The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced today the appointment of Professor Henry Tye (戴 自 海 教 授) as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) with effect from January 2011.
A distinguished theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Prof Tye’s primary research interest is in elementary particle theory, including topics such as high energy phenomena, interface between particle physics and cosmology and superstring theory. He is known for his contribution to the inflationary universe scenario, which is generally accepted as the way our universe began. Prof Tye is a world renowned scientist whose primary accomplishment in recent years has been on the “brane world” scenario, a new description of the universe that emerges naturally in the superstring theory.
HKUST President Tony F Chan remarks, “We take pride in having Prof Henry Tye, a distinguished scientific leader, assume the directorship of the Institute for Advanced Study. He brings to this post a wealth of experience in the world’s leading scientific bodies, including on the advisory board of advanced scientific research institutes. He amply shares the University’s values for education and research excellence. We are sure that with Prof Tye’s leadership, the IAS will further its missions of serving as a catalyst for frontier research and major scientific and technological advances, as well as for building a regional and global intellectual center.”
Prof Tye is currently Horace White Professor of Physics at Cornell University. He received his B.S. degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1970 and his PhD degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. Upon graduation, Prof Tye spent the early years of his career in leading research groups at Stanford University, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and Cornell University. Since 1987, he has been Professor of Physics at Cornell University where he spent the last 23 years of his academic career. Prof Tye is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, served as Chair of the National Advisory Board of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China in Beijing since its establishment in 2007, and is a Member of the International Advisory Committee for the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Prof Tye has been closely associated with the HKUST. He gave two distinguished lectures on “How Our Universe Began – String Theory Perspective” and “The Birth of Our Universe: an Overview of Cosmology” at the IAS in 2006 and 2009 respectively.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Ross Lai
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Email: donnaw@ust.hk
