News & Stories

November 1, 2019, Hong Kong –– Microsoft Hong Kong and The School of Business and Management of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST Business School) introduced today Hong Kong’s first MBA elective featuring an AI (Artificial Intelligence) curriculum. The enhanced curriculum will equip business leaders and organizations with the critical skills, knowledge and culture to succeed in the 4th Industrial Revolution.Officially available for MBA students of HKUST Business School in early 2020, the AI curriculum is part of Microsoft’s Global AI Business School initiative, designed in partnership with INSEAD and provides the latest thinking on AI transformation in business. Business leaders from local enterprises and organizations can also access the AI curriculum by joining the open executive education program provided by HKUST soon to get ready for the AI future. 

Effective STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is a major challenge in Hong Kong’s schools and institutions, which have struggled with a lack of talent, time, and tools to support teaching, resulting from an exam-oriented culture and a staid system of learning. As an advocate for STEM education, Prof. Philip SOU Iam-Keong from the Department of Physics believes that it is important for STEM education to not stay in its current “Mickey Mouse” format but leverage existing technology and highlight discoveries from the most recent research so students can learn new knowledge. However, he also acknowledges teachers’ immense difficulty in teaching STEM subjects as they have no time to catch up with the latest scientific and technological innovations. “In schools, most of the teachers are too busy to engage in STEM, even though the government has allocated funds for STEM education, they are unwilling to pursue it,” comments Prof. Sou. 

A high-level delegation led by James M. McKelvey Prof. Aaron BOPICK, Dean of McKelvey School of Engineering (McKelvey Engineering) of Washington University in St Louis (WashU), visited the Hong Kong Universtiy of Science and Technology (HKUST) on September 20, 2019 to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a framework within which cooperation may develop between the two leading universities in the world.

Kachin WONG aspired to study Medicine while at secondary school, but his less-than-expected public examination results shattered his dream. The great disappointment, however, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He was admitted to HKUST to study biochemistry and cell biology and went on to complete an MPhil program in Technology Leadership and Entrepreneurship (TLE) this year. During his postgraduate studies, he came across a paper by Prof. SUN Fei of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) about smart hydrogels. Hydrogels, also known as soft matter in the medical world, are leading materials for biomedical applications such as drug delivery and stem cell therapy.

Oxygen levels in the ocean have depleted over the past few decades1  due to global warming and emissions of greenhouse gas, causing pollution and disrupting our ecosystem.  In efforts to curb the trend, researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) discovered a mechanism that may eventually help an eco-friendly aquatic bacterium clean up more carbon dioxide in the ocean and produce more marine oxygen.   Like trees on land, cyanobacteria, or what commonly known as blue-green algae, perform photosynthesis in the ocean.  They provide oxygen for marine life and absorb over 20% of the world’s total carbon emission.  However, natural predation and virus infection kill nearly half of the world’s cyanobacteria on a daily basis.  A virus called cyanophage alone, wipes out one fifth of the total cyanobacterial population every day.  

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has started a new chapter as The State Ministry of Education (MoE) has approved its application for proceeding to establish The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) (HKUST (GZ)). The new campus will synergize with and maintain the same academic standard as that of its Clear Water Bay (CWB) counterpart.  HKUST (GZ) will nurture talent and facilitate collaboration amongst Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and beyond on education, research and commercialization, while strengthening knowledge transfer to bridge Hong Kong’s gap in high-tech manufacturing.

An inter-disciplinary team of researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) unraveled how a toxin released by Escherichia coli (E. coli) – a human gut bacteria, is connected to colorectal cancer, offering new insights to the health impact of this prevalent bacteria and facilitating future research on the prevention of this third most common cancer worldwide*. 

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed the world’s first all-optical neural network for deep machine learning – bringing artificial intelligence a step closer to matching human brains in tackling complex problems such as pattern recognition or risk management, and at much lower energy consumption at the speed of light.