Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1995

Research HK$68 m i l l i on f r om the RGC f o r CUHK Research Projects One h u n d r ed and t we l ve research proposals submitted by academic and research staff of the University have succeeded in obtaining earmarked grants totalling HK$53,344,000 from the Research Grants Council this year. Last year's figures were 91 projects and HK$49,947,000. The University also obtained an additional HK$14.9 million in the for m of a direct grant to finance small projects. The 112 CUHK proposals cover 10 different areas: administrative, business and social studies (13); arts and languages (4); biological sciences (9); computer science, information technology and mathematics (15); education (3); electrical and electronic engineering (8 )； mechanical engineering (1); medicine (43); physical sciences (14 )； and pure mathematics (2). CUHK Forges Ahead i n App l i ed Research Four projects by researchers at the University have wo n a total of HK$15 million in government funds under the Industry Department's Ad d i t i o n a l Funding for Industrial Suppor t Scheme 1995-96. The coordinators of the projects are Dr. Walter Ho ( b i o c h em i s t r y ), Dr. I r w i n K i ng (computer science & engineering), Dr. Cheung Kwok-wai (information engineering), and Dr. Paul But (biology). The projects, each of which lasts two to three years, include the application of new technologies for coronary heart disease diagnosis, quality control for Chinese medicines and health foods, electronic news media, and image retrieval computer system for the fashion industry. L a u n c h e d last year to e n h a n ce the competitiveness of local industries, the scheme s u p p o r t s p r o j e c ts e x p e c t ed to c o n t r i b u te significantly to Hong Kong's overall industrial and technological development. Croucher Foundat i on Sponsors Three Research Projects The Trustees of the Croucher Foundation recently pledged donations totalling HK$1,225,000 for three research projects l a u n c h ed by memb e rs of the University ： (1) HK$188,000 for 'A Novel Scheme of Wavelength- multiplexing Using Self-injection Locked Lasers' c o n d u c t e d by Dr. Chester C.T. Shu of the Department of Electronic Engineering ； (2) HK$ 8 0 0 , 0 00 f or ' I n t e r p l ay of Ma g n e t ic a nd Superconducting Properties of Oxide Multilayers' conducted by Dr. H.K. Wong of the Department of Physics ； (3) HK$237,000 for 'Role of Retinoic Acid on Limb De v e l o pme n t in Transgenic Mouse Embryos' c o n d u c t e d by Dr. K e n n e th K . H. Lee of the Department of Anatomy. Highlights o f Three Research Projects To generate more interest in the University's research activities, the Chinese University Bulletin continues to bring to readers highlights of research projects s u p p o r t ed by RGC earmarked grants. The Bulletin has wo r k ed closely w i th the principal investigators of three projects to explain their research objectives, procedures, and achievements in terms comprehensible to the lay person. The three reports can be found on pages 18 to 24. Research 16