News & Stories
2008

News
HKUST Presents Its First President's Outstanding Service Award
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has managed to win many international honors and become one of the world’s leading universities of science and technology in less than 17 years. Behind this miracle are exceptional employees who put the interest of the university above their own. In order to recognize the outstanding contributions of its non-teaching staff members, HKUST today (Thursday) presented its first “HKUST President’s Outstanding Service Award” on its campus.
The first “HKUST President’s Outstanding Service Award” received keen response. Three awardees have been selected by the Selection Committee for their outstanding service. They are Senior Purchasing Manager in the Purchasing Office Mr Michael Cheng, Chief Technician in the Facilities Management Office Mr Albert Lam and Clerk in the Office of University Development and Public Affairs Ms Anna Wong.
News
Post-Grad Scholarship to Nurture Chiu Chow Talents
The Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce has pledged HK$4.5 million to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to nurture young Chiu Chow talents to pursue postgraduate studies at the University’s School of Science.
Under the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce Postgraduate Scholarship Program, 10 scholarships of HK$450,000 each will be sponsored by members of the Chamber to recruit non-local postgraduate students of Chiu Chow ancestry to support their tuition and living expenses over a three-year research program. Priority will be given to those enrolled in the Chinese Medicine Research and Development Program which is designed to enhance the status of traditional Chinese medicine by the latest scientific and research technology, so that it will become part of modern medicine.

News
Census Data Analyses Training Conducted for Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea at HKUST
The Center for Demography and Sustainable Development (CDSD) of Fok Ying Tung Graduate School at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) recently completed a special training on Census Data Analyses for selected officials from the Central Bureau of Statistics, Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). The training was under the direction of Professor John Ma, Associate Professor and Director of the Center and Dr. Yun Kim, Professor of Sociology Emeritus at Utah State University, USA, and Senior Population Scientist at the Center and it was fully financed by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).

News
HKUST Professor the Only Local Scholar to be Named IFAC Fellow
HKUST’s Chair Professor in Electronic and Computer Engineering Xiren Cao has been named a fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), making him the first-ever Hong Kong scholar to become an IFAC Fellow since the Federation’s inception in 1957.
According to the Assessment Committee, Prof Cao was conferred this exceptional honor for his “contributions to the analysis of discrete event systems, stochastic learning and optimization theory, and their application.”
IFAC is an international professional organization consisting of 48 national member organizations (NMOs), which include most industrialized countries; China and Hong Kong are two of the NMOs. This year, only 16 fellowships were conferred including two Mainland scholars and one Hong Kong scholar. Prof Cao will deliver a plenary presentation at IFAC’s 17th triennial World Congress at Seoul, Korea, in July 2008.

News
$30M Scholarships Benefit 675 Students
A wide range of scholarships have been awarded to outstanding students at HKUST through the generous donations of public-spirited individuals, caring alumni, philanthropic foundations, and corporations.
In the 2007/08 academic year, over 980 scholarships and prizes were awarded through HKUST to 675 outstanding students, with the total scholarships value amounting to approximately HK$29.76 million.
In recognition of the donors' generosity, scholarship recipients today (Wednesday) expressed their personal warm regards to the generous donors in a tea reception at HKUST. Some awardees went on stage to share their happiness and exciting experience in overseas exchange activities sponsored by scholarship programs.

News
President Paul Chu Welcomes Appointment to HKUST Council
HKUST President Prof Paul Chu today (Friday) welcomes the appointment of Dr the Hon Marvin Cheung Kin-tung, SBS, JP, as Chairman of the HKUST Council and Dr Michael Mak, JP, as Vice-Chairman of the Council.
Prof Chu also expresses his heart-felt gratitude to Dr John Chan who steps down today from the Council Chairmanship after completing six years of distinguished service.
"During his six years of Chairmanship, Dr Chan had always been there when the University needed him, whether it was a fund-raising event, a celebratory function, or a crisis, not to mention lengthy council meetings that would tax human endurance. He gave wholeheartedly of himself to advance the cause of this University. Our performance and progress over the last six years are in no small measure a reflection of his leadership and vision. We could not have asked for a more dedicated Chairman," Prof Chu said.