Home Search by - name - expertise The twenty-first century will bring forth a phenomenal transformation of the socio-economic structure of the mankind. We will witness the full Message from VPRD bloom of the knowledge-based society in which science and technology will be recognized as the engine of economic growth. Research and Research Report development will gain increased prominence among all human 2001-02 endeavors. Through research and development, knowledge will be Schools generated, disseminated and utilized to benefit society at a very fast pace Science Engineering previously unimagined. Business & Management Humanities & A research university is distinguished by the quality and accomplishment Social Science by its faculty, staff and students. It is also characterized by the leadership it demonstrates in bringing forth the fruits of research to impact the society. HKUST, since its inception in 1991, has strived to excel and to Departments Language Center attain world-class standing in its chosen fields of pursuit. Update Your Profile While the University has encouraged its members to pursue any field of intellectual curiosity and challenge, it has also focused on several specific fields to establish areas of core impact and excellence. These include: advanced materials and manufacturing, biotechnology, e-commerce, environment, executive education, infrastructure, IC electronic packaging design, internet and information technology, logistics, microelectronics and microsystems, molecular neuroscience, nano technology, social survey studies, South China research, traditional Chinese medicine, transportation, and wireless communication. This publication highlights the research activities of HKUST faculty members. It is the University's objective to engage in the forefront of global research as well as in areas of significant relevance to Hong Kong. We hope this publication will serve as a useful reference to benchmark our progress toward this goal. Professor Roland T Chin Vice-President for Research and Development The twenty-first century will bring forth a phenomenal transformation of the socio-economic structure of the mankind. We will witness the full bloom of the knowledge-based society in which science and technology will be recognized as the engine of economic growth. Research and development will gain increased prominence among all human endeavors. Through research and development, knowledge will be generated, disseminated and utilized to benefit society at a very fast pace previously unimagined. A research university is distinguished by the quality and accomplishment by its faculty, staff and students. It is also characterized by the leadership it demonstrates in bringing forth the fruits of research to impact the society. HKUST, since its inception in 1991, has strived to excel and to attain world-class standing in its chosen fields of pursuit. While the University has encouraged its members to pursue any field of intellectual curiosity and challenge, it has also focused on several specific fields to establish areas of core impact and excellence. These include: advanced materials and manufacturing, biotechnology, e-commerce, environment, executive education, infrastructure, IC electronic packaging design, internet and information technology, logistics, microelectronics and microsystems, molecular neuroscience, nano technology, social survey studies, South China research, traditional Chinese medicine, transportation, and wireless communication. This publication highlights the research activities of HKUST faculty members. It is the University's objective to engage in the forefront of global research as well as in areas of significant relevance to Hong Kong. We hope this publication will serve as a useful reference to benchmark our progress toward this goal. Professor Roland T Chin Vice-President for Research and Development ANNUAL REPORT ON RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 2001-02 to RESEARCH GRANTS COUNCIL RGC REPORT 1: OVERVIEW 1. YEAR IN REVIEW HKUST celebrated its tenth anniversary in October 2001. The University is entering its second decade with a firm foundation of research infrastructure and accomplishments and with a faculty that has established a reputation for excellence. HKUST is now firmly on the global map of research universities. At the same time, the University is building collaborative linkages with business and industry to make, as its ordinance requires, a substantial contribution to the economic and social development of Hong Kong and the region. Scholarship, research and its development and application are central to the mission of HKUST. The highlights that we present below cover the spectrum from the most basic research to commercialization and business development. They demonstrate that HKUST is building on its achievements as a world-class research university. Basic/ Fundamental Research & Scholarship HKUST researchers continue to make rich contributions at the forefront of basic research: • Prof. David Banfield (BIOL), Prof. Mingjie Zhang (BICH), Marco Tsui and Hidehito Tochio teamed up and discovered the structure and biological function of a protein that plays a central role in ensuring the normal operation of cells. Their findings were published in Science. • Prof. Ping Sheng (PHYS), in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manitoba, have observed ultrasonic tunneling through phononic crystals. This was the first time that the usually quantum mechanical phenomenon of tunneling has been seen in the classical realm of ultrasound. • Prof. Chun Liang (BICH) has identified a protein, called Noc3p, that plays an essential role in the initiation of DNA replication, thus opening a new line of research for such replication in normal and cancer cells. His findings have been published in Cell. • Prof. Nikolaus J Sucher (BIOL) and colleagues in BICH and CENG have introduced a novel method for the fast identification of genetic material utilizing a micro-DNA amplification and analysis device consisting of multiple PCR microreactors with integrated DNA microarrays. The device was fabricated in Si-technology and is being used for the genotyping of Chinese medicinal plants. • Prof. Donald C Chang’s lab (BIOL) has provided strong scientific evidence that greatly changes the understanding on the mechanisms of releasing apoptotic regulators from 1 mitochondria. Furthermore, they have developed a novel molecular probe based on the FRET (fluorescent resonance energy transfer) technique for assaying activation of specific caspase in a single living cell. • Prof. David Zweig and Dr. Siu-Fung Chung (SOSC) have found that democratic elections in rural China increase the legitimacy of government. Through statistical analysis of the views of over 1200 villagers in 60 villages in Anhui Province, they found that where candidates for village director were selected by the villagers and not by local political authorities, villagers participated more in various forms of political activities and were much more supportive of state policy Applied Research Examples of successful applied research are evident across most disciplines of the University : • Prof. Pengcheng Shi and Dr. Huafeng Lui (EEE) have established a stochastic finite element-based computational framework for the joint non-invasive estimation of cardiac material and kinematic properties from medical image sequences; the first in-vivo attempt in the world. • Foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious and economically devastating disease of cattle, swine and other cloven-hoofed niminants. Prof. Yong Xie (BIOL) and colleagues have constructed a new DNA vaccine encoding the swine IL-2 cDNA molecule, providing protection in swine from direct FMDV challenge. • A team of researchers led by Prof. David C C Lam and Prof. Pin Tong (MECH) have shown that the deformation behavior of materials in the nanoscale is vastly stiffer than the same material in the human scale because of a higher order phenomenon called strain gradient stiffening. The recognition of this higher order behavior revolutionizes scientific notions of how material behaves in the nanoscale, and opens up a bright window into the nanoscaled world. • Prof. W H Hui (MATH), in collaboration with researchers at the Zhejiang Institute of Hydraulics and Estuary, has created an accurate numerical method for predicting the world-famous tidal bores on the Qiantang River. • HKUST has successfully implemented the world’s first biaxial shaking table for modeling earthquake induced problems on its state-of-the-art geotechnical centrifuge. In addition, the world’s most advanced 4-axis robotic manipulator has proven to be very useful to simulate construction activities in-flight. The University has won the bid for hosting the International Conference on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics in 2006. • Valuing Technology : The New Science of Wealth in the Knowledge Economy by Prof. Chris Westland (ISMT), Wiley (2002) In this ambitious and original text, Chris Westland follows in the path of Aswath Damodaran, casting light on “The Dark Side of Valuation” of technology stocks. But where Damodaran stops short of addressing the fundamental issues of technology itself, the polymathic Westland - a scientist and consultant - cruises in with observations on Moore’s and Metcalfe’s laws, nanotechnology and optics, biotech and materials science. He attempts to formalize in crisp mathematics some of the “laws” of the microcosm and telecosm. And he 2 explores the many methods of pinning the butterflies of innovation in algorithms