pdf version - seng, hkust

Dean's MessageIt has been an exciting and rewarding 15 months following myappointment as Dean of the School of Engineering (SENG).During this time, SENG has continued to excel on a world scale,with strong showings in numerous international rankings. TheSchool has increased its profile as a key destination for topinternational students, with applications from the mainland andoverseas up 130% from the previous year and the quality ofapplicants rising to even higher levels. We have also beenboosting our exchange program for SENG students to go outand see the world, rising from 7% in 2005 to 27% by 2009. Sucha figure is extremely encouraging and well on our way to ourtarget of enabling 50% of students to enjoy the eye-openingexperience of life in another society to turn them into globalcitizens and boost their employability.The School’s success in the first recruitment exercise for theResearch Grants Council’s PhD Fellowship Scheme has added toour international diversity. The School carried out an aggressivecampaign to bring these top-flight young minds to HKUST andHong Kong, resulting in SENG receiving the largest batch ofstudents of Schools within HKUST and among engineeringschools in the city.I intend to continue this drive for development and globalimpact. The forthcoming year will be a critical one in ourpreparation for the Hong Kong-wide New Academic Structureeducation reform, which sees the start of a four-year degreesystem across the city’s higher education institutions in 2012.Following the change, our students will come to us at a youngerage, after six rather than seven years at secondary school. In2012, we will also face the double cohort – accommodating thelast year of the A-Level/three-year degree students alongside thefirst year of the Hong Kong Diploma of SecondaryEducation/four-year degree students.To meet these challenges, we are re-inventing ourundergraduate curriculum and student experience underpinnedby an outcome-based approach to learning. We are boostingour co-curricular activities, and expanding our facilities, all ofwhich will enable us to produce the all-round engineersequipped to face the challenges of the 21st century. We arealso increasing our scope, with the addition of academics whowill assist the School in pursuing a wider range of high-impactfields, for example, energy and healthcare.reputation for research, the Center will help to position theSchool at the forefront of engineering education scholarship andstudent development, as explained by Prof Edmond Ko, head ofthe new center, in this issue of In Focus. We are extremelyfortunate to have Prof Ko to lead this venture given hisexpertise in the field, and the Center will surely assist the Schoolin reaching a new level of excellence by propelling forwardengineering education and all our students as well aspedagogical research in Asia.Other moves include encouraging a multidisciplinary approachto bring our world-class faculty together to seektransformational solutions to what I call the “grand challenges”facing humanity, such as healthcare as populations age, thedevelopment of megacities and environmental protection;SENG’s new annual Research Excellence Awards, whichrecognize outstanding junior and distinguished senior facultymembers; international partnerships between east and west,including three-way collaboration with mainland institutions; anda website revamp to communicate more fully how engineeringdrives change and to demonstrate the exhilarating potential thatan engineering career can have.It has always surprised me that the national and globalrecognition HKUST receives as a world-class university is stillnot totally reciprocated in its home town. However, suchperceptions are changing as our alumni successfully make theirpresence felt in a wide range of areas. As the University entersits 20th anniversary year, here at the School of Engineering weare determined to play our part by building a technology andengineering powerhouse that is fully recognized as a leadingglobal education and research institution here in Hong Kong andbeyond.Prof Khaled Ben LetaiefDean of EngineeringThe establishment of SENG’s Center for EngineeringEducation Innovation, or E²I, is another pioneering movefor Hong Kong. Along with the School’s leading02

New AppointmentsResearchFaculty Members■ Prof Baoling HuangAssistant Professor, Mechanical EngineeringPhD – University of Michigan■ Prof Joseph LeeChair Professor, Civil and Environmental EngineeringVice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, HKUSTPhD – Massachusetts Institute of Technology■ Prof Wei ShyyChair Professor, Mechanical EngineeringProvost, HKUSTPhD – University of Michigan■ Prof Kam Tim TseAssistant Professor, Civil and Environmental EngineeringPhD – The Hong Kong University of Science andTechnologyAdjunct Faculty■ Prof Raymond LeungProfessor, Civil and Environmental EngineeringPhD – The Chinese University of Hong Kong■ Prof Neil MickleboroughProfessor, Civil and Environmental EngineeringPhD – University of Tasmania■ Prof Po Chi WuProfessor, Mechanical EngineeringPhD – Princeton University■ Prof Wenwen ZhouAssistant Professor, Civil and Environmental EngineeringPhD – National University of SingaporeVisiting Faculty■ Prof Emily AuAssistant Professor, Industrial Engineering and LogisticsManagementPhD – The Hong Kong University of Science andTechnology■ Prof James SheAssistant Professor, Electronic and ComputerEngineeringPhD – University of Waterloo■ Prof Charles SodiniProfessor, Electronic and Computer EngineeringPhD – Purdue University■ Prof Ming Ting SunProfessor, Electronic and Computer EngineeringPhD – University of California, Los Angeles■ Prof Patrick YueProfessor, Electronic and Computer EngineeringPhD – Stanford UniversityBoosting the Telecom IndustryWith demand for radiospectrum booming in theadvent of 3G and WiFi,pioneering research by ProfQian Zhang, Computer Scienceand Engineering, looks set tofuel future development of thetelecommunications industry.Prof Zhang and her team are atthe forefront of explorationsinto “cognitive radio”, intelligenttechnology that can flexibly manage dynamic spectrum resources and enhanceusage by searching out idle spectrum. Currently, most countries employ asystem where licensed users operate allocated spectrum. But only 10%-20% ofthe world’s radio spectrum is being used, according to Prof Zhang. In addition,licensed users often do not use their spectrum all of the time, which is a wasteof resources when others are keen to have access to it. How to enhance theeffectiveness of radio spectrum usage to enable other users to gain access toidle spectrums in different places and at different times has thus become amajor global issue.In explaining the challenge of radio spectrum allocation, Prof Zhang likened itto highway traffic control. “Highways usually have several lanes, but if somelanes are restricted for special use, there may be traffic congestion during peakhours,” she said. “When the number of vehicles increases radically, we not onlyneed more traffic lanes but an effective method of managing traffic.”The cognitive radio technology developed at HKUST has the capability tosearch for the optimal level of spare radio spectrum among primary users,who are licensed, to determine the appropriate ‘lane’ for secondary users, whoare not licensed, to use for cost-effectiveness and to make sure they do notinterfere with primary users. Secondary users can have stability of service asthe cognitive radio device keeps on searching out usable spectrum amongprimary users.“We are talking about a potential ‘spectrum market’” Prof Zhang said. “Forinstance, mobile phone companies (a secondary user) may buy extraspectrum from TV stations (a primary user) during the Spring Festival whenphone connections are the busiest in China. Users of mobile phones wouldthen get stable services due to efficient traffic control. It creates a win-winsituation for all.”The innovative academic and her researchers have also designed a model toenable wireless service operators to participate in double-tier spectrumauctioning, helping to boost income for these operators, and carried out anunprecedented survey and comprehensive analysis of spectrum usage in China.The next challenge for Prof Zhang and her team is to extend their research ontheir cognitive radio device. When fully developed it should be the size of asmall chip, allowing it to be installed in mobile phones and other mobile devices.Cognitive radio is an active research area at HKUST with pioneeringcontributions from a number of faculty members in the Departments ofElectronic and Computer Engineering as well as Computer Science andEngineering.03

ResearchNew Weapon Unveiledin Fight Against InfectionA smart anti-microbial coating that is set to recharge the battleagainst infection and achieve new standards in public health has beendeveloped by an interdisciplinary team of HKUST researchers,including a School of Engineering faculty member.A world first, the revolutionary coating has a range of features thatputs it ahead of other substances of its kind. The coating istransparent, colorless and odorless and can be sprayed on a varietyof surfaces ranging from glass to cloth. It is quick and easy to applyand effective for at least 30 days. The coating also disinfects practicallya full spectrum of microbes in body fluids, including saliva and blood.It does so by using chemical methods to kill microbes by attackingtheir cell envelope, causing cell lysis and death, rather than employingbiological or pharmaceutical methods as most conventional sanitizersdo.The pioneering invention is the work of Prof King Lun Yeung,Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Prof Joseph Kwan, Directorof the Health, Safety and Environment Office and AdjunctProfessor in the Division of Environment, Prof Arthur Lau, Divisionof Environment, and their research team. Prof Yeung said that thecoating offered a superior way to control disease transmission.“This is particularly significant as there are more and moreantibiotic-resistant, pathogenic micro-organisms appearing. Theuse of a smart surface coating coupled with good hand hygieneSeeing the Big PictureWith high-quality printing, it would take up a football field.Using standard printing, it would be twice that size. What is it?The world’s largest digital photograph, and anotherrecord-breaking global achievement for a School ofEngineering academic.To create the massive shot, Prof Pedro Sander, Computer Scienceand Engineering, and his team of researchers stitched together11,000 18-megapixel photos, creating a picture of the Brazilian city ofRio de Janeiro with a resolution of 150 billion pixels. The pictureswere taken from the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain landmark using aGigaPan robotic arm over a period of four hours. Stitching andfinal processing followed over a number of weeks, with manysolutions tried to reduce the seam artifacts across images. Ittook another week to upload the photograph to the website.Setting the world record, announced in December, was anexciting challenge, Prof Sander said, and thefirst step in the team’s research intocapturing and analyzing giant photographs.“There are numerous applications in a wideChrist the Redeemer04

