HKUST Annual Report 2016-17

No. 1 in Hong Kong, Times Higher Education & QS World University Rankings (Engineering and Technology) ” “ 45 POSTGRADUATE VISION National and international opportunities for the School’s postgraduates increased, with new arrangements including: a dual degree program for MPhil computer science and engineering students with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; a dual degree Master’s program with China Academy of Art and a research and internship collaboration with Fitipower Integrated Technology (Shenzhen) Inc; postgraduate exchange agreements with Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile and Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse, France; a Memorandum of Understanding with National Technical University of Athens, Greece; and a cooperation and exchange agreement with Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. The School drew the largest number of awardees for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme among all engineering schools in Hong Kong for the eighth consecutive year. Thirty-six engineering awardees will start their PhD studies at HKUST in Fall 2017. In further postgraduate research recognition, the fourth year of the Ford-HKUST Conservation and Environmental Research Grants program saw 21 MSc students awarded grants. INNOVATION AND CYBERSECURITY The School formed a research collaboration with Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute to leverage their mutual expertise in financial technology, big data, integrated circuit design and wireless communication. The agreement will see a Joint Lab set up. In addition, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering established a Cybersecurity Lab, the first laboratory at a Hong Kong university dedicated to all major issues of security. In November 2016, the first Security Forum marked the Lab’s launch. The School organized the first event of the new France-HKUST Innovation Hub, established by the University and Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau. The presentation featured Prof Laurent Boutillon, Scientific Director of Vinci Construction Grands Projets, who spoke on “Discovering Chernobyl’s New Sarcophagus”. Other highlights included hosting the annual Asia-Oceania Top University League on Engineering Conference and a three-day forum that brought together School faculty members and their counterparts at Peking University’s College of Engineering to explore collaborative research in materials, bioengineering, and aerospace engineering. EXCELLENCE IN ACTION An HKUST Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Java programming was named among the most popular courses on edX, one of the two leading international MOOC platforms. The course has drawn 250,000 enrolments worldwide since it was launched in 2014. It was ranked No.6 on the Top 10 Most Popular Courses ranking in 2016. The HKUST-MSRA Cup, jointly sponsored by HKUST and Microsoft Research Asia, took place in Fall 2016 to motivate undergraduate and postgraduate students in Hong Kong and Macau to apply artificial intelligence techniques and ideas to real-life problems. ENERGIZING YOUNG ENGINEERS To foster enthusiasm for engineering and an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age, the School held its first Technology Leadership and Entrepreneurship Youth Camp for junior high school students. The Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and IEEE Electron Devices Society organized the fifth Electronic Exploration Camp to interest school students between the ages of 10 to 15 in studying electronic engineering. In further outreach, the opening ceremony of the HKUST Academy for Bright Future Young Engineers took place in November 2016. The Academy, supported by Bright Future Charitable Foundation, gives HKUST engineering students opportunities to mentor and engage secondary school students in authentic engineering experiences and inspires them to embrace an engineer’s mindset. It currently has over 50 fellows and 350 members.