Newsletter No. 249

N am i n g and inauguration Ceremony of Newfacilities for Engineering Research T he naming ceremony o f the Wi l l i am M. W. Mong Engineering Building and the inauguration ceremony of the Shun Hing Institute o f Advanced Engineering took place on campus on 25th October. The engineering building i s named after Dr. Wi l l i am M.W. Mong, chairman and senior managing director o f the Shun Hing Group, in appreciation of his generous support over the last three decades o f the Un i v e r s i t y 's academic, research, an d technological development. Located o n central campus, the building has 13 storeys, w i th a total floor area o f 13,862 square metres. I t provides purpose-designed and state-of-the-art teaching an d laboratory facilities for the Departments of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering, Information Engineering, and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management. It is equipped with a multi-media lecture theatre with 243 seats. With the opening of this new building, the University will be able to develop teaching and research in engineering, especially in information and communication technologies. The Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering w i ll spearhead advanced engineering research, create synergy with world-class researchers, engage i n technology transfer, and promote appreciation o f engineering i n society through education programmes. Initially it s research w i l l b e focused o n two areas: biomedical engineering and multimedia technologies. Mr. David Mong, chairman of the Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund, w i ll chair the advisory board of the institute as its inaugural chairman. Board members includes Prof. Benjamin W. Wah from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Prof. Victor Zue from MIT, Dr. Harry Shum from Microsoft Research Asia, Prof. K i m Yongmin from the University of Washington, Prof. Nicholas Ayache from the French Research Institute o f Computer Science and Automatic Control, Prof. Jack C.Y. Cheng, pro-vice-chancellor o f the University, and Prof. Peter Yum, dean o f engineering. Prof. Ching Pak-chung, professor o f electronic engineering, i s the director o f the institute. Officiating guests o n 25th October included Dr. Wi l l i am M.W. Mong (centre), Mr. David Mong ( r i ght 2), Ms. Cheung Man-yee (left 3), vice-chairman o f the Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund, Prof. Lawrence J . Lau (right 3), vice-chancellor o f the University, Prof. Peter Yum (left 2), Prof. Benjamin W. Wah (left 7), an d Prof. Ching Pak-chung (right 1). T w o WEI LUN PUBLIC LECTURES T wo public lectures were delivered by Wei Lun Visiting Professors t o the University in the months of October and November: • Prof. Takeshi Oka, Robert A . Mi l l i kan Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department o f Chemistry, Department o f Astronomy an d Astrophysics, and th e Enrico Fermi Institute, University o f Chicago, delivered a public lecture a t the University on 28th October 2004. Besides students and staff o f the University, over a thousand secondary school students were present at the lecture. I t was held a t Sir Run Run Shaw Hall. The combination o f astronomy and chemistry may b e regarded as peculiar b y some, bu t i t i s not, according t o Prof. Oka. Astronomy, th e science o f stars, galaxies, and the universe, and chemistry, the science o f atoms, molecules, and matter, are interrelated i n two fundamental ways. I n the lecture entitled 'Astronomy and Chemistry', Prof. Oka explained how the two are interrelated and discussed the exciting ongoing developments i n this interdisciplinary field. • On 2nd November, Prof. Neil Bryan Oldridge, distinguished research scientist, College o f Health Sciences, University o f Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and visiting professor, School o f Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Indiana University, spoke o n 'Cost-effectiveness o f Cardiac Rehabilitation Using Patient an d Community Preferences: Does I t Matter?'. Th e lecture was held a t Shaw Auditorium, Postgraduate Education Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital. Coronary heart disease, especially heart attack, i s the second major cause of death and disability i n Hong Kong. I n his lecture, Prof. Oldridge discussed what the effects of illness and treatment of illness are from the patient's perspective, whether the trade-off between length o f life and quality o f life i s acceptable t o patients, and whether this changes over time. CUH KStudent sWi n Young Scientist Award a t Cell Biology Symposium T hree students from the Department o f Physiology, Zhou Chen X i , Zhu Hu, and Fok Kin Lam, won the Young Scientist Awa rd a t th e International Symposium on Ce ll B i o l o gy — From Basic Research to Clinical Application, held from 14th t o 16th October i n Chongqing. The competition targetted young scientists under the age o f 35. Their work was judged o n scientific impact and novelty, methodology, presentation, and response t o questions. The prize-winning posters presented b y the CUHK students were o n the functional elucidation o f novel genes i n the male reproductive tract. The symposium wa s th e fourth i n a series established i n 2000 b y th e Epithelial Cell Biology Research Centre, a joint collaboration between CUHK and the Academy o f Military Medical Sciences i n mainland China. (From left) Fok Kin Lam, Zhou Chen Xi, and Zhu Hu E-N EWSLETTER A BSTRACT Volume 1 No. 10 CUHK EMBA: 12th i n Global Ranking and Taking the Lead i n the Asia-Pacific The Executive MB A Programme o f Th e Chinese University received it s highest ever ranking from Financial Times since th e London-based business newspaper conducted its first EMBA ranking i n 2001. CUHK Hosts 2004 University Friendship Games The Chinese University hosted the University Friendship Games 2004 from 1s t t o 3r d November 2004. Th e competition is a triennial sporting event organized b y The Chinese University jointly with Peking University and Taiwan University. The event was inaugurated i n 1995 on CUHK campus. Thereafter the three universities took turns t o organize i t every three years t o promote friendship and cultural exchange. For details, please visit http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/enews/. 1 No. 249 19th November 2004