Researchcan help to curb the spread of these deadly micro-organisms.”Contaminated surfaces are common ways for microbes to spread.Most disinfectants, including alcohol and bleach, can kill virus andbacteria when they are applied but are no longer effective after theybecome dry, Prof Yeung said. This means if an infected persontouches a lift button five minutes after it has been sanitized, thosesubsequently pressing the button may pick up the germs left behinduntil the next time the button is disinfected.Keeping surfaces clean in public areas is therefore essential incontrolling the spread of infections through physical contact, ProfKwan noted. Test results have shown that the HKUST-developedsmart coating can kill 99.9% of bacteria within one minute, 99% ofH1N1 Human Swine Flu virus in three minutes, and 99% of bacillusspores within 30 minutes. It is also able to sense when someonetouches it, releasing a larger amount of disinfectant to inactivate thedisease-causing microbes and protecting other people touching thesame surface.With a billion people affected by influenza annually and 500,000fatalities in an average year, it is hoped that the coating will make asignificant contribution to addressing this and other public healthissues. Research began in 2003, the year Hong Kong was hit by SARS.Funding support has come from the William Mong Institute of NanoScience and Technology and the Hong Kong government’sInnovation and Technology Fund.Patent applications are now underway in the US, Mainland China andTaiwan. In addition, clinical field tests of the coating started inmid-January 2011 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s intensive care unitand Tuen Mun Hospital. Both are public hospitals located in HongKong.The ingredients of the coating are similar to those used in cosmeticsand anti-acne cream, are approved by the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency and US Food and Drug Administration, and arenon-toxic and biodegradable. The coating can be washed off simplyby using a solution of water and detergent.range of fields, such as tourism, heritage preservation, scientificresearch, medicine and astronomy,” he explained. “For example,an annotated image can be used for tourists to navigate theirway to potential tourist destinations. Scientists have used thesetechniques to create highly detailed images of tiny insects, andeven detailed representations of the human body.”Prof Sander’s fellow researchers were Dr Diego Nehab andDr Luiz Velho from the Instituto Nacional de Matematica Purae Aplicada (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, with the stitchingmanaged by IMPA graduate student Mr Rodolfo Lima.The team first broke the world record in July with a 67 billionpixel photo of Rio de Janeiro taken from the statue of Christthe Redeemer, a record that was later broken by anotherresearch team. To assist with cultural heritage preservation,Prof Sander and his co-researchers are now investigating howto map gigantic images to 3D model representations oflandmarks such as Hong Kong’sBig Buddha.Prof Pedro Sander's homein Rio de Janeiro05

Academic ExcellenceStrong Showing in Global RankingsA series of global rankings have demonstrated the quality ofteaching and research at the School of Engineering, with toptier standing accorded to HKUST by surveys carried out byseveral different organizations.HKUST engineering was ranked in the world’s top 20 inengineering and technology by the 2010 Times HigherEducation World University Rankings. HKUST was placed joint20th with Tsinghua University, with rankings based on teaching,research, citations, industry income and international mix.HKUST was particularly strong in the citations category. Thisrefers to published work cited by other academics, arecognized indicator of research impact. The top five places inthe league table were taken by US institutions, led byCalifornia Institute of Technology.In the Engineering and Technology league table published bythe 2010 QS World University Rankings, HKUST had the No.1engineering school in Hong Kong and came in 26thworldwide. The survey encompassed research quality, teachingquality, graduate employability and internationalization.2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings -engineering and technologyInstitutionWorld RankingCalifornia Institute of Technology 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2Stanford University 3University of Cambridge 6University of Oxford 8Cornell University 12HKUST 20Tsinghua University 20SENG’s outstanding capabilities were further highlighted byShanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of WorldUniversities (ARWU), which put HKUST at No.1 in HongKong in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences and39th overall, ahead of Harvard (42nd), Tsinghua (45th) andOxford (49th). In Computer Science alone, the ARWU rankedthe University best in the Far East and 26th in the fieldglobally. ARWU ranking indicators include numbers of NobelPrize and Fields Medal winners, highly cited researchers, andarticles published in top journals.HKUST was placed 29th globally in Chemical Engineering in2010 rankings carried out by the Higher Education Evaluation& Accreditation Council of Taiwan and based on the qualityand quantity of research papers.“All these rankings show that SENG is playing a leading role indriving forward global change in line with our standing as oneof the best engineering schools in the world,” Dean ofEngineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief said.2010 QS World University Rankings - engineering and technologyInstitutionWorld RankingMassachusetts Institute of Technology 1Stanford University 2University of California, Berkeley 3University of California, Los Angeles 15Princeton University 21Harvard University 22HKUST 26Purdue University 28Environmental Research Secures National AwardAn environmental project involving the research of Prof JosephHun Wei Lee, HKUST Vice-President for Research andGraduate Studies and Chair Professor of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering, has received a 2010 State Scientificand Technological Progress Award (Second Class) from theChinese State Council.Prof Lee’s project, “Buoyant Jets in Complex Environments –Theory, Innovative Technology and Application”, makes itfeasible to predict the mixing and dilution of wastewater incomplex ocean currents, leading to the development ofsoftware that has worldwide applications in the design offacilities involving multiple sewage discharges into the marineenvironment.His team carried out theoretical and experimental research tounravel the complicated mechanisms underlying the fate andtransport of pollutants in complex ocean currents andenvironmental conditions. They also developed a 3D virtualreality computer modeling system called VISJET to predict andvisualize the pollutant concentration and trajectory ofwastewater released from a submarine ocean outlet nomatter what the weather conditions.The team’s research is of global importance as quantitativeassessment is essential to control water pollution in aneconomical and sustainable manner. The other core teammembers are Prof Wenping Wang, Prof Yuguo Li and Dr Valiant06

Academic ExcellenceTurning the Spotlight on Hong KongIt has been an eventful few months for ProfCharles WW Ng, Associate Dean of Engineering,whose expertise in geotechnical engineering andactive participation in academic and socialdevelopment work has led to wide-rangingrecognition that will help to enhance the visibilityof HKUST and Hong Kong nationally and globally.In June, Prof Ng, also Director of theGeotechnical Centrifuge Facility and Professor ofCivil and Environmental Engineering, became thefirst Hong Kong academic to be appointed aBoard Member of the International Society for Soil Mechanicsand Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), the world’s largestprofessional body in this field. ISSMGE was established in 1936and it now has 86 member societies worldwide representing18,000 individual members.An international award-winner and frequent speaker at majorconferences, Prof Ng was also invited to deliver one of the2010 Zeng Guoxi Lectures at ZhejiangUniversity in Hangzhou inNovember. His topic was“The State-of-the-ArtCentrifuge Modeling of Geotechnical Problems”. Theprestigious series, set up in 2007, features distinguishedlectures by world-renowned scholars from China andoverseas. Six such lectures have been presented so far byleading global scholars including two Chinese academicians,one member of Canadian Academy of Engineering, one Fellowof the Royal Society of Canada, the immediate Past Presidentof ISSMGE and one Fellow of the Royal Academy ofEngineering, UK.In addition, Prof Ng was honored locally when he became oneof the first recipients of the 40+ Distinguished Award 2010presented by the 40+ Association, a non-profit-makingorganization formed by members of the business communityand dedicated to supporting the well-being of people over 40.The award is based on four areas of achievement: career,social, character and direction of life in middle age. Dr JohnCho Chak Chan, the former Council Chairman of HKUST, wasthe Head of the Judging Panel. Secretary for Justice Mr YanLung Wong was the Guest of Honor at the presentationceremony.Cheung of the Faculty of Engineering at the University ofHong Kong, and Prof Hongwu Tang of Hohai University,Nanjing.The jet theory and computer models developed by Prof Lee’steam have also been effectively applied to projects in HongKong. For example, they have been used for environmentalimpact assessment of the Hong Kong Harbor Area TreatmentScheme, the Yuen Long Bypass Floodway Project, and to helpin understanding the airborne transmissions in the AmoyGardens SARS outbreak in 2003 and isolation roomventilation design in hospitals.hydraulics andengineering researchfunded by the CroucherFoundation, the Hong KongResearch Grants Counciland the Innovation andTechnology Commission.There were more than 680nominations for the stateawards in 2010.The award-winning project is based on environmental07

