Newsletter No. 167

The Third in Three Consecutive Years Another Rhodes Scholar from CUHK A final-year sociology student at the University, Jade Lai Wing-yu, has been chosen as the Hong Kong Rhodes Scholar for the year 2000. Jade w i ll be leaving for the UK to start her studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree i n Eng l i sh Languages and Literature at Ox f o rd Un i ve r s i ty in October 2000. Jade has demonstrated herself to be a person of high intellectual ability, and has maintained an outstanding academic record throughout her university study. She enjoys interacting with people and has actively participated in social services. The selection committee found her to be a young woman of integrity with a mature and outgoing personality, and were most impressed by her command of English during the interviews for the award. The prestigious Rhodes Scholarships were established in 1902. Since 1985 one Hong Kong student has been honoured with the award each year. Jade is the third CUHK student to have won the award in three consecutive years since 1998, or the fourth CUHK awardee in five years since 1996. CUMBA TEAM WON INTERNATIONAL MARKETING COMPETITION A team of five students from the T h r e e - y e ar M B A ( E v e n i n g) P r og r amme were the sec t i on champion and the overall runners-up o f the M c G i l l I n t e r n a t i o n al Marketing E-Challenge ( M I ME) held f r om 29th February to 31st March 2000. On the team were Karen Chan, Thomas Tjong, Wong Siu- fung, Alex Yam, and John Yeung. M I M E is a g l obal on - l i ne marketing simulation competition hosted by the MBA Programme of McGi ll University in Montreal. A total of nine teams f r om i n t e r na t i onal corporations and academic institutes in America, Europe, and Asia were divided into two sections to compete against one another under computer-simulated market conditions in a game known as Markstrat 3. Du r i ng the five-week competition, the teams were required to compete in 10 rounds. The Chinese University team was the only team f r om Asia. The other participating teams were Johnson & Johnson Canada, the Stockholm School of Economi cs, Un i l ever Canada, M c G i l l University,InstitutoTechnologico Atomno de Mexico, the University of Chicago, the University of Victoria, and the University of Ottawa. The CUHK team was lauded for their remarkable ma r ke t i ng ab i l i ty and strategies. New Smartcard Technology Licensed to Industry A license agreement on biometric smartcard technology was concluded between the University and Coulomb Holdings Ltd. on 26th May. This marked the first technology transfer from university to industry under the sponsorship of the Information Technology Entrepreneur Programme (ITEP). Developed by an ITEP fellow Mr. John Ng and his supervisor Prof. Y.S. Moon at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the new technology provides a totally new and efficient solution to Internet business transactions, credit card payments, and identity verification. By combining two innovative technologies — smartcard and fingerprint verification technology, it makes real-time authentication of the i den t i ty of smartcard holders a r e a l i t y. W i t h t h is t e c hno l og y, e-commerce activities and identity verification processes will be conducted more smoothly and with greater security. ITEP is a joint effort of the government, industry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to provide entrepreneurial training for students receiving IT education at the three universities, encouraging them to turn innovative ideas i n to so l id p r o t o t ypes w i t h application potential and commercial value. The programme was launched last July, and the success of the biometric technology in attracting venture capital has proven its worth. ITEP fellow John Ng with his biometric smartcard More Support for Research Projects The following three research projects undertaken by staff members of the University have recently attracted funding support from different quarters locally: • Deve l opment of a L o c al D r u g Abuse T r ea tment Outcomes Measu re (HK$608,900) Sponsor. Beat Drugs Fund Principal investigator: Prof. Lee Tak-shing (Department of Psychiatry) • Quality of Life Measurements in Chinese Women with Urinary Incontinence: A Validation and Clinical Application Study (HK$102,000) Sponsor. Health Services Research Fund Principal investigator: Dr. Peter H.Y. Leung (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) • Developing Reliable and Valid Chinese Measure of Diabetes Empowerment Scale (HK$42,900) - Sponsor: Health Care and Promotion Fund Principal investigator: Prof. Ann Shiu Tak-ying (Department of Nursing) Linkage with EFEO Reinforced Prof. Jean-Pierre Drege, director of École Française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO) visited the University from 28th to 30th May to o f f i c i a te at the centennial conference of EFEO and to meet with faculty members to explore possibilities of further collaboration in the social sciences. Linkage between the University and EFEO began in 1994 and the focus of collaboration has been on Chinese regional history and local cultures. Since then a representative of EFEO has been resident at the Institute of Chinese Studies as honorary research fellow. Over the past few years, both institutions have agreed on deve l op i ng inter- disciplinary research projects that would extend to social science subjects. During his stay at the University, Prof. Drege visited the Universities Service Centre and the Department of Architecture, and met with Prof. Kenneth Chau, dean of social science, as well as teaching staff from the Departments of Architecture, Anthropology, and Sociology.