香港
Institute for Advanced Study
HKUST 2008-2009 Annual Report
41
A
s a major initiative of the University’s 2005-2020
Strategic Plan, the Institute for Advanced Study
(IAS) at HKUST is dedicated to the advancement of
knowledge to meet the great challenges of the 21st
century. The Institute aims to bring together the most
brilliant minds to drive cutting-edge discovery and
scholarship.
The Institute’s goal is to be a premier intellectual center
and a platform for innovation and scientific development
in Hong Kong and the Greater China region.
Sponsorship
The IAS has succeeded in securing Government seed
funding and support for capital construction as well as
funding support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club. In
addition, substantial donations have been received from
or pledged by Bank of East Asia, Dr Helmut Sohmen and
Prof Anna Pao Sohmen, Ting Tsung & Wei Fong Global
Foundation, Si Yuan Foundation, Dr Larry Yung and Dr Tin
Ka Ping.
New Projects
The IAS champions collaborative projects across disciplines
and institutions in high-impact areas. Nine renowned
researchers are affiliated with the IAS to establish joint
laboratories and research groups. They include Sir Michael
Atiyah of the University of Edinburgh, Prof Robert Austin
of Princeton University, Prof Aaron Ciechanover of
Technion, Prof Roland Glowinski of University of Houston,
Prof Patrick Lee of MIT, Prof Shuji Nakamura of UC Santa
Barbara, Prof George Papanicolaou of Stanford, Prof Paul
Schimmel of the Scripps Institute, and Prof Yuen-Ron Shen
of UC Berkeley.
In January 2009, HKSAR Chief Executive Donald Tsang
and illustrious advisors and members of IAS joined hands
to plant trees at the Institute’s site to mark the opening of
the IAS Inaugural Symposium. Entitled “Mapping Frontiers
of Science”, it comprised over 20 lectures under five
categories — New Frontiers in Science, Science of New
Materials, New Frontiers in Life Science, Computation
Science, and Emerging Technology for Energy.