News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has shot up in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking by Subjects, with chemistry placing 11th and five engineering subjects – Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering and Mechanical Engineering – making a giant leap into top 20 or better. Amongst the 17 subjects for which HKUST was ranked, 12 subjects enjoyed an improved standing compared with last year.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) signed an agreement yesterday (28 August) in Xi’an to establish the XJTU-HKUST Joint School of Sustainable Development (JSSD). To tie in with the economic and social development needs of Central and Western regions of Mainland China and beyond, JSSD will focus on promoting sustainability, through nurturing the talents, promoting frontier knowledge and providing advanced technology. It will also create capabilities in the areas of sustainable energy, chemical engineering, materials science, environment, infrastructure, population and socioeconomic development. Both universities are forming a strategic cooperation to foster a new synergetic regional economic development mode.

A cooperation agreement was signed today between spin-off companies of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Guangzhou General Pharmaceutical Research Institute of the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited for the development of novel targeted anticancer drugs and other new drugs from natural sources. An effort to modernize Chinese medicine writ large, the agreement signals advances in the development of novel drugs and healthcare products.

Prof Zhenguo Wu of the Division of Life Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and his research team have discovered a novel protein Pax3/7BP that plays an influential role in skeletal muscle stem cells. This groundbreaking discovery could lead to more effective stem cell treatments for various muscle diseases including muscular dystrophy. Skeletal muscle stem cells function differently at different developmental stages. They are responsible for normal skeletal muscle growth in young animals including humans and for injury-induced muscle regeneration in adult animals. In skeletal muscle tissues, Pax7 is a protein that is uniquely present in muscle stem cells and is indispensable for muscle stem cell functions in young animals. However, until recently how Pax7 regulates the functions of muscle stem cells had remained unclear.

https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/press-releases/2012/08/hkust-business-school-launch-pre-experience-master-international-management

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted its second-ever Research in Industrial Projects for Students (RIPS-HK), with 16 undergraduates from the US and Hong Kong coming under the tutelage of university faculty and industry professionals to apply mathematical theories and computational skills to a wide palette of real-life problems proposed by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), Huawei, MetLife and BGI.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) co-hosted the Asian Network for Quality (ANQ) Congress 2012 under the theme of ‘Striving for Excellence through Product and Service Quality’. 400 leading experts on quality management converged on campus to shine light on the dynamic outlook of quality management in Asia and explore the opportunities in industry.

A research publication by Prof Zikang Tang and Prof George Wong both of the Department of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) titled ‘Room-temperature ultraviolet laser emission from self-assembled ZnO microcrystallite thin films’ was recognized to be amongst the top 50 most cited papers over the past 50 years in Applied Physics Letters, one of the world’s most esteemed scientific journals. This is also the only research developed in Greater China region that made it into the top 50. Prof Tang, Prof Wong and their research team discovered room-temperature ultraviolet (UV) lasing using high-quality nano-structured ZnO semiconductors in 1998, defying the norm that for decades, UV lasing of ZnO could only be observed at low temperatures. The groundbreaking discovery has opened up a wide range of potential applications for ZnO semiconductors in UV laser diodes as well as energy-saving semiconductor white light sources.