Academic ExcellenceFaculty Honors, Awards and Achievements■■■■Dean of Engineering ProfKhaled Ben Letaief receivedthe 2010 OutstandingElectrical and ComputerEngineer Award from PurdueUniversity in the US. Theprestigious annual award is bestowed upon PurdueElectrical and Computer Engineering alumni who havemade extraordinary contributions to economicdevelopment, prosperity, and technologicaladvancement. About 180 individuals worldwide to datehave received this distinction out of more than 20,000alumni and Prof Ben Letaief was the only 2010 recipientfrom outside the United States. Prof Ben Letaief gaineda BS with Distinction, MS and PhD degrees in ElectricalEngineering from Purdue. He joined HKUST in 1993.Prof Vijay Bhargava, Electronic andComputer Engineering, has beenelected to serve as the IEEECommunications SocietyPresident-Elect during 2011 and asPresident during 2012 and 2013. TheIEEE Communications Society is one of the largestsocieties in the IEEE family, with over 50,000 membersin 150 countries.Prof Chak Keung Chan, Chemical andBiomolecular Engineering, becamefounding Head of the Division ofEnvironment on December 1, 2010following a competitive internationalsearch and rigorous selection process.Prof Chan had been Acting Head of the newlyestablished Division of Environment and the Director ofthe Institute for the Environment since September 2009.He is renowned for his work in the area of aerosolchemistry and air pollution, and is the executive editorof the major journal Atmospheric Environment.Two articles published by the researchgroup led by Prof Mansun Chan,Electronic and Computer Engineering,are among the top 10 articlespublished in the same domain,according to BioMedLib. The articlesare: “Modulatory Action of Potassium Channel Openerson Field Potential and Histamine Release From RatPeritoneal Mast Cells” by C K Yeung, J K Law, S W Sam, SIngebrandt, H Y Lau, J A Rudd, M Chan (Canadian Journalof Physiology and Pharmacology, August 2009) and “The Useof Microelectrode Array (MEA) to Study the Protective■■■■Effects of Potassium Channel Openers on MetabolicallyCompromised HL-1 Cardiomyocytes” by J K Law, C KYeung, B Hofmann, S Ingebrandt, J A Rudd, AOffenhäusser, M Chan (Physiological Measurements,February 2009). The BioMedLib search engine finds thebest response to queries from millions of biomedicalarticles in the US National Library of Medicine’sMEDLINE database.Prof Vladimir Chigrinov, Electronic andComputer Engineering, participatedas a panel speaker in the 3rd RussianNanotechnology Conference 2010,organized by the Russian Corporationof Nanotechnologies (Rusnano). Theconference is a key annual event combining topics suchas nano-electronics, nano-photonics, andnano-diagnostics, among others. During the conference,Russian officials, in particular Rusnano president AnatolyChubais, expressed great interest in collaborating withMainland China and Hong Kong.Prof Mounir Hamdi and Prof Bo Li,Computer Science and Engineering,have been elected Fellows of theprestigious Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE). ProfHamdi and Prof Li are experts onnetworking and communications.Fellowship of IEEE is one of the mostprestigious honors bestowed onindividuals with an outstandingrecord of accomplishments in thefield of engineering. The Institutecurrently has 395,000 members in more than 160countries and is the world's largest professionalassociation of its kind.The Shanghai Stock Exchange hasappointed Prof Jeff Hong, IndustrialEngineering and LogisticsManagement, as Visiting SeniorFinancial Economist. While there, ProfHong will conduct research on riskidentification and management.Prof Xijun Hu, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,was elected to the Board of Directors of theInternational Adsorption Society in May 2010 inrecognition of his outstanding achievements. Prof Huwas the first globally to propose using micropore sizedistribution to study multicomponent adsorptionequilibrium and kinetics.08

Academic Excellence■■■■■Prof J S Kuang has been electedPresident of the International Societyfor Computing in Civil and BuildingEngineering (ISCCBE), one of theworld’s leading internationalprofessional societies for computationin civil, construction and structural engineering.Prof Chung Yee Lee, IndustrialEngineering and Logistics Management,has received an Excellence ServiceAward from the Production andOperations Management Society. InNovember, he also delivered a keynotespeech on “Ocean Container Transport: Making GlobalSupply Chain Management Effective” at the Institute forOperations Research and the Management Sciences annualconference in the US.Prof Ricky Lee, MechanicalEngineering, has won theIMAPS-2010 John A WagnonTechnical AchievementAward. The InternationalMicroelectronics AndPackaging Society (IMAPS) is the largest society dedicatedto the advancement and growth of microelectronics andelectronics packaging. The achievement award is presentedto a member of the Society who has made outstandingtechnical contributions related to microelectronicstechnology. IMAPS currently has more than 8,000 membersaround the world.Prof Christopher Leung, Civiland Environmental Engineering,has been elected HonoraryPresident of the InternationalUnion of Laboratories andExperts in ConstructionMaterials, Systems and Structures (RILEM) for 2011.RILEM, established over 60 years ago, promotes thedevelopment and application of sustainable constructionmaterials through organizing/sponsoring internationalconferences and the formation of technical committees.RILEM members come from over 70 countriesworldwide and RILEM committee reports often becomethe foundation of local codes or testing standards invarious countries.Prof Matthew McKay and his PhDstudent Yueping Wu, Electronic andComputer Engineering, received theBest Paper Award at the IEEE GlobalCommunications Conference■■■■■(Globecom) 2010, sponsored by Qualcomm. Globecomis an IEEE flagship conference on telecommunicationswith over 3,000 paper submissions. Only 11 papers areselected for Best Paper Awards.The IT Hong Kong Chapter haselected Prof Daniel P Palomar,Electronic and Computer Engineering,as its Chairman with effect fromJanuary 2011.A paper by Prof Huihe Qiu, MechanicalEngineering, published in the Journal ofMicromechanics and Microengineering in2009, has been selected as a 2009Highlight and one of the most frequentlydownloaded papers. The paper wasentitled “Bubble Dynamics Under aHorizontal Micro Heater Array” and co-authored byMechanical Engineering PhD 2010 graduate Xiaopeng Qu.Prof Li Qiu, Electronic and ComputerEngineering, has been elected aFellow of the International Federationof Automatic Control (IFAC), aprestigious international honor in thearea of automatic control andsystems engineering. Only 17 peoplein the world were elected IFAC Fellows in 2010 andProf Qiu was the only one from Hong Kong. There areonly two other IFAC Fellows in Hong Kong, includingProf Xiren Cao, Chair Professor of Electronic andComputer Engineering at HKUST.Prof Man Wong, Electronic andComputer Engineering, has beenelected Chairman of the Society forInformation Display (SID) Hong KongChapter. SID provides a platform forindustry collaboration, communication and training inthe latest electronic-display technologies. It has morethan 6,000 professional members around the world.The Association for ComputingMachinery (ACM) has elected ProfJiang Xu, Electronic and ComputerEngineering, to be a DistinguishedSpeaker. ACM is the world’s first andlargest computing society. It has over100 chapters and 97,000 members worldwide.09

