Newsletter No. 142

Council News New Vice-Chairman In accordance w i th Statute 11.7 of the University Ordinance, Mr. Raymond Kwok has been elected by the University Council as vice-chairman of the Council for two years from 2nd March 1999. Mr. Kwok was first elected as Council member in November 1994, and has contributed immensely to the University's financial management since becoming University treasurer and chairman of the Finance Committee in 1997. Mr. Kwok is also chairman of the University Tender Board, a member of the Campus Planning and Bu i l d i ng Committee, convener of the Committee on Donations, and a trustee of the University's Staff Superannuation Scheme and other foundation funds. Educated at the University of Cambridge and Harvard Business School, Mr. Kwok is vice-chairman and managing director of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited. Active in public service, he is a member of the Hong Kong Port Development Board and the Deposit-taking Companies Advisory Committee. New Treasurer Mr. Roger K.H. Luk has been appointed treasurer of the Council for two years from 2nd March 1999. A Council member since November 1997 and currently a member of the Terms of Service Committee, Mr. Luk has also been a council member of other local universities for many years and is f am i l i ar w i t h Hong Kong 's tertiary education scene. An early graduate of the Three-year M B A Programme o f the University, he has offered his services to CUHK through his capacities both as Council member and alumnus. An expert in finance, banking, and investment, Mr. Luk is currently managing director and deputy chief executive of Hang Seng Bank. Mr. Luk was once a Legislative Councillor and a member of the government's Central Policy Unit. FS Meets CUHK Community T he Honourable Donald Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, spoke to over 300 University students and staff on 5th March on the 1999-2000 budget. The event was organized by the Faculty of Business Administration and the Department of Economics. Before the forum Mr. Tsang engaged in discussion with 12 outstanding students of the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Business Administration as well as staff of the University. The f o r um was moderated by pro-vice- chancellor Prof. L iu Pak Wai. The panel speakers, Prof. Sung Yun Wing and Prof. Raymond Chiang shared their views on the budget, while Mr. Tsang answered questions from the students on the Cyberport, tax and public expenditure, restructuring of financial institutions, and introduction of mainland talent. Universit y Member s Honoure d • Prof. Arthur K.C. Li, vice-chancellor of the University, was recently made an honorary graduate of the University of Hull, UK, in recognition of his multifarious capabilities and contributions to the world. He was conferred the honorary degree of doctor of science by Prof. David N. Dilks, vice- chancellor of the University of Hull, at a ceremony held at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel on 25th February. In his citation, Prof. L i was lauded as 'one of the true international figures in surgery, a charismatic man of immense ability and leadership qualities... a polymath indeed, a Renaissance Man bom and bred in Hong Kong, a son of whom the Region can and should be proud, and whose contribution, far from being at its end, is only at the end of its beginning. ’ • Prof. Dennis S.C. Lam, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, was named Young Leader of the Year by the panel of judges for the Sing Tao/Hong Kong Standard 1998 Leader of the Year and Young Leader of the Year awards. Prof. Lam, 39, was selected from 40 nominations submitted by the public. Dr. Lam described himself as the 'front man' for a department that does all the important work. Website on Environmental Impact Assessment E nvironmental managers around the world are working hard to look for effective ways of predicting the environmental impact of human activities in order to minimize or mitigate it before it gets out of hand. However environmental issues are becoming more complex and methods o f assessment are rapidly evolving. Hence there is a pressing need for a platform for impact assessment professionals to exchange ideas. The University has recently become the host of a new bilingual website called EIA Gateway, which provides information on the latest developments in environmental impact assessment, state- of-the-art techniques in prediction methodology, and professional training, and functions as a discussion platform for environmental professionals. The website is the collaborative effort of the University's Centre for Environmental Studies, the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA), the South China Institute of En v i r o nme n t al Science o f the Na t i o n al Environmental Protection Agency, and a few key members of IAIA's local chapter. Officiating at the inauguration ceremony of the website, Ms. Rita Hamn, chief executive of I A I A ,remarked that the website would help build up the capacity of environmental assessment in China and the Asia Pacific region and put development on an environmentally sound and sustainable path. Prof. Lam Kin Che, director of the Centre for En v i r o nme n t al Studies and chair o f the Environmental Impacts Assessment Committee of the HKSAR, saw this as an opportunity to link up with the international community and to serve the region by making the centre a hub for environmental impact assessment studies and training. Also attending the inauguration ceremony was Mr. Elvis Au, assistant director of the Environmental Protection Department of the HKSAR. On another front, Hong Kong has beaten five other cities in hosting the Year 2000 Annual Conference of IAIA. Over 600 delegates from over 75 countries will come to the territory next year to attend this important occasion. Viol a Wins Awar d V iola, or Video-on-Lans, a project led by Prof. P.C. Wong and Mr. Raymond Chan, and developed by the Information Networking Laboratories (INL), has won an IT Excellence Award of Merit from the Hong Kong Computer Society. This is the third external award received by INL. Meantime two patents related to the technology have been filed in the US. Viola is a system that distributes full- motion, high quality video to client PCs on a local area network. It is a true video-on-demand system enabling clients to select and retrieve videos from the server. A l l client stations can play the same video or different videos. Each user has full control of the playback process. The award presentation ceremony took place on 1st March at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel. INL was recently reorganized and renamed CINTEC (Centre for Innovation and Technology). The Faculty of Engineering aims to make it an advanced applied R & D centre which will also serve as one of its interfaces with industry to serve the University. Prof. P.C. Wong (left 3, back row) and Mr. Raymond Chan (left 4, back row) at the award presentation ceremony

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