The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held a naming ceremony for its HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and an inauguration of HKUST Jockey Club IAS Named Professorships today, marking another milestone in the University's innovative academic and technological development.
The Institute seeks to bring together the most brilliant minds from around the world to drive cutting-edge discovery and scholarship in Asia and globally. In recognition of a generous donation by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to support IAS development, HKUST is naming the Institute for Advanced Study in honor of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The University also received great support from The Bank of East Asia, Dr Helmut and Mrs Anna Sohmen, Si Yuan Foundation and TT & WF Chao Foundation, enabling HKUST to establish its first IAS Named Professsorships.
Offciating at today's ceremony were: Dr Simon S O Ip, CBE, JP, Deputy Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club; Dr David K.P. Li, Chairman & Chief Executive of The Bank of East Asia; Dr Helmut Sohmen, Chairman of BW Group Limited; Mr Eric Lee, Executive Director of Si Yuan Foundation; and from HKUST, Council Chairman Dr Marvin K T Cheung, Council Vice-Chairman Mr Martin Y Tang, President Prof Tony F Chan, Vice-President for Administration and Business Prof Yuk-shan Wong, Vice-President for Institutional Advancement Dr Eden Y Woon, Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies Prof Joseph Lee, and IAS Director Prof Henry Tye.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has been a long-standing supporter of HKUST. Dr Simon S O Ip, Deputy Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, said that the Club had nurtured the development of the University with grants amounting to more than HK$2.5 billion over the past 26 years, including the recent donation of more than HK$71 million to the IAS. The University was a source of great pride to the Club, having gained world recognition for its outstanding achievements in both research and graduate quality. "The Club's investment in this Institute marks another milestone in our endeavors to bring new opportunities to potential talent and nurture scientific innovation and research in Hong Kong and Greater China," he said.
IAS Named Professorship supporters were also delighted to join together with HKUST to foster the IAS. Dr David K.P. Li of The Bank of East Asia recognizes the importance of advanced research, and has supported the development of IAS since its inception. Dr Helmut and Mrs Anna Sohmen believe in education as the foundation of human progress and support teaching at all levels, from primary to postgraduate studies in Hong Kong and around the world. They are particularly proud to be supporters of the IAS and wish the Institute much success. Si Yuan Foundation has been a staunch supporter of tertiary education development in Hong Kong and Greater China since the Foundation's inception. It is confident that the partnership with HKUST through the IAS Si Yuan Professorship will contribute to the socio-economic development and the betterment of society as a whole.
Dr Marvin K T Cheung, Chairman of the University Council, thanked The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for its generous support for the University. He said that HKUST aims to nurture leaders with a global outlook as well as professional knowledge for Hong Kong, Mainland China and the world. The IAS provides a significant platform for international leaders and pioneers from a wide range of fields and has attracted 36 Visiting Professors. The University has successfully recruited Prof Ching W Tang, known as the "Father of OLED", Prof Sir Christopher A Pissarides, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, and Prof Gunther Uhlmann, a world-leading mathematician. The three IAS Named Professors have garnered many international accolades and their presence at HKUST will further enhance education and research in Hong Kong.
President Prof Tony F Chan also expressed his gratitude to The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Bank of East Asia, Dr Helmut and Mrs Anna Sohmen, Si Yuan Foundation and TT & WF Chao Foundation for their generous donations. He congratulated the IAS Named Professors, noting they are all internationally renowned academics who excel in their fields. Their drive for excellence in teaching and research sets an inspiring example to students. Prof Chan added that IAS would boost the University's strengths, help foster innovation and technology development in Hong Kong, and work toward transforming Hong Kong into a global intellectual hub.
The Named Professors are: Prof Ching W Tang, IAS Bank of East Asia Professor Prof Tang, the Doris Johns Cherry Professor at the University of Rochester, is a Hong Kong-born world-class physical chemist. Prof Tang is hailed as the "Father of OLED", with his discovery of the "organic heterojunction" forming the basis for the successful development of OLED as a display technology. He is the first Chinese receipient of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and has received numerous awards including most recently the Eduard Rhein Foundation Technology Award. He is a fellow of the American Physcial Society and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He is collaborating with the Partner State Key Laboratory on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies to promote green displays technologies. Prof Sir Christopher A Pissarides, IAS Helmut and Anna Sohmen Professor-at-large Prof Pissarides, the Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Professor of European Studies at the University of Cyprus, is a Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences 2010. He specializes in the economics of unemployment, labor market theory, labor market policy, as well as growth and structural change. His book is a standard reference in the economics of unemployment. Prof Pissarides is currently the Chairman of the Council of National Economy of the Republic of Cyprus and was the President of the European Economic Association. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013. He will conduct advanced seminars and collaborative research at HKUST to foster academic exchange. Prof Gunther Uhlmann, IAS Si Yuan Professor Prof Uhlmann, Walker Family Endowed Professor in Mathematics at the University of Washington, is a world-leading mathematician on inverse problems and imaging, microlocal analysis and partial differential equations. His research has been applied to the fields of geophysics and medical imaging. He is also interested in cloaking and invisibility, and is one of the pioneers of the idea of transformation optics for the case of electrostatics. Prof Uhlmann has earned numerous awards and honors. He is a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and has been a Rothschild Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University. He has been awarded the Bôcher Memorial Prize by the American Mathematical Society and the Kleinman Prize by SIAM. Appointment for the TT & WF Chao Professorship will be announced later For media enquiries, please feel free to contact : Ella Au Yeung Tel: 2358 6306 Email: ellaauyeung@ust.hk