Teaching ExcellenceTop Teachers RecognizedAll-round dedication to teaching and learning excellence saw ProfYing Chau, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, take tophonors in the SENG Teaching Excellence Appreciation Awards2009-10. Prof Chau was awarded the Distinguished TeachingAward for her clear, insightful delivery of course materials whichconsistently earn her strong results in student evaluations, herenthusiasm for experience-sharing with colleagues, and herinvolvement in departmental activities such as teaching qualityassessment and the intern program.The award scheme focuses on rewarding undergraduate teachingwhich shows continuous excellence and fosters students’ interestin the subject and their ability to learn. Two other academics wererecognized with Teaching Awards. Prof Kam Tim Woo, Electronicand Computer Engineering, has played a leading role insupporting undergraduate students in external projectcompetitions, student recruitment and mentoring, and coursedevelopment. Prof Huihe Qiu, Mechanical Engineering, hasdevoted great energy to the development of new courses, andkeeping class and labteaching at the cuttingedge.StudentsFirst PhD Fellowship Awardees Take to Life at SENGThe School of Engineering (SENG) got off to an outstanding startin the Research Grants Council’s (RGC) PhD Fellowship Schemewhich encourages top young minds from around the world tostudy in Hong Kong. SENG attracted 19 of the 32 students thatjoined HKUST in the scheme’s first batch of awardees, the mostamong schools at HKUST and the top number for all engineeringschools in the city. HKUST attracted more than one-third of thetotal awardees, including 11 different nationalities.For Indian-born Ankit Garg, Civil and Environmental Engineering,the reputation of SENG’s Geotechnical Group and itscutting-edge global research drew him to Hong Kong. Thehigh-flying Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) graduate decidedto apply for the RGC’s Fellowship Scheme rather than take thetraditional US or European route of many of his fellow graduatesafter discovering through his own reading of internationalresearch papers that many of the leading names and studies inthe geotechnical field were connected to HKUST. Ankit explained,“My IIT professor said to me, ‘You have read many researchpapers. Which part of the world concentrates on new research?’”The answer was Hong Kong and HKUST.Danhui Cheng, Bioengineering, is looking to not only further herknowledge at SENG but to broaden her network through socialactivities. She extends her great passion in singing at HKUST.“Within the first month, I had joined the HKUST choir,” she said. “Iwas in the choir at Tsinghua University, where I took myundergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. I hope to findnew friends and good memories here.”While at Tsinghua, Danhui was selected for internship by DowChemical Company, going into the field every day to learn aboutproduction from the engineers. She also feels fortunate to beone of the first awardees in the Fellowship Scheme. “I like theenvironment in Hong Kong and feel proud to attend ahigh-ranking institution such as HKUST. It is my dream that oneday I can become a faculty member in Hong Kong.”For more information on the Fellowship Scheme, visitwww.ust.hk/hkpfs/. The application deadline is usually earlyDecember.10

Beyond Labs & LecturesReveals Way to IndividualEnterprise and Team SpiritWith all-round development an integral part of a HKUSTeducation, School of Engineering (SENG) students are encouragedto take part in a variety of activities outside the regular curriculum,including competitions. Such contests are important as they enablestudents to apply what they learn at HKUST, encourageindependent thought and widen their perspectives by associatingwith peers in other local and overseas institutions.The annual Robocon Hong Kong Contest is one such popularevent. The inter-institutional competition for higher educationstudents encourages the design and construction of robots whichmust then complete a task. This provides students with realexperience of a challenging project, including cooperating withothers, problem-solving and time management.The strong capabilities of SENG students to succeed in such achallenge can be seen in the School’s high-performing track recordin the contest’s seven-year history. Since 2004, SENG teams havewon the Hong Kong Championship twice, First Runner-up onceand Second Runner-up four times. They have represented HongKong in the international final in 2005 and 2008 and broughthome the Second Runner-up award in 2005.Participants are enrolled in the credit-bearing Engineering SpecialProject course, run by SENG professors, to enhance their skills inrobotics. In addition, a tradition of experienced Robocon teammembers coaching newcomers has developed, boosting teammanagement skills and personal development as well as helpingfellow students.However, it is also emphasized to students that success is notsimply a matter of winning or losing but should be judged ondedication, determination to tackle problems and the drive forexcellence.Preparations for the 2011 Robocon contest are already underway,with recruitment of students in September followed by coachingin the form of tutorial classes. The numbers of students signing uphave shown a major increase and now encompass all SENGdepartments and the School of Science, an indication of theenthusiasm for robotics at HKUST and the benefits thatparticipating in such contests can bring. To give students a taste ofthe competition and gain hands-on experience, an internal contestwas held in November in the Atrium on campus. The event alsocaptured the attention of other HKUST students andincreased their interest in how tobuild robots.11

Beyond Labs & LecturesLearning to Teach,Teaching to LearnProf Edmond Ko, Director of the School of Engineering’s new Center forEngineering Education Innovation (E²I), sets out the exciting plans for thepioneering unit, the first of its kind in Hong Kong.Why has E²I been established now?An engineering school should be strong in two majoractivities: education and research. That is the starting point.This is already a very strong engineering school and we feelwe could be a leader in engineering education. Engineers arealways interested in education and have a history ofleadership in the education field in general. In fact, the Journalof Engineering Education will be publishing its centennial issuein 2011. With the recent research advances on learning, HongKong’s mix of western and eastern values, our position as ayoung, dynamic and forward-looking engineering school, thisseemed the right time to build on our existing strengths anddo something special. That’s why we established E²I in Fall2010.What does the Center seek to achieve?There has been a great deal of exciting research in recentyears on “engineering learning”. How do engineering studentslearn? What attributes do we want our graduates to have?How do we help them to acquire those attributes? We hopeto bring the latest research findings to our educationalpractice. The initial focus is to try to do what we callresearch-informed practice and to contribute to the body ofknowledge through our own research from working with ourstudents. This scholarship-driven approach makes E²I differentfrom other support units. We are trying to contribute to theliterature on engineering education.How does E²I intend to advance learning?We are focusing first on “helping people in transition”. Forstudents, the transition from secondary school to university isknown to be very difficult. Another transition that can bestressful is the move from being a postgraduate student orpost-doctoral researcher to a faculty member. We would liketo provide support for these two groups of people. Thetheme also allows us to show how the Center encompassesboth students and faculty and works directly with them bothon their learning and development.In what form is such learning and developmentsupport offered to students?Our vision is ambitious but we are a small unit and realistic asto what we can accomplish initially. We have started a peermentoring program to provide support for incoming studentsadmitted under the School-based Admission Scheme. Thistype of support is especially important in 2012 when allstudents taking the first four-year degrees will be admittedthis way. Research has shown that peer learning, includingpeer instruction, peer mentoring, and peer advising, is anextremely important component in a university experience.We also see peer mentoring as a great opportunity toempower our mentors through assisting in the learning ofother students. If we put our students in the position toteach, they have to think what they want other people tolearn and why. How can they help that learning to happen?And in the process they will become self-regulated learnersthemselves.And for faculty?We have started by running a course co-facilitated by theCenter for Enhanced Learning and Teaching (CELT), HKUST’suniversity-wide faculty development unit, looking at the basicprinciples of teaching and learning. What we are trying to dois make early career engineering faculty feel morecomfortable in the classroom and therefore more effective inhelping their students learn. With time, I hope faculty will seeE²I as a place where they can find support in their practice bybeing kept up to date with the latest engineering educationdevelopments, and other aspects of their career such ascareer planning and balancing different work demands.What are the long-term benefits for both groups?For our faculty, they learn to teach. Then through teaching,they teach to learn. It is the same for our students. They learnto teach through our developmental program and throughteaching their peers they learn. It is this synergism between12

Beyond Labs & Lecturesteaching and learning that contributes to their personalgrowth. I cannot teach you how to be a self-regulated learner.But if I give you the opportunity to teach others and provideyou with support along the way, then through teaching, youlearn. That is why our slogan is “learning to teach, teaching tolearn”.What is E²I’s relationship with the University’sCenter for Enhanced Learning and Teaching?In terms of our work with CELT, E²I is not here to competebut to collaborate. E²I can offer what I call discipline-specificexpertise whereas CELT can provide generic teaching andlearning insights. To have a university-level unit workingclosely with a discipline-based unit is inspiring and veryspecial. There is international discussion over whethersupport for students and faculty should be centralized ordistributed and I think our model suggests it is not either/or, itis synergy.How can E²I contribute to engineering educationresearch?community of researchers given the huge population ofChinese students in the west. Hong Kong’s unique history, thestudents we have, the education reform and new curriculumcoming up offer wonderful experimental ground for us tocontribute back to the literature. We also want to establish aninternational network and see E²I as a great opportunity tocollaborate with similar centers in other locations.How do you envisage the future?As I said earlier, we are a small unit and will roll out differentprograms with time. We are starting to look at support forpostgraduates and currently undertaking a training needsanalysis. Eventually, we would like to include training programsfor the School’s staff as well. We have a vision that learningand development underpins all that we do and E²I has beenestablished to build that culture of learning. I want people tolearn because it is fun. If you enjoy learning, you will pursue itthroughout your life. That to me is the goal of education:life-long learning.Much of the research is currently being done in westernsocieties: North America in particular, Europe, Australia. Weare not just bringing what is happening elsewhere into HongKong but trying to develop it for the local context. Weare dealing with Chinese learners with differentlearner characteristics. This gives us awindow of entry to the worldwide13

