HKUST 2008-2009 Annual Report
23
理學
School of Science
S
cience is a systematic inquiry aiming to provide a
fundamental understanding of the natural world. It
is amazing that as nature reveals its deepest secrets, it
displays astounding beauty. It is also incredible that what
the human mind perceives as beautiful finds its realization
in the outer world. Science expands imagination,
promotes societal development, and enriches life.
The School of Science offers an intellectually stimulating
environment to equip students with the methods
and tools of scientific inquiry, nurturing them to be
independent, critical and original thinkers.
The School of Science comprises five departments:
Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and
Physics; together, they enroll about one-quarter of the
University’s students.
In response to the needs of Hong Kong and consistent
with the special mission of HKUST, the departments
of the School emphasize scientific studies in areas of
technological importance.
Students and faculty of the school were bestowed various
honors. PhD student in biochemistry Mr Alan Siu Lun
Wong is the only student from Hong Kong to win the
prestigious Butterfield-Croucher Studentship during the
year. A chemistry post-graduate student, Mr Jianhua Zhou,
was awarded “The Fulbright Hong Kong Dissertation
Research Program — Dow-Fulbright Research Fellowship”
in 2008.
Our faculty members have made significant achievements
too. For instance, the State Food and Drug Administration
(SFDA) in China has approved a world-class life-saving
rapid test for heart attacks developed jointly by the
laboratory of Professor Reinhard Renneberg, Department
of Chemistry, and the Prince of Wales Hospital.
Prof Nancy Ip was showered with three high honors —
The Leader of the Year 2008 in the Research Category
by the Sing Tao News Corporation Limited, The
Asian Knowledge Leaders Award 2008 by the Asian
Knowledge Management Association, and Ho Leung
Ho Lee Foundation Prize for Scientific and Technological
Progress 2008.
Prof Qiman Shao of the Department of Mathematics
has been invited to give a keynote talk at the 2010
International Congress of Mathematics, which is held once
every four years and is the most important mathematics
event in the world.
