News & Stories

By Prof. Mansun Chan, Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, HKUST As the modern-day workplace evolves, it is clear that science, technology, engineering and mathematics will play increasingly larger roles, prompting the government to provide incentives to increase STEM education at schools. A one-off grant of HK$100,000 was provided to each primary school to support STEM education and activities in 2016, and HK$200,000 to each secondary school in 2017. In his latest budget, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po allocated HK$500 million to implement an IT Innovation Lab program in the next three school years; each subsidized secondary school will be granted HK$1 million to help students build an IT foundation.

By Prof. Anirban Mukhopadhyay, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies) of Business and Management, HKUST Distilled water manufacturer Watsons Water announced in January that it is installing 400 reverse water bottle recycling vending machines in town. People who put used bottles into the machines will receive coupons or gift redemptions. The purpose is to educate the public about reducing plastic waste, backed by greater financial incentives. Given Hong Kong's rapidly filling landfills, I am surprised people don't recycle more regularly. There is probably a mix of reasons for this, including a lack of awareness of the scope of the problem, the relatively low visibility of other people recycling, and, most importantly, the fact that it is still very inconvenient for most to recycle.

Prof. Rhea Liem, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering The "Made in China 2025" initiative - first announced in 2015 to close the gap between the Chinese and Western technological prowess - was not mentioned at the opening session of the National People's Congress this month. Critics say the omission was to appease Washington amid turbulent Sino-US trade negotiations. Politics aside, as the 2025 timeframe is about halfway through, are the goals - with one key focus being making its jetliners to take up to 20 percent of the global market - still achievable? A few months back, the C919 of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or Comac, landed safely in Shanghai, showcasing China's upgraded aircraft-manufacturing capabilities. Expected to commercially operate in 2021, C919 is a narrow-body twinjet airliner that is the equivalent of the Airbus 320 and the Boeing 737.

Prof. Jin Qi, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering & Decision Analytics Freshly announced in the budget three weeks ago, a new HK$10 billion stabilization fund has been earmarked to soothe Hong Kong’s manpower-starved public medical sector. While we welcome the initiative, we can’t help but wonder – if public hospitals are currently short-staffed and new blood requires training time – how we can cope with swamped outpatient clinics during future peak flu seasons? Media reports last month indicated that every public ward exceeded capacity, with some patients queuing for over eight hours to see a doctor. The inpatient bed occupancy rates of every hospital, aside from North Lantau and Tin Shui Wai hospitals, exceeded 100 percent almost on a daily basis. Scarce resources require carefully planned policies to ensure optimal bed allocation and quality services.

Prof. Jane Zhang, Assistant Professor, Division of Social Science As we all know, International Women's Day aims to raise awareness about the struggles of women the world over and to honor their achievements. While we are still fighting hard for equal pay for women and more female representation at executive levels, we often overlook the role that gender norms - standards and expectations to which women and men generally conform - play in obstructing women from realizing their potential. Instilled and internalized early in life, gender norms can establish expectations that limit what women can or should do. Experimental research has shown that women are less willing to compete than men, leading young women to choose less lucrative areas of specialization in school; women are also less likely to negotiate their job offers.

With the success of the “UNIfy: Skip the Straw” campaign last year, eight UGC-funded universities will launch a “UNIfy:BYO” campaign on March 11, 2019 to reduce disposable waste. The Campaign signifies the joint efforts of City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Education University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The University of Hong Kong to reduce disposable waste. This year, the BYO campaign is focused on the concept of “bring your own” where students and staff at all universities are encouraged to bring their own reusable items, whether it’s a bag, bottle or container, when purchasing food and other items on campus. The campaign hopes to reduce the use of disposable items and create a culture of using reusables across Hong Kong campuses.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today launched the “Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab” (SSC) – an initiative that transforms the campus into a testing ground for learning, experimenting, and advancing smart and innovative ideas to address real-life challenges.

The Presidents of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) exchanged insights for the first time in an open dialogue today, to explore the opportunities and challenges that technology bring to the humanitarian sector and how Asian youths can play a role in it.