StudentsEvent That Is Out of This WorldThe journey alone took one hour and 45 minutes per trip. But thehard work and determination eventually paid off, with awards forhis “Self-reinforced Polymer Composite From PostconsumerWaste” research project in local, national and internationalcompetitions in the past few years, including the 2010 IntelInternational Science and Engineering Fair in California.A School of Engineering (SENG) student has had a minor planetnamed after him becoming the second SENG student to beaccorded such an honor.Michael Chun Hei Lam, Year 1, Mechanical Engineering, gained theaccolade for research carried out while a secondary student atShun Tak Fraternal Association Yung Yau College in Tin Shui Wai.The young innovator was nominated by Hong Kong AstronomicalSociety President William Kwong Yu Yeung for his enthusiasm forscientific research, which led him to develop a novel approach torecycling plastic. Chun Hei learned the naming had been acceptedby the International Astronomical Union in October.Chun Hei’s achievement was to come up with a method that savesthe manpower costs involved in separating out the various kinds ofplastic by recycling them together. The environmentally consciousstudent was inspired to find a solution after watching a televisionprogram and learning how expensive it was to recycle plastic. Onewater bottle, for example, may contain different plastics for cap,bottle and label. Chun Hei’s idea was to use heat to control themelting point of plastic. Mixing the plastics together also formed anew and tougher type of plastic.The official name of Chun Hei’s planet, located between Mars andJupiter, is 110074 Lamchunhei. Fellow secondary student On Ki Leehad a separate planet named after her for research on oolong teaand its role in inhibiting cancer cell growth. Both planets werediscovered in 2001 by William Kwong at the Desert EagleObservatory in the US state of Arizona.“I was very happy to hear the news of my honor,” Chun Hei said,“and so were my parents. We hope this will open the way forother opportunities, such as working with SENG professors onresearch as a student assistant.”The first SENG student to have aplanet called after him was YikHei Chan, Year 3, Electronicand Computer Engineering,who created an intelligentsecurity robot when still aschool student, amongmany other innovativeideas.To undertake some of his research, the then Secondary Fourstudent had to travel from Tin Shui Wai to a downtown universityat weekends for a year to use a mechanical engineering laboratory.Winning Approach to InnovationSchool of Engineering (SENG) students triumphed againin this year’s President’s Cup 2010 taking all three prizesin the prestigious HKUST undergraduate research andinnovation competition. The overall winners were a teamfrom the Department of Chemical and BiomolecularEngineering comprising Kit Yi Leung, Ho Yan Tse, NokKwan Wong and Hok Ting Yau, who focused onultrasound-mediated delivery of macromolecules to theeye. Second and third places went to students from theDepartment of Electronic and Computer Engineering.Yangyang Liu won the Gold Award with an investigationof optothermal manipulation of microparticles whileXiaoyu Li took the Silver Award for his exploration ofhand-eye coordination for visual targets by Hebbianlearning using neural networks.SENG students have swept the awards in the President’sCup since 2007, demonstrating the enterprise andcreativity of its undergraduates. Key factors in assessingentries are the projects’ objectives, originality andinnovation. The winners received their awards fromHKUST President Prof Tony Chan at the University’s 18thCongregation on November 10.14

StudentsPrinting Out a Better Future for the Visually ChallengedWhile many people do not realize how important engineers are inhelping to change people’s lives for the better, Patrick Kwan PakLee and Matthew Kin Man Ting know from direct experienceduring their time as SENG undergraduates what a difference theycan make. Under the guidance of Prof Tim Woo, Electronic andComputer Engineering (ECE), the Class of 2010 duo set their skillsand knowledge to work to assist the visually challenged. The Brailleprinter they came up with dramatically reduces the usual cost aswell as the turnaround time for printing.Regular Braille embossers sell for HK$30,000 whereas the ECEstudents’ machine, based on recycling dot-matrix and ink-jetprinters, costs just HK$1,000. The students adapted the old printersfor embossing and developed a program that turned text in aword file directly into Braille. Such machines can print 80 Braillecharacters per minute and enable the visually challenged to printmaterials themselves rather than going to social centers wheredemand means it can take up to a week for a job to get done. Theproject had special significance for Patrick whose parents areamong the visually challenged.International Asia PacificICT Alliance Awards2010. Their win in the Pan-Pearl contestagainst 50 other teams from nine provinces,plus Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, brought them congratulationletters from the Hong Kong government’s Secretary forCommerce and Economic Development Mrs Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan.In addition, the project was showcased at the Hong KongRehabilitation Power Carnival in November.More than 200 ECE students have entered rehabilitation and othertools into engineering design competitions in recent years, winningmany local and overseas awards. “We encourage engineeringstudents to make use of their professional knowledge and tocontribute by developing useful devices for those in need,” ProfWoo said. “As engineers, we do not only develop leading-edgetechnology, but also improvepeople’s lives throughtechnology.”The students’ invention went on to win numerous engineeringdesign awards including the Gold Award and Most InnovativeAward in the 2010 Amway Pan-Pearl River Delta RegionUniversities IT Project Competition, and a Merit Award in the 10thFinal-year IELM Students ShineCelebrations were in order in the Department of IndustrialEngineering and Logistics Management (IELM) as twoundergraduate teams took major prizes at the Institute ofIndustrial Engineers (Hong Kong) Final Year ProjectCompetition 2009-10, including the top award.Mass Vaccination Through Epidemic Modeling”. The innovativeproject puts forward a vaccination deployment model with thehelp of optimization and simulation techniques.Wing Lam Au, Man Lung Liu, On Lee Sun and Tsz Wan Wongreceived the Champion award for their project on corporaterevenue management of advertising. The study seeks to helpcompanies allocate their advertising budgets effectively throughdeveloping an optimization model and Media Planning Analyzercomputer program to provide insight on advertising planningdecisions for multiple media.Ye Gong, Long He, Hiu Ping Ng and Yang Yang gained theSecond Runner-up prize for their study of “Decision Making in15

StudentsStudent Honors, Awards and Achievements■■■■■■■Four Computer Engineering students have created ahighly useful HKUST Library Catalog Android App as partof their Year 2 course on Embedded System Software. Theapplication developed by Ian Chan, Vincent Chan, Alan Siand Sheung On Tsai enables those with Android-poweredsmartphones to search the books and other materialsavailable in the HKUST Library. The app can bedownloaded free from the Android Market.MPhil student Kewei Chen, Mechanical Engineering,received the Cisco Best Student Paper Award (thirdplace) at the ICEPT-HDP 2010 conference in Xian. Theaward is sponsored and awardees selected by a panelfrom Cisco in the US.PhD student Brian Xinqing Chen, Chemical andBiomolecular Engineering, was recognized with acertificate of excellence at the 2010 Young ScientistAwards in Engineering Science, organized by the HongKong Institution of Science. The annual awards arepresented to postgraduate research students or recentgraduates who have demonstrated research excellence inscience or technology and shown themselves to bepromising scientists or engineers.Yuncong Chen, Year 3, Electronic and ComputerEngineering, had his Final Year Thesis accepted by the 23rdInternational Conference on Computational Linguistics,which has a 19% acceptance rate for oral papers. Yuncongwas the first author of the paper, a remarkableachievement for an undergraduate.Pui Sie Chong, Ho Ki Ma and Chun Hang Wong, Electronicand Computer Engineering, won the Varitronix 30thAnniversary Scholarship for the Best Final Year Project(FYP) on Display Technology 2009-10 for their study on“Photo-Aligning Materials and Technology: Physics andApplication in Liquid Crystal Devices”. Varitronix Limited,a leading Hong Kong LCD manufacturer, donated a totalof HK$150,000 to the Department to establish the annualBest FYP Award on Display Technology from 2008-12.PhD candidate Weiwei Cui, Computer Science andEngineering, has been awarded an IBM PhD Fellowship forthe 2010-11 academic year. Weiwei received his Bachelordegree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University. Hisresearch interests include visualization and visual analytics.IBM PhD Fellows are matched with an IBM mentor andencouraged to intern at IBM.PhD student Ning Guo and MPhil student Yun Man Lau,Civil and Environmental Engineering, have been awardedscholarships by the Association of Geotechnical &Geoenvironmental Specialists (Hong Kong).■■■■■Computer Science and Engineering PhD student GabrielYik Keung received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE ICC2010, held in South Africa, for work on “The Base StationPlacement for Delay-constrained Information Coverage inMobile Wireless Networks”. The IEEE InternationalCommunications Conference (ICC) is the IEEECommunications Society flagship conference.MPhil student Tom Yu Ting Ko, Computer Science andEngineering, won second place in the 4th IEEE Hong KongSignal Processing Postgraduate Forum with his paper on“Automatic Estimation of Decoding Parameters UsingLarge-Margin Iterative Linear Programming”. The eventwas organized by the IEEE Hong Kong Chapter of SignalProcessing.A Mechanical Engineering final year design project (FYP)team won the Energy Institute’s Best Energy FYP ProjectCompetition. The winning project, “Development of LEDBacklighting for McDonald’s Logo Signs”, was completed byChi Yeung Li (team leader), Ka Chun Hon, Chuan Keat Lowand Jun Ma, all 2010 BEng graduates. The Energy Institutecontest is an inter-tertiary institution event that seeks torecognize energy-related achievements of final-yearstudents.PhD student Jian Li, Industrial Engineering and LogisticsManagement, enjoyed double success for his research in2010. He won the First Prize in the IBM Best StudentPaper Award at the 2010 INFORMS Service ScienceConference in Taipei, Taiwan for his paper “DirectionalMonitoring Schemes for Multivariate CategoricalProcesses”. He also received a Best Student Paper FinalistAward in the Quality, Statistics and Reliability Section ofthe INFORMS Annual Meeting for his paper “MultivariateCategorical Charting Techniques via Log-Linear Models”.Both papers were co-authored by Prof Fugee Tsung andDr Changliang Zou. The Institute for Operations Researchand the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the largestprofessional society in the world for those in the field.Yangyang Liu, Electronic and Computer Engineering, andYang Yang, Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management,were named First Runners-up in the Mr Armin and MrsLillian Kitchell Undergraduate Research Award. Ho YeePoon, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was namedSecond Runner-up. A total of six students out of 250 acrossHKUST were selected for awards. Recipients were chosenfrom those who participated in HKUST’s UndergraduateResearch Opportunities Program, which enables studentsto actively engage in research under the guidance andsupervision of professors. All three School of Engineeringawardees were 2010 graduates.16

