t's worth all the trouble," she says.
Sally thanks the Hong Kong Jockey Club for a generous scholarship
that she has rece1ved since 1999. ''The scholarship relieves the
financial burden of my education on my famtly. I may not have
been able lo participate m th1s meaningful exchange program without the scholarship,'' she remarks.
DHL Scholarship
Supports
Logistics
Education at
HKlfST
Thanks to a generous donat10n from DHL Hong Kong, the "DHL
Log1sbcs Scholarship" has been established to recognize the best first-year undergraduate of HKUST's lndustnal Engmeering and
Engtneenng Management (Transportation Log1stics Management)
program 1n 2001.
DHL Worldwide Express is ded1cated to support the express
distnbution mdustry, which facilitates international trade. The
company shows strong support for education programs 1n log1stics
and supply cham management.
HKUST's Department of lndustnal Engineenng and Engineering
Management 1s the first department in Hong Kong to offer
undergraduate degrees in transportation logtstlcs management.
The School of Engineering has established its student exchange
program with over 30 institutions around the world, mcluding the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan and Singapore.
A fun daym th" 'itate Fo11 Sally (tar fight) hovmg o d:nner w1th other exchange students from europe und As1a.
toon"ation Fosters Expertise Training
I ..
for Tcclu1ology Advancement
"Hong Kong 1s now transforming itself 1nto a knowledge-based and technology-led soCiety. I certainly hope to contribute to and play a
part in th1s excitmg economic transformation," said Mike Cheuk
-wai Chow ( 1996 MPh1l graduate in Electrical and ElectroniC
Eng1neenng) who was among the first batch of awardees of the Jardine Matheson Scholarship.
"I am glad that I made the cho1ce of study1ng at HKUST. It has excellent teachers and state-of-the-art research facilities. The
knowledge I gamed and the technologies I was exposed to at the
University are at the cutting-edge of the semiconductor industry," sa1d M1ke who JOined Motorola Semiconductor HK Ltd. after graduation.
"The benefit of science and technology to society IS great, but the cost is h1gh. I have had the pnv1lege to learn from the very best, thanks to the generous support of donors. I hope that they will continue to share HKUST's v1s1on and g1ve full support to all its endeavors."
M1ke Cho~v, 1995 MPhil
graduate m Electrtcaf and
Nurturing the Entrepreneurial Sp
i
rit
in Y
o
un
g
En
g
in
ee
r
s
From September 2001, undergraduates in engineenng can have a
taste of what it's like to take an engineering concept from the drawing board all the way to the marketplace.
"One of our goals is to create a closely-knit h1gh-tech
entrepreneurial community in and around the HKUST campus," sa1d program director Prof Phil Cheong. "Students will be exposed
to new technologies, will learn how to work closely with others, and w1ll hone the1r management and communication skills - all of
which are VItal to their career development," added Prof Cheong. The eXCiting and experimental High-Tech Entrepreneur Program (HTEP) targets senior students who wish to tackle a new
enterprise project as an option for the traditional final-year project.
Students will propose, design, and develop product and system des1gn 1deas, as well as gain experience in applying for patents
and marketing a product, under the guidance of industry
consultants and un1versity professors.
The program also comprises workshops and seminars to train
young engineenng students in areas like market evaluation and busmess plan formulation.
S
c
h
oo
l Pu
s
h
es
Bio
e
ngine
eri
ng
En
ve
lop
e
Not content to sit on its laurels, HKUST Engineering School IS broadening its technological research th1s year, offering two
interdisciplinary postgraduate programs in bioengineering and
environmental engineering.
Bioengineering is the bridge between the basic life sciences and
engineering, with its foundation in all of the engineering sciences as well as the biological, medical, behavioral and health sc1ences.
"The bioengineering field holds huge potential for arming us in our
battle against disease and extending life. Just ten years ago, we could not have envisaged being able to do this sort of work. Recent advances
in many fundamental and applied biosciences make the future full of
potential. HKUST must participate in this revolutionary field," said Prof John Barford, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. who has coordinated the formulation of the Bioengineering Program.
Speaking of the environmental engineering program, Prof Po Lock Yue, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Director of the
Enwonmental Engmeering Program, said, "the Engineering School
takes enwonmental issues seriously. We are actively expanding the
Enwonmental Engineering Program to cover MPhll and PhD studies in
addit1on to the existing MSc offered in this important discipline."
I
Prime Technology Programs
for
Engin
ee
ring Profe
ss
ionals
As the world enters the new knowledge-based millennium, Global LogistiCS Management program launched 1n August 2001
HKUST's School of Engineering is doing its part to keep the attracted 45 h1gh-callber professionals.
community informed. Its Continuing and Professional Education
Programs (CPEP) are designed to share advanced technological MTM-IT Program
and management expertise w1th the community. 2000-200I
CPEP courses include 2 to 5 day short programs, an 18-month
Master of Technology Management (MTM) program, a one-year
Graduate D1ploma in Computer Forensics program and a one-year
Executive Diploma m Transportation Logistics Management
program. Most classes are held on weekends.
"We have also tailored programs for local industry and
government officials.'' said Mr Tin-yu Wang, the Associate Director
of Cont1nuing Education and External Development, for the
School.
CPEP's technological "footprint" spans information technology (ID. microelectronics and electronic systems, transportation and
log1stics, geotechnical and structural engineering, construction
project management, environmental engine€ring, building
serv1ces, manufactunng technology, and material engineering, etc.
''Our first MTM in IT was launched in September last year. The 35
participants averaged more than ten years' experience in fields
ranging from telecoms and IT, to banking and finance, to
electronics and utiht1es," Mr Wang said.
