New Appointments
Professor Raymond Chan Hon-fu has been appointed as Chair Professor of Mathematics and concurrently as Dean of the College of Science. Professor Chan will join us on 16 January. He obtained his PhD degree in Applied Mathematics from New York University and is currently Li Choh-Ming Chair Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has won numerous awards, including the Leslie Fox Prize for Numerical Analysis, the Feng Kang Prize of Scientific Computing, the Morningside Award, and the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award.
Professor Jia Xiaohua has been appointed as Head of the Department of Computer Science (CS) with effect from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021. Professor Jia received his DSc in Information Science from the University of Tokyo. He is currently Chair Professor of Computer Science and Acting Head of CS.
Ms Kit Chow Kit-yi, currently the Director of Academic Personnel in the Office of the Provost, has been appointed as the new Director of Human Resources, effective from 1 March 2019. She will succeed Ms Helen Leung who will retire on 2 January 2019.
IAS Distinguished Lectures
Dr C. Mohan will give a talk titled “State of Public and Private Blockchains: Myths and Reality” on 11 January. Dr Mohan is IBM Fellow, IBM Almaden Research Center, USA, and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University, China. On 23 January, Professor David Milstein, Israel Matz Professor of Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, will deliver a talk titled “Design and Applications of Catalytic Reactions for Sustainable Synthesis and Energy”. For more information, please visit here.
CityU Distinguished Lecture
Professor Sunney Chan, George Grant Hoag Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, Emeritus at California Institute of Technology, will deliver his talk “Taming methane: Learning new chemistry from microbes” on 18 January. For more information, please visit here. On 28 January, Professor Ho Chih-ming, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, will present his lecture “AI Enabled Personalized Theranotics”. For details, click here.
President's Lecture Series
Neutron scattering is a powerful method for materials research and industrial development. Professor Wang Xunli applies neutron scattering to tackle challenging scientific issues in phase transformation and deformation. He is Head and Chair Professor of Department of Physics; Director of the CAS-Croucher Foundation Joint Laboratory on Neutron Scattering; and Director of the CAS-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory on Neutron Scattering Science and Technology. His talk “Raising the Bar - The Application and Social and Economic Impact of Neutron Scattering” takes place on 25 January. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. For more information, click here.
The Dialogue Series with Consuls General: Israel
At the upcoming “Dialogue with Consuls General” on 29 January, the Consul General of Israel in Hong Kong, Mrs Ahuva Spieler, will speak on the topic of “Globalization and Your Future” and share tips on exchanges, future studies and career development in Israel, once known as the land of milk and honey and now called the start-up nation. The Dialogue Series with Consuls General provides excellent opportunities for students and staff to exchange ideas, learn about the latest development of other countries, share an understanding of different cultures, and gain insights and inspirations from the speakers and guests from overseas.
Kudos
Three science and engineering undergraduates won the Bronze Medal in the 2018 ACM–ICPC Asia Xuzhou Regional Contest. They are Jin Shutong from the Department of Electronic Engineering and Wang Fangzhou and Zheng Leqian of the Department of Computer Science. The contest hosted by China University of Mining and Technology attracted over 275 teams from 169 universities in China. The contest showcases students' ability to write procedures, analyse and solve problems in teams.
Lu Jiachen and Zhang Jianchao, undergraduates in the Department of Mathematics, were awarded the Top Quartile Certificate in the Simon Marais Mathematics Competition 2018. This year 891 students located between New Zealand Standard Time and Indian Standard Time sat for the examination. The aim is to encourage creative mathematical problem-solving among undergraduates in the Asia-Pacific region and forge links between academics.