Students■■■Mechanical Engineering 2010 graduates Tung Lu, Man KaWong and Wing Yin Wong gained the First Runner-upaward in the 2010 Schneider Electric Energy EfficiencyCup while studying for their Bachelor degree.PhD student Kwan Ting Ng, Electronic and ComputerEngineering, received the Best Student Paper Award at theIEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems(ISCAS) 2010 for his paper “A Frequency-Based SignatureGas Identification Circuit for SnO2 Gas Sensors”. At thesame conference, MPhil student Xinxin Wang, Electronicand Computer Engineering, won the Best Paper Award inthe Neural Systems and Applications track with his paper“GPU Implementation of Fast Gabor Filters”. ISCAS is theworld’s premier networking forum for leading researchersin the fields of theory, design and implementation ofcircuits and systems.PhD student Sujiang Rong, Electronic and ComputerEngineering, won an AMD/CICC Student ScholarshipAward at the 2010 IEEE Custom Integrated CircuitsConference (CICC), held in California, US, for his paper“V-Band Varactor-less Interpolative-Phase-TuningOscillators with Multiphase Outputs”. CICC is thepremier conference focused on integrated circuitdevelopment. Sujiang’s paper “A 0.05-to-10GHz,19-to-22GHz, and 38-to-44GHz SDR FrequencySynthesizer in 0.13um CMOS” has also been accepted forthe 2011 International Solid-State Circuits Conference(ISSCC), known as “the Chip Olympics”, in San Franciscoin February. The ISSCC is the foremost forum forpresentation of advances in solid-state circuits andsystems-on-a-chip.■■■■PhD student Lu Wang, Computer Science and Engineering,has been selected for the Microsoft Research AsiaFellowship Program out of 95 PhD candidate nomineesfrom 45 leading research universities/institutions fromMainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, SouthKorea, and Singapore. Lu’s research interests includealgorithms on wireless sensor networks and other similarenvironments.Ka Yeung Wong, Year 3, Mechanical Engineering, received agold award from the American Society of Heating,Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)Hong Kong Chapter for his outstanding academicachievement.Computer Science and Engineering PhD student Yu Zhangreceived the Best Paper Award at the Proceedings of the26th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligencefor his study on “A Convex Formulation for Learning TaskRelationships in Multi-task Learning”. The paper wasco-authored by Prof Dit Yan Yeung. The conference washeld in California, US.PhD student Chunhua Zhou, Electronic and ComputerEngineering, received the Charitat Award at the 22ndInternational Symposium on Power SemiconductorDevices and ICs (ISPSD) 2010. The award is granted tothe most outstanding oral paper at ISPSD, the leadingforum in its field, in which the first author andpresenter is a young researcher. Chunhua’s winningpaper was entitled “Self-protected GaN Power Deviceswith Reverse Drain Blocking and Forward CurrentLimiting Capabilities”.■■Class of 2010 graduate Chak Fong Sun, Electronic andComputer Engineering, won the Bronze Award at theCreating Mobile Applications for Smart PhonesCompetition for World Telecommunication andInformation Society Day – Hong Kong. The competitionwas organized by the Communications Association ofHong Kong and Pui Ching Academy. Chak Fong receivedhis award for his Wireless CCTV surveillance securitysystem, an application that uses a smartphone as amobile home security system.PhD student Yange Suo, Chemical and BiomolecularEngineering, received a poster award at the 1stInternational Fuel Cell Summer Seminar for YoungScientists 2010 held in Yamanashi, Japan. Yange won theaward for her paper “Impedance Based MechanisticUnderstanding of Formic Acid Oxidation on Pd/C andSynthesis of Bimetallic Pd-Au Nanoparticles for DirectFormic Acid Fuel Cell Application”.■Generating creative proposals for developing viable newbusiness opportunities for the free media industry wasthe order of the day for two teams from Dual DegreeProgram in Technology & Management (T&M) in the AM730 Media Limited-HKUST Corporate Project 2010. Twofour-person groups spent three months analyzing andresearching the business sector, then presented theproposals they came up with to a judging panel. Thewinning team’s idea focused on building new value forexisting and new customers and advertisers through theuse of social media. The Corporate Project is a keyenrichment activity in the high-flying T&M Program toboost students’ entrepreneurial spirit and practicalbusiness knowledge.17

StudentsSetting a Constructive ExampleActing President of the Students’ Union Ivan Yik Ching So,Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, hasreceived the Stephen Cheong Kam-chuen Medal forDistinguished Service in recognition of his constructiveleadership and commitment to his fellow HKUSTstudents during his term in office in 2009-10.The Year 3 undergraduate, also the Student Union’sInternal Vice-President, took on the top position whenthe President stepped down for personal reasons shortlyafter being elected into office.a caring culture on campus, Ivan also successfullymobilized students to organize a campus-wide charityconcert, “Pass the Love”. Funds raised by the show weredonated to Sowers Action to help to re-build schoolsfollowing the Sichuan earthquake. Ivan received his medalfrom HKUST President Prof Tony Chan at the University’s18th Congregation on November 10.Since then, Ivan has greatly assisted in advancing students’interests within HKUST, including becoming the firststudent member to be elected on to the UniversityCouncil. He has boosted internationalization byorganizing visits to counterparts in universities in themainland and receiving student union representativesfrom overseas. Inspiring students to help others and buildLearning How to Workon Behalf of OthersDaisy Sihui Li, Year 2, Dual Degree Program in Technology& Management , enjoyed an exciting summer when shewas nominated to represent HKUST at the UniversityScholars Leadership Symposium held in Malacca, Malaysiain August. At the Symposium, Daisy joined delegates fromOxford University, Cambridge University and many otherworld-renowned higher education institutions, all ofwhom shared a passion for humanitarian service.Along with other representatives, the IndustrialEngineering & Engineering Management and GeneralBusiness Management student took part in thethought-provoking five-day training program focusing onmanagement of service projects. The program sets out tohelp young leaders of tomorrow acquire the planning,management and implementation skills to undertakehumanitarian projects locally and globally and to inspirethem to be agents of change. Capabilities ranged fromscreening of volunteers to innovative ways of fund-raising.Learning How to LeadThe benefits of listening to top businesspeople and academicsshare their insights onwhat it takes to be agood leader saw MPhilstudent and Li & Fungexchange scholarshiprecipient Henry Chi MingLee, attending the annualFung Scholars LeadershipConference for his third consecutive year. “I find the event isa great way to absorb the best from the best leaders,” theElectronic and Computer Engineering student said.At this year’s conference, organized by the Victor and WilliamFung Foundation and held in Hong Kong on October 3, MITProfessor of Management and Political Science RichardLocke gave an inspiring speech on “Changing Leadership: TheRole of Young Leaders in the Context of Globalization”. Thiswas followed by a wide-ranging discussion which evenstudents outside the conference could participate in as itwas broadcast live over the web. Mr Po Chung, co-founder ofDHL, and Dr Victor Fung, chairman of the Li & Fung Groupalso attended the conference.Henry was awarded his scholarship in the scheme’s inauguralyear of 2006-07, spending one year at the Royal Institute ofTechnology of Sweden. Some 99 HKUST students havereceived Li & Fung scholarships to date. The scheme wasestablished to commemorate the Group’s centenary.18

