HKUST Appoints Prof Roland Chin as Deputy to the President | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

In accepting the appointment, Prof Chin said he was both honored and humbled by the confidence that the university has placed in him. “I feel privileged to be part of this collective effort in chasing our common dream of becoming a top-flight research university that wins universal acclaim,” he said.

“Chasing a common dream may sound romantic,” he said, “but making it come true requires that we pour ourselves into our mission.”

Praising Prof Chin as a well-respected academic leader, HKUST President Prof Paul Chu said: “Prof Chin is uniquely poised to support me and to work in partnership with the academic and management team in leading the University to new heights.”

Prof Chin’s appointment, which took immediate effect, is made after a rigorous international search by a committee chaired by HKUST Council Member Dr Helmut Sohmen and comprising two other lay Council Members as well as six senior University faculty and staff members. The appointment was unanimously approved by the University Council.

Professor Chin received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in 1979. After two years as a researcher at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1981 and became a Professor in 1989.

He came to HKUST in 1992 as Professor in Computer Science and served as Head of the Department from 1996 to 2001. From September 2001 to March 2003, Professor Chin was on secondment to the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) of the HKSAR Government. He was appointed the Vice-President for Research and Development in June 2003, and then as the Acting Vice-President for Academic Affairs in September 2006.

Professor Chin is currently Chairman of the Research Grants Council, and a Member of the University Grants Committee and the Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology of the HKSAR Government.

A long-serving member of the University, Professor Chin is known for his dedication to the University and for his drive and determination in tackling challenging tasks. As Acting VP-AA, Professor Chin is the driving force behind the key academic initiatives of the University and is setting in place the management structure and operational framework for the transition to the four-year undergraduate curriculum in 2012.