Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2003

Vice-Chancellor Elected VP of AUPC Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof. Amb r ose K i ng (left 5) was elected vice- president of the Association of University Presidents of China (AUPC) by the Council of AUPC at its meeting o n 19th October 2003. The other vice-president is Prof. Wang Shenghong of Fudan University (left 2); the n ew p r e s i d e nt is Prof. Gu B i n g l in of Tsinghua University (right 4). CUHK and Leading Mainland Institutions Join Forces to Research into Terahertz Technolog y The University signed a collaborative agreement on the research and development of terahertz t echno l ogy w i t h the U n i v e r s i ty of E l e c t r on ic Science a nd Technology of China, and the Electronic and Information Science Research Institute i n Shenzhen i n May 2003. The project was led by the C U HK Faculty of Engineering. The faculty members and researchers of the three i n s t i t u t i o ns w i l l c o n d u ct r esea r ch m a i n l y i n H o n g K o n g a nd Chengdu, w i t h system i n t e g r a t i on and po t en t i al p r o d u ct de v e l opment to take place i n Shenzhen. Terahertz waves are a f o rm of electromagnetic wave whose frequency spectrum is sandwiched between those of microwaves and optical waves. Terahertz radiation is harmless to many biological cells. This makes it very useful for identifying the fine details of or imaging human cells and organs, as well as studying DNA molecules. Terahertz waves can also penetrate many materials, thus providing a powerful advantage for certain remote sensing applications. Terahertz science and technology can make a significant i mpa ct on medicine, engineering, science, and i ndu s t ry i n the coming 20 years. CUHK CreatesWorld's Highest Resolution Virtual Human The U n i v e r s i ty has s u c c eeded i n ma k i ng 3D reconstruction and real-time v i s u a l i z a t i on of the w o r l d ' s h i ghe s t- r e s o l u t i on v i r t u a l h uma n. The breakthrough makes i t possible to achieve on PC p l a t f o rm a h i g h ly interactive photorealistic visualization of a v i r t ual h uman r e c o n s t r u c t ed f r om a g i g a n t ic d i g i t al h u m a n d a t a s e t. T h e se u l t r a - h i g h resolution d i g i t al h uman datasets a l l ow extremely fine anatomical details to be i n t e r a c t i v e l y v i s u a l i z e d i n t h r e e dimensions and can be w i de ly applied to anatomy education, surgical simulation, v i r t ual endoscopy, and all other human- related simulations. A virtual h uman is a three-dimensional h uman structure built by the computer. To ob t a in d i g i t al h uman data, a cadaver is dissected i n to ma ny v e r y t h i n layers. Scientists then take digital colour photos of the dissected layers. The data of each layer is compiled using advanced imaging technology to reconstruct a virtual h uman News in Brief 73