AlumniLighting Hong Kong’s Wayto a Bright FutureSENG Graduates DevelopFirst TD-LTE Terminal ChipsetElectrical and Electronic Engineering 2002 PhD graduateDavid Guo Wei Xiao is a great example of how HKUST’sworld-class reputation can draw talents to Hong Kong whosubsequently helps to boost the city’s economy andinnovation.Dr Xiao is founder of light-emitting diode (LED) chipcompany, Advanced Photoelectronic Technology Ltd (APT),now a leader in its field in Hong Kong and Mainland China.He established APT a year after graduating from HKUST.Starting with just two staff and using offices and equipmentfrom HKUST’s Entrepreneurship Center, APT grew rapidly.It has currently attracted HK$400 million in investmentsfrom overseas and Greater China and is expanding its35,000sq m factory and production line in Nansha.The company’s LED chips are used for purposes rangingfrom indoor illumination to a light source for LEDtelevisions. With quality comparable to the US and Europebut costing 20% less, APT has established a strong niche foritself. It has more than 10 patents in China and the US andsales volume of US$15 million.Many Electronic and Computer Engineering graduates havealso joined Dr Xiao’s company, including BEng and MPhilgraduates Yin Hing Lai, now Associate Manager of LED ChipDevelopment at APT and Chi Wing Keung, who is R&DProject Supervisor.Dr Xiao, originally from Xian, first chose to come to HongKong rather than study elsewhere because of HKUST’sreputation for semiconductor studies. On graduation,instead of moving to Singapore, he decided to stay in HongKong, making use of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.“There are plenty of talents, resources, funding and a soundsystem in Hong Kong. This is a good place for developingIT,” he said.A group of School of Engineering graduates, who work atthe Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology ResearchInstitute (ASTRI), have created the world’s first TimeDivision-Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) mobile phonechipset for pre-4G cellular technology. Thenext-generation telecommunication technology allowsusers to enjoy swift and ubiquitous internet coverage,even on high-speed trains moving at 350km per hour.The chipset received the Technological AchievementAward at the 2009 Hong Kong Awards for Industries andwas chosen by China Mobile, the world’s largest telecomoperator, to represent state-of-the-art technology at theShanghai World Expo 2010. LTE is seen by most mobilecarriers as the way to seamless migration from 3Gtoward 4G mobile communications.The ASTRI team of School of Engineering graduatesworking on the technology comprises Yan Wang, 2003PhD, Peter Chan, 2006 PhD, Elva Wang, 2007 PhD,Michael Cheung 2000 MPhil, Bob Wong 2000 MPhil,Cheong Yui Wong 1999 MPhil and Tao Li, 2006 PhD, allElectronic and Computer Engineering, Kim Hung Wong,2007 MSc in IC Design Engineering, Zu Yuan Fang, 2004PhD and Meng Yao Ma, 2009 PhD, both ComputerScience. “I believe together we can make a remarkableimpact in this niche,” Dr Zu Yuan Fang said.The team has successfully conducted inter-operabilitytests with cellular base station vendors includingMotorola, ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent.19

AlumniA 3D Trip Round Your Future HomeFor those planning to remodel their living environment andwanting to get a feel for how their apartment or house willlook ahead of time, Vecoord Technology (HK) Ltd, has just theanswer: an easy-to-use 3D interior design application thatoffers the virtual experience of walking around your newhome.Vecoord was set up by a group of HKUST alumni in July 2009to pursue 3D technology and internet applicationdevelopment. Among its first products is IDesign Home, whichallows home owners and professional designers to draw upplans for renovations in 2D then convert it to 3D.“Our competitive edge isthe walkthrough, a greatadvance for the sector,”said company co-founderNickle Zhu, 2006 BEng and2008 MPhil ComputerScience and Engineering.“Current software is expensive,difficult and time-consuming to use. Our applicationoffers a terrific way to see and feel what a place will be likewith its new decoration and furniture.” A website,www.3djiayuan.com, allows work using IDesign Home to bepublished so plans can be shared with friends.The other alumni involved are Mo Ma, 2007 MPhil, Electronicand Computer Engineering, Ally Wang, 2006 BSc Economicsand Finance, and Simon Fang, 2006 BBA Accounting.Nickle, Ally and Simon all come from Shenzhen. In his last yearas an undergraduate, Nickle won the best final year projectaward for his 3D game engine “Soul Envoy”, a project hedevised himself and completed alone rather than in a group.He also received a Hong Kong ICT Award and went on torepresent Hong Kong in the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards. Mo hadexperience of running his own company but decided to jointhe exciting new venture while Simon and Ally both resignedfrom their financial sector jobs to participate in Vecoord.The quartet’s dedication is further reinforced by the fact thecompany has had no income for the past two years while thesoftware has been under development. However, plansare now underway to market theproduct, with arrangementsthat offer users differentpackages depending on theirneeds in a similar way tomobile phones. In March 2010,Vecoord also joined thethree-year Incu-Tech Program.Organized by Hong KongScience and Technology ParksCorporation, the program offersassistance to early-stage start-ups and hasproved highly useful for the team in terms of facilities andnetworking opportunities.Keeping the team going through the early days was theirstrong entrepreneurial spirit and belief in the project, evenwhen others, including family members, felt taking a job wouldbe the safer route. “For me, the greatest part of being anentrepreneur is to try to turn ideas and technologies intobusiness success,” Nickle said, “and the learning experienceand satisfaction achieved in the process.”Pi Digit Calculation Sets RecordNicholas Tsz Wo Sze, 1999 BEng and 2001 MPhil, ComputerScience, and now a computer scientist at Yahoo in California,has made a record-breaking calculation of the digits of piusing his company’s computers.The breakthrough saw Nicholas’s program calculate the twoquadrillionth (2,000,000,000,000,000) binary digit, or bit, of pi.Using Yahoo’s Hadoop cloud computing technology, he wasthus able to double the previous record. The calculationrequired 23 days to complete and 1,000 of Yahoo’scomputers, each equipped with eight processors. A regularPC would have needed 500 years to finish it.Both BBC News and New Scientist magazine reported on theachievement in September. Nicholas stated in the NewScientist that companies such as Yahoo and Google can bringsuch computing power to mathematical calculations due totheir need to rapidly process huge amounts of data related tothe web.20

AlumniWell Prepared for the Ivy LeagueYong Lin Kong, 2010 BEng Mechanical Engineering, reflects on hiscurrent life as a PhD fellowship student in the Department ofMechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University andhow his time at HKUST prepared him for such a move.“My first few months atPrinceton have been exciting.Studying and cycling around thistraditional, beautiful and livelycampus (with lots of cutesquirrels) is certainly enjoyable!Like HKUST, Princeton University provides ample support forgraduate students. There are more than 10 libraries on campuswith access to millions of books and papers from Ivy Leagueuniversities. Just as importantly to me, there are alsostate-of-the-art sports facilities and hundreds of clubs so we canenjoy a well-balanced and happy campus life.“Graduate students at Princeton are provided with the resourcesand freedom to get a taste of different fields before we have todecide to work with a particular professor. This flexibility is crucialas it gives us time to understand and examine our own interestsbefore we decide to commit ourselves to a field. There are alsoentrepreneurship workshops with successful Princeton alumni thatallow us to gain insight into career prospects outside academia.“The transition from undergraduate to graduate life is not withoutits challenges. We are expected, not only to understand but to bevery fluent in our chosen field. Oral skills are strongly emphasizedas logic and understanding will be critically examined until thepresenter convinces their audience.“Princeton also welcomes students from all around the world,which I think is one of its best features. Exchanging ideas andmaking friends with people from different cultural and educationalbackgrounds is not only fun but also helps you to see issues frommultiple perspectives.“I am very glad and grateful that the undergraduate education Ireceived at young, energetic and global HKUST provided me witha strong foundation both academically and in terms of social skillsand personal development to make the most of all theseopportunities in my new environment.”Honors and Achievements■■■■Lai Chun Chan, 2009 Dual Degree Program inTechnology & Management, received the Awardof Merit in Structures and Materials Disciplinein the Paper Competition 2009 organized bythe Institution of Civil Engineers (UK) HongKong Association. Lai Chun won the honor forhis “Critical Review of the Hong Kong NewCode of Practice for Structural Use ofConcrete 2004”.Owen Ka Fai Luk, 2005 BEng Chemical andBiomolecular Engineering and 2007 MPhil,Bioengineering, won the Trainee of the YearAward from the Hong Kong Institution ofEngineers.Wenjing Zhang, 2005 MScMaterial Science and2009 PhD Chemical andBiomolecular Engineering,has been awarded therenowned Oronzio de NoraIndustrial ElectrochemistryFellowship 2010 by theElectrochemical Society, aleading internationalnon-profit and educational organization forsolid-state and electrochemical science andtechnology. The award is granted to onerecipient on an annual basis. Dr Zhang iscurrently a faculty member of the Departmentof Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering atVanderbilt University, US.Kany S Y Zhou, 2009 MPhil MechanicalEngineering, has been selected to be one of10 Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE)President’s Protégés. The prestigious schemetrains young engineers to be leading figuresin society, working directly with the HKIEpresident on activities involving high-levelleadership and management training. Kany,who gained a patent during her studies at theSchool of Engineering, is now working for theHong Kong Productivity Council, where shespecializes in optical design.21

