News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is committed to the research and construction of robots and autonomous systems, in order to provide primary and secondary school students a chance to participate in the making of robots, HKUST invited students from Primary 4 to Form 3, as well as those with special education needs (SEN), to join an underwater robot competition at HKUST. A team of female students and a team with SEN members won the champion and the first runner-up. HKUST Center for Global and Community Engagement, which co-organized the competition with School of Engineering, School of Business and Management, School of Science, School of Humanities and Social Science and Interdisciplinary Programs Office, recruited 27 student mentors to lead a 2-day workshop for 18 participating teams, teaching them basic skills in robot making.

Five undergraduate students from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering came second among 153 teams in the first and biggest national aircraft design competition organized by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

Fencing is a highly competitive and strategic sport which requires high level of agility, endurance and concentration. When ready for combat, the fencer has to get started with a defensive posture, keeping a clear mind on when to hold back and when to wield the foil to score. HKUST’s young fencer Kimberley Vanessa Cheung, a Year 3 student majored in Biomedical Engineering, won bronze for the Women’s Foil Team event in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, adding a kick to Hong Kong’s impressive medals table. Kimberley’s talent was first spotted in Primary 4; since then, she has reaped numerous awards for Hong Kong, and became a member of the Hong Kong Fencing Association. Currently, she ranks first among the young fencers under 20 in Hong Kong and second overall, marking another momentous milestone in her fencing career.

President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Prof Tony Chan led a delegation to the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual conference in Davos, Switzerland.  In Davos, HKUST was the only Asian university to conduct an IdeasLab, where four professors shared their insights with some of the world’s top minds and decision makers on how a seamless merging of virtual realities and our physical world could improve human life.  The other six universities were invited to hold IdeasLab at Winter Davos this year: Oxford, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon. Four of our senior faculty members spoke at the “HKUST IdeasLab” in the World Economic Forum 2015: 5G Disruptive Technologies and Ubiquitous Communications | Prof Khaled Ben Letaief  

HKUST Connect is a community engagement initiative that aims to raise civic awareness and develop sustainable partnerships with the wider community. Through participating in community services and programs, as well as service learning trips, students gain an opportunity to develop deep learning of issues about the world and contribute to those in need. Rita Law and Synix Sun have both taken part in service learning trips last year. The experiences have been insightful and transformational for them. “In June, I visited a local primary school with children from the ethnic minority of Yi living in the Mabian Yi Autonomous Region in the Southern Sichuan. I joined because I wanted to serve the children in the rural villages and help them find their dreams. I wanted to give them courage to keep chasing their dreams no matter what,” said Rita, a Year 3 student in the School of Humanities and Social Science.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) received donations from the Wong Chak Chui Charitable Foundation to boost its education and research development, and to set up the Wong Chak Chui International Enrichment Scholarship which supports financially needy students of the School of Business and Management to participate in overseas enrichment programs including international competitions, conferences and community projects. The Foundation also pledged its support to HKUST in hosting the 2016 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Hong Kong. In recognition of the Foundation’s generosity and support, the University named the lecture theater of the Lee Shau Kee Business Building after the late Mr Wong Chak Chui.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held its annual Long Service Award Presentation Ceremony, honoring faculty and staff members who reached 20 years of service at the University. HKUST established the Long Service Award to express appreciation and recognition to long-serving faculty and staff members whose hard work and dedication have contributed to the University’s rapid rise over the past 24 years. This year, HKUST presented awards to 163 members who joined the University in 1995. HKUST President Prof Tony F Chan, together with the vice-presidents, deans, heads and directors of departments and units attended the presentation ceremony. The awardees’ families and friends were also invited by the University to join the event and shared the joy at the celebration.

It turns out that light in the form of fluorescence has vital but hidden uses for the modern world. They make the invisible visible—including the detection of explosives in security screening, environmental monitoring, biological sensing and the detection and diagnosis in the spread of cancer cells. With high sensitivity, superb specificity and excellent stability, a new class of fluorogenic materials developed at HKUST with “aggregation-induced emission” characteristics have attracted worldwide attention from hospitals and biotech companies. How we commercialize these high-value-added materials is a matter of great urgency and importance. The sharing can now be viewed here.