The program includes company v1sits, study tnps overseas, and
other act1v1ties, includmg lots of mvaluable networking
opportunities. The new intake m 2001, together with the MTM in
SIUdjt Tnp, VISitmg
Lung Cheong lntEmational Ha/dtngs LlfT!Ited tn Oongguan PRC
The Graduate D1ploma in Computer Forensics 1s currently Hong
Kong's only postgraduate compute1 forensics program and poss1bly
the only one of its kind tn Asia. Th1s diploma is recogmzed by the lnformat1on Secunty and Forensics Society (ISFS). Since Its 1ncept1on,
this program has successfully drawn ove1 100 profess1onals from
different backgrounds including bankmg, law enforcement, legal
practice, computer security and management.
Class mstrudlon far technology professionals m the state-of·the-an lnfounaliDn I~'Chnolagy Theater
If you would like to learn more about these exettmg programs, please VISit the CPEP web Stle at http://wvvw.seng.ust.hk/cpep or rmg the program offtce at 2358-5965.
W3C Advisory Committee
~leets
at
Hl\TST
HKUST hosted a b1annual meetmg of the Advisory
Comm1ttee of the World Wide Web Consortium 0/'J3C) on campus from 30 Apnl to 1
May 200 1. Attended by the
W3C management team, mcluding Director Tim
Bemers-Lee and around 200
representatives of W3C Member organizations, the meetmg
endorsed the recommendation of the Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) schema dertnition language for "next generation" electronic commerce systems, databases, and other appl1cat1ons mvolv1ng the use of large volumes of data on the Web. For the first t1me m Hong Kong and Asia, HKUST also hosted the Tenth
International World W•de Web Conference (WWW10) from 1 to 5
May 2001.
Hong Kong
'
s First Geotechnical Centrifuge
Op
e
n
s a
t IIKUST
The f1rst of 1ts kmd 1n Hong Kong, the HKUST Geotechnical Centnfuge Fac1hty (GCF) was formally opened on 3 April 2001 by
Mr 5 5 Lee, Secretary for Works of the HKSAR Government. He
was jomed by Dr Raymond Ho Chung-Ta1, Member of the
Legislative Council; Dr John Luk, Prestdent of the Hong Kong Institution of Eng1neers, Ms Ernest1na Wong, Deputy Secretary General of the Umvers1ty Grants Committee, Dr Vmcent Lo, the
Umvers1ty's Counc1l Cha1rman, Prof Ch1a Wei Woo, the University's founding President; and Prof
Otto L1n, the Umvers1ty's
V1ce-President for Research
and Development. The GCF
possesses the world's first
b1-ax1al shaking table, which
can simulate earthquake effects on so1l structures.
·
---~
AEARU
Stud
e
nt
Ca
mp
2
001
Forty students from leadmg universrt1es 1n the Chmese Mamland, Japan, South Korea and Ta1wan JOined some 20 peers at HKUST for the Assooat1on of East
Asian Research Universities (AEARU) Student Camp
2001 held from 29 July
through 4 August 2001. Around the h1ghly topical theme
"Technology and Soc1cty'', campers participated 1n a vanety of
programs like talks, group games, company vis1Ls, proJect compellllons, etc except lor the first AEARU Student Camp. which
was held 1n South Korea 1n 1997, this is the fourth time the camp has been held at HKUST since the summer of 1998.
IUTAM
Sympo
s
ium
Prof Qmgpmg Sun, Associate Professor of the Mechamcal Engineering Department, chaired the International Umon of Theoretical and Apphed Mechamcs (1UTAM) Sympos1um on "Mechan1cs and Martens1t1c Phase Transformations in Solids" held from 11 to 15 June 200 l on the HKUST campus. About 50
renowned sCJentrsts from matenals sc1ence, phys1cs and mechanics were brought together to d1scuss different aspects and the latest advances of this ac.hve mullldiSCiphnary field.
CA
L
ENDA
R
OF EVEN
T
S
Od
I 2 2001 World Congress on Mass Customization and Personalization
( r ') J 3Sr o ·· rttp .,. 11 t hki\1(,1 /V.CPC .tm) 7 lOth Anniversary Engineering Alumni Homecoming Dinner
( r I) 'il 6 · J)
10 Distinguished Lecture· "Aerosols and Climate" by Prof .JOhn Se1nfeld. LOU:; E: No Professor and l>rofessor 1n ChemiCal Eng~neenng. Ci!fifom1a
I))IJIU!(. of 1i 'Chnolocy (foot r,
'r
IC 2'5'!-6960)II Distinguished Lecture - "Recent Developments in Intelligent Transport Systems: Opportunities for the Private Sector" by Prof Kan Chen. Proft•N>r Emertu~ U1 Nt:rS•Iy of M1dugan !Enqu"'f. 2358 7092)
Nov
3-4 2001 International Robot Olympiad (Enqwry: 2358·7000)
9th Congregation (Enq..,.ry 2358·6314) 7·9
Dec
8-9 International Symposium on "Geotechnical Centrifuge Modeling and Networking -Focusing on the Use and Application in the Pan-Pacific Region" (Enquiry 2351Hl216)
9·12 5th Asian Symposium on Biomedical Materials (ASBMS) (Enqu•ry· 2358· 71114)
12 Teaching and Learnmg Symposium on 'Teaching Innovations: Fostenng a Creative and Collaborative Leaming Environment" (Enqu ry 2358-~037, htwJ/v.w.vu~lhk/celt/tlsymp)
28·30 International Symposium on Plasticity and Impact (ISPI'Ol)