Campus NewsDistinguished LecturesDiscuss Fresh Directionsin Computer Science ResearchMainland ManufacturingLeadership WorkshopLooks AheadThe Department of Computer Science and Engineering hostedthe well-received Trends and Challenges in Computer ScienceResearch Distinguished Lecture Series on November 11. Thetwo speakers, Prof John Hopcroft and Prof Raj Reddy, wereboth HKUST 2010 honorary doctorate recipients and TuringAward winners.Prof Hopcroft, Professor of Engineering and AppliedMathematics at Cornell University, launched the lecture serieswith a talk entitled “Creating a Science Base to Support NewDirections in Computer Science”. This included discussion ofinitial work to build a science base to support the latestactivities in the field, such as the merging of computing andcommunication, the enormous amounts of information nowavailable in digital form, and the advent of social networks suchas MySpace and Facebook.Prof Reddy, Professor of Computer Science and Robotics atCarnegie Mellon University, focused on the “Grand ChallengeResearch Problems in Computer Science and ArtificialIntelligence”, ranging from algorithm design to human computerinteraction and information infrastructure.The event drew an audience of more than 120 students andfaculty. Students also had the opportunity to ask questions andexchange ideas with the two eminent academics.All Eyes on the GreaterChina Programming ContestUndergraduates from Tsinghua University in Mainland China,National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and HKUST’sComputer Science and Engineering Department tested theirskills against each other at HKUST in the annualTsinghua-HKUST Programming Contest 2010 in August.It was the second time the Greater China collegiate teamcompetition had been held in Hong Kong, with Team One fromTsinghua University in Beijing eventually taking home theChampionship from amongst seven teams.The competition seeks to foster creativity, teamwork andinnovation among computer science students.With China becoming the manufacturing powerhouse for theworld, there is a growing demand for its industries to upgradeand transform. Working with the local government in ZhejiangProvince, HKUST’s Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI)recently organized a well-received two-week workshop formainland manufacturing industry leaders. Attending theworkshop were CEOs and COOs from companies withrevenues of 100 million RMB to 1 billion RMB.The program content covered five modules: Strategic Planning,Decision Making, Human Resource Development, OperationManagement and Internet of Things. It also provided a variety ofteaching and learning methods, combining classroom lectures,hands-on lab sessions, case discussion, project competition, smallgroup discussion, and site visits.Prof Mitchell Tseng, Industrial Engineering and LogisticsManagement (IELM) Chair Professor and AMI Director,launched the workshop with a lecture on “AdvancedManufacturing and Global Competitiveness”. IELM Head ofDepartment Prof Fugee Tsung and Profs Jeff Hong, Otto Lin,Xiangtong Qi and Jiheng Zhang also gave presentations on arange of current topics.Professor Derick WoodWith deep sadness, we report that Professor EmeritusDerick Wood passed away on October 4, 2010, in Ontario,Canada. Prof Wood joined the Department of ComputerScience in 1995 and was made Chair Professor in January2006. He became Professor Emeritus following hisretirement in June 2006. From September 2001 to June2002, Prof Wood was Acting Head of the Department.Prof Wood was highly respected by his colleagues andstudents who knew him as a dedicated and caring teacher.His warmness, generosity, and great sense of humor willnever be forgotten.22

Campus NewsSetting Young Mindsto Work on Hospital HygieneA dynamic collaborative project between a Chemical and BiomolecularEngineering (CBME) professor and his researchers and Christian AllianceS W Chan Memorial College, a local secondary school, has set out toproduce a fluorescent pen to monitor cleanliness in hospitals and toencourage students to find out more about engineering. The markerwould be the first of its kind in Hong Kong.Prof King Lun Yeung’s project began in September and runs until March.During this time, the school students will need to find a suitable dye,which is both safe and reasonably priced, to make the pen. When thepen is run over any surface in the hospital, it should show if the area is upto standard in terms of hygiene.As part of the study, a CBME postgraduate student from Prof Yeung’s teamhas given a lecture to students at the College, witha follow-up lecture and labvisit to HKUST’s Instituteof NanoMaterials andNanoTechnology inNovember. Twenty-onestudents are participating inthe project.ECE Graduates’ Dinner CelebrationThe Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE) invitedall of its 2010 BEng, MPhil and PhD graduates to a highly enjoyabledinner gathering at the HKUST campus on October 31. The reunionprovided a great opportunity for graduates to take photographs in theirgowns with friends and professors before the Congregation inNovember, to share their work experience, and provide suggestions andfeedback for the Department’s future development.At the event, certificates were awarded to graduates with outstandingachievements in project competitions or significant academicimprovement. Undergraduate Patrick Lee and postgraduate Xinxin Wangalso shared their experiences in studying in the Department anddiscussed their current career plans. Over 80 graduates, faculty and familymembers came to the gathering, which proved a memorable evening.To keep in touch and find out the latest information on alumni events,ECE alumni are encouraged to join Facebook group “HKUST ELECAlumni”.UnderstandingMore About EngineeringEight students from St Paul’s Co-educationalCollege (SPCC) gained an early taste ofengineering and university life when theyundertook research with School of Engineering(SENG) professors and classes with SENG studentsfor five days in November.The school students joined SENG as part of theSPCC Study Program, coordinated by theUniversity’s Undergraduate Recruitment andAdmissions Office. Other activities arranged bySENG included a welcome and briefing by ProfEdmond Ko, Director of the Center for EngineeringEducation Innovation, sharing by peer mentors, atalk by a SPCC alumnus Dr Jeffery Lo who gainedhis Bachelor, Master and Doctorate degrees fromHKUST and is now a researcher at the University’sElectronic Packaging Laboratory, and a campus tour.“We had a lot of freedom which was very differentfrom secondary school,” said SPCC student JeffChun Fu Choy, who was interested in ComputerScience and Engineering. “But I also felt very welllooked after by my adviser, Prof S W Cheng, whowas very relaxed and informative. He even lookedafter me with food at tea time!”Kathy Ho joined the Department of MechanicalEngineering and was advised by Prof Moses Ng.She was able to engage in research on differentkinds of batteries, carrying out performance testswhich she found fun and interesting. “I reallylearned about the field from Prof Ng,” she said.Other SPCC students gained useful introductionsto Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, andCivil and Environmental Engineering as well as thescale and scope of being a university student andcampus life.23

Campus NewsHigh-School Students ExploreHKUST-IBM Technology Exploration Camp 2010, a series of successfulsummer day camps held over a two-week period in July, attracted over 700secondary students from 40 schools and over 40 teachers. The daycamps introduced students and teachers to the world of engineering tofire up their enthusiasm for its different fields and learn about the latestadvances.Activities ranged from visiting research facilities to hands-on engineering lab sessions.“We were delighted to see that this exciting, fun-filled learningexperience helped to develop stronger interest among students intechnological advancement and the work of engineers,” said ProfRoger Cheng, Associate Dean of Engineering. The camps were thelatest collaboration between IBM and the School of Engineeringafter the 2008 Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering(EXITE) Camp and Engineering Week programs in 2009.March 18-19, 2011The Making of the World's Largest Digital Photo WorkshopHKUST CampusMay 2011School of Engineering Alumni Homecoming DinnerHKUST CampusCalendar of EventsApril 8, 2011HKUST Grand Celebration for the 20th AnniversaryThe Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition CenterJune 1-3, 2011International Conference on Technologies Beyond 2020Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & TowersThe above events are subject to change without prior notice.Don't be the Missing Link ...Alumni relationships are invaluable assets to the School andalumni. To foster the growth of our alumni network, pleasekeep us informed of your recent news and send us yourupdated contact information via email to seng@ust.hk.Stay connected and keep in touch!24Editors:Diana Liu, Dorothy YipContributing Editor: Sally CourseAddress:School of EngineeringThe Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyClear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong KongPhone: (852) 2358-5917 Fax: (852) 2358-1458Email: seng@ust.hkWebsite: www.seng.ust.hkFacebook: www.facebook.com/SENG.HKUSTPTC-G13933