The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) School of Engineering (SENG) hosted the first Distinguished Research Excellence Award Keynote on 28 Nov (Monday) at Charles K. Kao Auditorium of the Hong Kong Science Park. The keynote was presented by Prof Hoi Sing Kwok, Dr William M W Mong Chair Professor of Nanotechnology of Electronic and Computer Engineering, the inaugural recipient of the 2011 School of Engineering Distinguished Research Excellence Award. The event was well-received by over 120 guests, industry partners, faculty members and students.

Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief, who welcomed the audience before the keynote, said “I take great pride in the achievements of our engineering faculty and believe the award will further enhance the School’s research competitiveness as well as drive the School to greater heights of achievements in research and education.”

President Prof Tony F Chan, who attended the Award Ceremony with Provost Professor Wei Shyy and Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies Professor Joseph Lee, also addressed the audience before the talk and said “I wish to congratulate the School of Engineering in launching this award. I hope this will start a tradition in the School, or maybe even at the University level. The award does not only recognize our faculty’s achievements, but also serves as a platform where other people, within the University or beyond, can have a chance to understand the world-class work being carried out at HKUST.”

In his keynote, titled “Future Directions of Display Technologies”, Prof Kwok discussed some of the state-of-the-art and new technologies being developed as an indication of the future to come. In particular, he introduced the activities being carried out at the Center for Display Research at HKUST, including energy saving LCD, alignment surfaces, AMOLED, and bistable displays. He sees greenness as an essential theme for future displays.

Prof Kwok obtained his PhD degree in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1978. He taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo for 13 years before joining HKUST in 1992. He works in the area of display technologies and thin film science where he has enjoyed major achievements over the past decades. He has over 600 referred publications and holds more than 60 patents, with another 30 under review. He is an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, and a Fellow and Vice President – Asia for the Society for Information Display.

The keynote was supported by the Electrical Division of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and The Institution of Engineering and Technology. A pre-keynote visit to the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) at Hong Kong Science Park was also arranged for students. Around 40 postgraduates and undergraduates from SENG visited ASTRI’s IC Design Lab, Bio-Medical Electronics Lab, among others.

To recognize the faculty’s devotion and outstanding achievements, the School of Engineering established three research excellence awards in 2011 – Distinguished Research Excellence Award, Research Excellence Award, and Young Investigator Research Award. The most prestigious one - Distinguished Research Excellence Award - honors a distinguished engineering faculty member with exceptional research achievements and significant impact locally and globally. The achievements should connect the cutting-edge researches with the industry and the community. Recipient of this award will be invited to deliver a public lecture, which is a distinction by itself. The three awards will be given on an annual basis. Awardees for 2011 were announced earlier this year.