The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will be conferring honorary doctorates on five eminent academics and community leaders in recognition of their illustrious contributions and achievements. The conferment will take place on 14 November 2008 at HKUST’s 16th Congregation.
The five recipients and the honorary degrees they will receive are:
Dr CHAN Sui Kau – Doctor of Social Science honoris causa
Prof Aaron J CIECHANOVER – Doctor of Science honoris causa
Prof David J GROSS – Doctor of Science honoris causa
Prof Shuji NAKAMURA – Doctor of Engineering honoris causa
Prof Chia-Wei WOO – Doctor of Business Administration honoris causa
Dr the Hon Sir Sze-Yuen Chung, Pro-Chancellor of HKUST, will officiate at the conferment ceremony.
Brief biography of the five recipients
Dr CHAN Sui Kau
Dr Chan is the Life Honorary President of the Federation of Hong Kong Garment Manufacturers, and founder of Yangtzekiang Garment Ltd and Chairman of YGM Trading Limited, a listed company in Hong Kong. He is a strong supporter of education in Hong Kong and Mainland China, having made generous donations to numerous schools and universities. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the City University of Hong Kong as well as Honorary Fellowship from the University of Hong Kong.
Prof Aaron J CIECHANOVER
Prof Ciechanover is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004), in recognition of his significant contributions to the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. This discovery is highly useful in the production of new medicines for various types of diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, DNA damage, immunological malfunctions, neurogenerative disorders and certain malignancies. Prof Ciechanover is currently Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.
Prof David J GROSS
Prof Gross won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004, in recognition of his contributions three decades before to our knowledge of how the nucleus of atoms works. He was a professor at Princeton University until 1997, and now the director and holder of the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Prof Shuji NAKAMURA
Prof Nakamura is a professor in the Materials Department, College of Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara. He is well known as the inventor of blue/green/white light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In 2006, he was awarded Finland’s Millennium Technology Prize, which is equivalent to a Nobel Prize in technology.
Prof Chia-Wei WOO
Prof Woo is the Founding President (1988 to 2001) of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is architect in the planning, building, founding, nurturing and development of HKUST which, within a short span of 17 years, has become a world-class research university. Before joining HKUST, he was President of San Francisco State University, the first Chinese American to head a major university in USA.
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
