pdf version - seng, hkust
pdf version - seng, hkust
pdf version - seng, hkust
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Inspiring Future Leaders<br />
18<br />
Overseas Research Awards<br />
for PhD Students<br />
The School encouraged doctoral students<br />
to gain a wider view of their field, and the<br />
world through participation in HKUST’s<br />
Overseas Research Awards for PhD<br />
Students. The scheme was launched in<br />
2006-07 by the Provost’s Office. Students<br />
chosen to participate can conduct research<br />
at leading universities overseas for two<br />
to six months, providing both cultural<br />
exposure and practical research experience.<br />
It is also an effective way to promote<br />
inter-institutional research collaboration.<br />
Institutions involved include MIT, Stanford,<br />
Yale, University of Sydney, Imperial College<br />
London, National University of Singapore<br />
and Technische Universität Darmstadt,<br />
Germany, among many others. In 2011-12,<br />
14 engineering students were selected by<br />
the School to participate in the scheme.<br />
PhD Research Excellence Awards<br />
To recognize the achievements of the School’s doctoral<br />
students and recent graduates, the School established<br />
the PhD Research Excellence Awards in 2011. The honors<br />
celebrate those who have made significant and influential<br />
contributions to their engineering discipline during PhD studies<br />
at HKUST. The first winners were Dr Weiping Wang, Chemical<br />
and Biomolecular Engineering, Dr Huanfeng Duan, Civil and<br />
Environmental Engineering, and Dr Yu Zhang, Computer<br />
Science and Engineering. Dr Yinshi Li, Mechanical Engineering,<br />
received an Honorable Mention.<br />
International Forums<br />
Postgraduate students also attended overseas conference and<br />
regionally organized activities. Annual events include workshops<br />
organized by the University of Tokyo’s Asian Program for<br />
Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL), and the Asian<br />
Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and<br />
Education (ASPIRE), which seeks to help to realize a sustainable<br />
world. HKUST is a collaborating partner and member of these<br />
two organizations respectively.<br />
In 2010, APIEL conducted a field exercise in the Greater<br />
Pearl River Delta to explore environmental sustainability and<br />
management in relation to trans-boundary and international<br />
cooperation, in collaboration with HKUST and Sun Yat-sen<br />
University in Guangzhou. In 2011, the ASPIRE workshop was<br />
held at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology<br />
(KAIST) focused on “Sustainability for the Globe: Energy and<br />
Environmental Issues”. Five students from the School of<br />
Engineering took part.<br />
Additional Support and Social<br />
Activities<br />
More activities were organized within the School to<br />
help postgraduates get to know peers outside their own<br />
research teams. To welcome students at the start of the<br />
new semester, the School organized its first Postgraduate<br />
Orientation in September 2011. The get-together enabled<br />
School management, faculty members and students to<br />
become acquainted. Around 100 research students attended<br />
the orientation. To encourage social interaction between<br />
students from different locations, the School started to<br />
organize activities outside the classroom. A barbecue<br />
was held in December 2011. Other activities, such as<br />
hiking, festival gatherings and cultural exchange, were also<br />
arranged.<br />
Future Development<br />
Further plans are being laid to boost postgraduates’ soft<br />
skills and career planning by building their communication<br />
capabilities, entrepreneurship opportunities and mentoring.<br />
Presentation and interpersonal skills are increasingly<br />
valuable for both future academics and those who go into<br />
industry in an era of highly competitive research funding and<br />
public participation, where engineers may need to engage<br />
support for their projects. Activities being looked at include<br />
workshops and forums to assist students to explain their<br />
work to people outside their specialty.<br />
In this way, together with the innovations of the current<br />
reporting period, the School seeks to set our postgraduate<br />
education apart, delivering a holistic experience that<br />
addresses not only excellence in research opportunities but<br />
students’ all-round skills and personal development needs.