News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held the third inauguration ceremony of named professorships today to honor eight outstanding faculty members and their donors. Officiating at the Inauguration Ceremony, President Prof Tony F Chan said, “I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to the donors for their generosity and support in establishing the named professorships. By giving due recognition to our exceptional faculty, the named professorship appointments help HKUST to recruit distinguished talents from around the world and to continue its unrelenting quest for excellence and innovation in education and research for the good of the University and the community.”

Scientists from HKUST and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovered new research to observationally distinguish different theories of how the universe first began. Prof Yi Wang, Assistant Professor of HKUST’s Department of Physics and his collaborators Prof Xingang Chen and Mohammad Hossein Namjoo from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of Texas at Dallas note that some heavy particles that are known existing at the birth of the universe can be used as standard clocks. Such “clocks” can be used to measure the passage of time at the universe’s birth. Their research paper also proposes that the time of every primordial era can be labeled, such that new observations shall be like a movie, which shows in time order how the universe comes from.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted the 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series today, featuring Prof Alan J Heeger, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2000. The event was well received by students, faculty members and guests from HKUST. In his talk titled “Creativity, Discovery and Risk - Nobel Prizes Past and Future”, Prof Heeger shared his insights on creativity and discovery in science, and the close association of creativity with risk-taking in scientific research. He said, “In science, creativity and discovery are related, but they are not the same. Scientific breakthroughs typically result from a combination of creativity and discovery.” He cited some Nobel Prize-winning scientific findings as examples to illustrate creativity, including his early discoveries in the field of semiconducting and metallic polymers.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held its annual Long Service Award Presentation Ceremony to honor faculty and staff members who have served the University for 20 years. HKUST established the Long Service Award to express appreciation and recognition to long-serving faculty and staff members whose dedication and hard work have contributed to the University’s rapid rise over the past 25 years. This year, HKUST presented awards to 89 colleagues with 20 years of service at the University. HKUST President Prof Tony F Chan, together with the vice-presidents, deans, heads and directors of departments and offices joined the presentation ceremony. The awardees’ families and friends were also invited by the University to attend the event and share the happiness at the celebration.

Hailed by the Financial Times as a festival with a “finely hewn sense of craft," The Intimacy of Creativity returns for its sixth season in collaboration with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), which presents the annual festival. The Intimacy of Creativity (IC) continues to explore the creative process as selected composers present and revise their chamber music compositions after in-depth discussions between composers and performers. “HKUST is proud to feature The Intimacy of Creativity as part of our 25th anniversary celebration,” says Prof Tony F Chan, President of HKUST. “We believe that music is part of the holistic education that we aim to provide to our students and it can also stimulate creativity which is vital to their future success.”

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s School of Business and Management (HKUST Business School) has entered into an academic partnership with the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). The partnership entails that the HKUST MSc in Investment Management Program aligns with industry-recognized standards, and thus provides better opportunity for students to become globally qualified risk management professionals. GARP is a not-for-profit organization and the only globally recognized association for risk managers. The association aims to advance the risk profession through education and the promotion of best practices. It offers certification for financial risk management leading to a Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation, which is the most respected and widely recognized certification for financial risk management.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held an opening ceremony today for the Cheng Yu Tung Building, marking a milestone in the University’s development and its future education and research. The generous donation from Cheng Yu Tung Foundation has helped the University to complete the funding for the new research and academic complex with state-of-the-art facilities. In honor of this generosity, the University has named the new complex Cheng Yu Tung Building. The building will help HKUST to pursue its goal in advancing innovation and excellence, with its first-class facilities on a par with the highest international standards and in line with the world’stop research universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Caltech.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) hosted the 25th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Series on 28 January, featuring Prof Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, the only Chinese Turing Prize winner. In his talk titled “Quantum Computing: A Great Science in the Making”, Prof Yao told the audience the secrets in the atoms that could potentially unleash the enormous power of quantum computing. He also delved into the advantages of quantum computing and shared his insights into how it will revolutionize information processing. “Quantum computer comes at a fortuitous time when the Moore’s law for computing is starting to reach its physical limit imposed by quantum mechanics. The design of quantum computer offers a daring approach: to take advantage of the quantum problem instead of fighting it,” he said.