News & Stories

Two papers submitted by HKUST research teams have won two out of a total of three best paper awards at the 14th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications held in late April in Australia. The first paper on how search engines should be run and developed has won for HKUST Professor in Computer Science and Engineering Dik Lun Lee and his doctorate student Budi Yuwono the inaugural DASFAA 10+ (Database Systems for Advanced Applications) Best Paper Award 2009. Entitled “Server ranking for distributed text retrieval systems on the Internet”, the paper was selected from more than 320 papers presented over a period of 10 years (1989 – 1999) at six DASFAA international conferences.

HKUST MPhil student of Physics Tsui Lok Man became the only candidate from Hong Kong to have won a fully-funded scholarship for the Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) program, a 10-month concentrated Master degree program jointly organized by the world-renowned Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PITP) and the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. For this honor, Lok Man has to compete against 200 international applicants, becoming one of 25 eventual scholarship winners from 15 countries/regions for this inaugural program. Due to start in August 2009, the program aims to attract budding physicists from around the world and nurturing them to become theoretical Physics researchers contributing to future cutting-edge discoveries.

http://www.bm.ust.hk/en-us/media-resources/overview/press-releases/100

HKUST Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Li Zongjin has been awarded a HK$30-million project to conduct research on concrete under China’s National Basic Research Program, also known as the 973 project. As the Chief Scientist of the project, he will work closely with a cross-boundary and multi-disciplinary research team comprising four HKUST scientists—Professors Moe Cheung and Chris Leung (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Xiaoping Wang (Mathematics) and Zhenyang Lin (Chemistry), and 50 scientists from seven universities in Mainland China, including Southeast University, Wuhan University of Technology, Zhejiang University, Jiangsu Institute of Building Research, Tongji University, Tsinghua University, and Wuhan University.

Young students from seven Asian countries or regions gathered at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on Saturday, 4 April to receive their International Talent Search Award for High Honors presented by Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (JHU-CTY). With a history spanning three decades, JHU-CTY is one of the world's top institutions dedicated to the search for, and development of, talented youngsters in and outside the US. The ceremony at HKUST was their first annual international awards ceremony held in Asia. Attending the ceremony were 65 youngsters from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Mainland China and Hong Kong, studying in primary or junior secondary school. They were identified through JHU-CTY's International Talent Search, based on their SAT or S-CAT performance. SAT is a globally administered test taken by university-bound students, and S-CAT is a similar test scaled for younger students.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has teamed up with aircraft manufacturer Boeing to develop a wireless system that will drastically enhance the efficiency of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. "Aircraft maintenance is a massive, complicated operation and involves a large amount of paper work and commuting between the aircraft and the maintenance office. Hence we aim to develop a wireless-enabled computer system that eliminates most of the printouts and the need to commute," said Prof Gary Chan, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at HKUST. Prof Chan currently leads a team of researchers working on the project called Lean Aviation Network, or LAviNet in short.

More than 20 international students clad in different national costumes and folk dresses paraded down the catwalk at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today (Friday) to celebrate the university's cultural diversity. The occasion was a multinational fashion show named "UST in Style". These international students under The Swire International Young Fellows Programme joined hands with local and exchange students to form six teams, each featuring the fashion of one cultural region, and competing against each other for the awards for "Best Model", "Best Presentation", and "Overall Championship". The teams featured the fashion and culture of China, East Asia, South Asia, the Philippines, Scandinavia, and Europe. They comprised students from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mainland China, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, UK and Chile.

A delegation from Wuhan University, led by their President Prof Gu Hailiang, visited the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today and signed an academic agreement with HKUST President Paul Chu on the exchange of students between the two universities. President Chu also accepted an invitation by President Gu to give a keynote address at Wuhan University on 6 May 2009. For media enquiries, please feel free to contact : Ross Lai Tel: 2358 6306 / 9103 2928 Email: rosslai@ust.hk   Donna Wong Tel: 2358 6317 Email: donnaw@ust.hk