Newsletter No. 30

CUHK Newsletter No.30 May 1992 Hong Kong Telecom Foundation Supports Telecommunications Research T he University recently received HK$800,000 from the Hong Kong Telecom Foundation to conduct applied research in computer and telecommunications studies. The presentation ceremony was held on 15th April, and Prof. Charles K. Kao represented the University to receive the donation from Mr. John Tonroe, finance director of Hong Kong Telecom. Several major research programmes currently undertaken by the Faculty of Engineering wi ll benefit from the donation. The first is the development of a medical imaging network system for transmitting magnetic resonance imaging and computer tomographic scans between hospitals. The second is the development of a Chinese computing system for electronic data interchange. The system will be capable of not only intelligent processing of Chinese texts but also multi-lingual information processing. The third project is the production of state-of-the-art opto-electronic devices and systems locally for the telecommunications and electronics industry. The $800,000 is only the first part of a three-year grant pledged by the Hong Kong Telecom Foundation to support the research activities of the Faculty of Engineering. Other applied research programmes that w i ll be subsidized by the donation include the development of graphics databases, multimedia applications, software for sophisticated computer networks, and broadband communication networks. President of Royal Society Gives Talk at CUHK S ir Michael Atiyah, president of the Royal Society, visited the University on 25th April and gave a lecture on ‘The Dynamics of Soliton' at the Science Centre. A world-renowned mathematician and a Fields Medalist, Sir Michael is currently Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and director of the New Issac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Sir Michael recently led a Royal Society delegation to China and Hong Kong for academic exchange and his visit to the University was organized by the Department of Mathematics. Two Wei Lun Lectures P rofessor James Michael Holquist, professor of comparative literature and head of Department of Soviet and East European Studies at Yale University, gave two lectures on 15th and 23rd April as the University's Wei Lun Visiting Professor. In his first lecture, entitled ‘Nationalism and (Auto) Biography: Reflections on a Russian Doll', Prof. Holquist stressed the intimate relationship between individual experience and attempts to make sense of collective identities such as the national consciousness. The metaphor of the Russian stacking doll was introduced to demonstrate the assumption that stories that shape individual lives derive their coherence from collective stories. Prof. Holquist's second lecture entitled ‘From Cultural Studies to Cultural Criticism: Remembering Censorship' tried to evaluate the place of cultural studies within current debates in various countries about multi-culturalis The argument was directed against certain recent attempts to 2