pdf version - seng, hkust

Cultivating Wider Vision
Regional Driver
The School has contributed to strengthening ties between engineering institutions and industry,
scholars and business leaders during 2009-11.
Links with Asia
The School has been proactive in helping HKUST establish links between top technology
institutions within the region and participating in leadership conferences. In 2009, the Asian
Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education (ASPIRE) League was
formed. Members comprise HKUST, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nanyang
Technological University, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tsinghua University. The League plans
and promotes joint activities, including student and research exchanges, with particular emphasis
on sustainable development in Asia. HKUST is also a collaborating partner of the Asian Program for
Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL), established by the University of Tokyo. Engineering
students have also been involved in the conference Festival of Thinkers held in the United Arab
Emirates.
Greater China Collaboration
Fast Forward to the Future
HKUST co-organized the first IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium in June
2011. Organized by IEEE and co-organized together with Hong Kong Applied Science
and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), the major three-day international event
brought 200 corporate industry leaders, academics and other experts from around
the world to Hong Kong to discuss “Technologies Beyond 2020”. The theme covered a
number of potentially high impact emerging technologies, ranging from radio access
technology and biomedical sciences to organic electronic materials. There was also a
panel discussion focused on global R&D leadership. HKUST Dean of Engineering Prof
Khaled Ben Letaief served as General Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee.
The Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management brought 40 department
heads from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to HKUST in 2011 to promote the
development of industrial engineering and related areas in Greater China and to boost exchanges.
The 1st Forum for Council of Industrial Engineering Department Heads in Greater China saw
Prof Fugee Tsung, Head of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management at HKUST, elected
Founding President of the Council.
Wilson Tang Lecture
The contributions of Prof Wilson Tang, a leading
member of the School in its early years, were
recognized with the inauguration of a prestigious
international keynote lecture. Prof Tang, Head of Civil
Engineering at HKUST from 1996 to 2001, was a
founding researcher in geotechnical reliability and risk,
and his breakthroughs led to many fresh insights. The
Wilson Tang Lecture was inaugurated in 2009 at the
Second International Symposium on Geotechnical
Safety and Risk (ISGSR) and is hosted by GEOSNet.
Prof Tang passed away in early January 2012 at the age
of 68.
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