Newsletter No. 193

World Renowned Statistician VisitsCUHKasWei Lun Professor P rof. Stephen E. Fienberg, Maurice Falk University Professor of Statistics and Social Science and director of the Center for Automated Learning and Discovery, Carnegie Me l l on University, delivered a public lecture at the University in his capacity as Wei Lun Visiting Professor to the University. Entitled 'Automated Learning and Discovery: Glimpsing the Future Now', the lecture was delivered in L i Koon Chun Hall on 20th November. The lecture illustrated the exciting new developments at the interface of statistics and computer science that are being applied in diverse fields. These developments include estimation of the size of www, robotics localization and mapping, and new forms of sample survey data, such as full-body laser image scans, and visualizing US air traffic data. Prof. Fienberg presented his latest thoughts about data mining and knowledge discovery, and shared with the audience the future directions of data mining and their implications. Prof. Fienberg is a world renowned statistician who has published extensively on statistical methods for the analysis of categorical data, and on aspects of sample surveys and randomized experiments. He has received numerous honours, including the Presidents' Award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Wilks Memorial Medal of the American Statistical Association. He was recently elected to membership in the US National Academy of Sciences, an honour bestowed on fewer than 20 living statisticians. Distinguished Boron Chemist Visits United College P rof. M. Frederick Hawthorne, university professor o f chemistry, University o f California at Los Angeles, visited United College from 11th to 24th November as the college's first Distinguished Visiting Scholar in 2001-2. During his visit, Prof. Hawthorne delivered two public lectures on 13th and 20th November respectively. The lectures were entitled 'Roles of Boron Chemistry in Medicine' and 'Why I Chose Chemistry'. Prof. Hawthorne obtained his BA from Pomona College and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles. Throughout the years, P r o f. Haw t ho r ne has pub l i s hed approximately 500 research papers and nine book chapters, and currently holds 27 patents. He has received numerous international honours and prizes, including the American Chemical Society Award in Inorganic Chemistry, Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the US National Academy of Sciences Award on Boron Chemistry, Seaborg Medal, and the Basolo Medal. CUHK Establishes First Academic Research-based Centre to Enhance Organizational Effectiveness S electing the right personnel has become one of the most imperative tasks facing organizational leaders worldwide. In response to this trend, the Faculty of Business Administration and the Department of Psychology of the University have jointly established the first local academic- research-based Assessment and Training Centre (ATC) on the University campus. The centre will assist organizations in enhancing effectiveness and gaining competitive advantages through the development of human resource systems, management practices, and employee competencies. ATC's uniqueness lies in its transference of academic theories and research findings to the practical development of assessment and training programmes. Its assessment tools and training methods have been developed locally, supported by emp i r i cal evidence, and recognized internationally. It will conduct research on work behaviour and factors that affect job performance. It also designs state- of-the-art assessment and techniques, as well as develop indigenous assessment tools and training packages relevant to the cultures of Hong Kong, mainland China, and Southeast Asia. One such tool is the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory j o i n t ly developed by CUHK researchers and psychologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The centre is located in the Esther Lee Building and is equipped with a conference room, group discussion rooms, observation rooms with one-way mirrors, a computer-based assessment room, audio-visual recording and multimedia presentation facilities for behavioural assessment and training. It capitalizes on the expertise of staff from the two faculties that established it. ATC also held an open day on 10th November to introduce its facilities and research to the public. Thirteen Research Projects Receive Funding Support T hirteen research projects undertaken by staff members of the University have succeeded in attracting funding support from different quarters: Micrometallurgy in the Electroplated Bumps for Flip-chip Applications (HK$341,760) Sponsors: Innovation and Technology Fund and Shipley Asia Ltd. Principal investigator: Prof. Raymund Kwok (Department of Chemistry) Biotechnology and Crop improvement: Recent Development and Impactson Developing World (HK$450,000) Sponsor: The Croucher Foundation Principal investigator: Prof. Samuel Sun (Department of Biology) Step Beyond Limits: Learning Effective Multiple Intelligence (HK$86,000) Sponsor: Yaumatei Catholic Primary School (A.M.) with funding from the Quality Education Fund Principal investigator: Dr. Joseph Lau (Centre for Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Research) Cancer Drugs Active Against Signal Transduction Targets (HI<$443,048.96) Sponsor: Georgia Institute of Technology with funding from the NIH/ National Cancer Institute Principal investigator: Prof. Che Chun Tao (School of Chinese Medicine) Establishing the Validity and Reliability of the Chinese Versions of the Chronic Heart Failure Questionnaire and the Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey (HK$ 86,531) Sponsor: Health Services Research Fund Principal investigator: Ms. Doris S.F. Yu (Department o f Nursing) Epidemiological Study of Primary Nocturnal Enuresis (Bed- wetting) in Young Adults in Hong Kong (HK$208,278) Sponsor: Health Care and Promotion Fund Principal investigator: Prof. Yeung Chung Kwong (Department of Surgery) Sponsored by the France/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme 2001-2: Role of Vesicle Fusion and Protein Kinase G in Regulating Store-operated Calcium Influx (HK$21,500) Principal investigator: Prof. X i a o q i a ng Yao ( Depa r tment o f Physiology) Is Language Processing Cognitively Encapsulated? A Brain Imaging Analysis of Tonal and Non-tonal Languages (HK$29,800) Principal investigator: Prof. Trevor Penney (Department of Psychology) Numerical Methods for Solving the Singular Maxwell Equations (HK$31,250) Principal investigator: Prof. Jun Zou (Department o f Mathematics) Sponsored by the Germany/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme 2001-2: The Processing of Chinese Language from an Electrophysiological Perspective (HK$29,800) Principal investigator: Prof. Hsuan Chih Chen (Department of Psychology) Protein Sorting in the Plant Golgi (HK$30,000) Principal investigator: Prof. Liwen Jiang (Department of Biology) Study on the Expression of a G Patch Containing Protein (HSPC039) in Human and Animal Myocardial Tissues (HK$30,000) Principal investigator: Prof. Mary M.Y. Waye (Department of Biochemistry) Mechanisms of Arterial Smooth Muscle Relaxation by the Novel Calcium Antagonist Cilnidipine and Metabolites of Cytochrome P450 (HK$ 12,000) Principal investigator: Prof. Yu Huang (Department of Physiology)