Distinguished Lecture 

Professor David R. Clarke, Extended Tarr Family Professor of Materials, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, will give a talk on 17 March titled “Progress Towards High-Temperature Thermoelectric Materials for Electric Power Generation”. He will discuss the use of data mining to identify promising classes of materials, and the exploration of compounds that have a natural superlattice structure to produce a coarsening-resistant microstructure so that thermoelectric properties will not degrade over time. For details, click here.



New appointment

Professor Sia Choon Ling has been appointed as Head of Department of Information Systems from 1 March 2016 to 31 August 2019. Professor Sia obtained his PhD as well as his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer and Information Sciences from the National University of Singapore.  He joined CityU in 1998 and is currently serving as Professor in the Department of Information Systems. 



Wellness March 20th anniversary

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the annual programme series “Wellness March”. The programme has played an important role in promoting a healthy campus for the CityU community through a series of competitions, exhibitions, workshops, talks and physical activities.  Highlights this year include: “Exercise Is Medicine” On-campus Programme; Revitalisation Project of Hillside Trail; CityU Walk Contest Series; and BioBlitz@CityU. For more information, visit here.



New campaign for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Awareness

In support of CityU’s commitment to promoting equal opportunities among students with different abilities, specifically those with special educational needs, Student Development Services is organising a campaign for “Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Awareness” (IDEA). The opening ceremony for IDEA will be held on 21 March in the Purple Zone. The campaign, which lasts through to 24 March, will include sessions on visual impairment, sign language, dyslexia, art therapy, understanding physical disability, and much more. For more information, visit here.



Badminton & Table Tennis Tournaments

The highly popular Badminton & Table Tennis Tournaments jointly organised by Student Development Services (Physical Education Section) and the Staff Social Club has reached its 15th anniversary this year. There will be four categories in the badminton events: Individual: Singles & Doubles (Staff/Student/Alumni); Staff & Student; Family (Parent/Kid Doubles/Spouse Doubles); and Team (Staff only). There will be two categories in the table-tennis events:  Individual: Singles & Doubles (Staff/Student/Alumni); and Staff & Student.  The deadline for entry is 11 March and the final event will be held on 16 April. Visit here for more details.  



Animal Welfare Series

A photo exhibition featuring stories collected from the CityU community and the public about pet adoption has been organised by the Library and the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) to promote animal welfare. The exhibition will run until 31 March. In addition, following on from the talk on pet adoption on 23 February, a talk on animal welfare with particular reference to pets will be held on 15 March in the Library lobby. The speaker will be Dr Richard Brown, Associate Director (Professional Animal Programmes) of the SVM. 



Cross-strait Interpreting Contest: Hong Kong Cup

The Department of Linguistics and Translation will host the second Cross-strait Interpreting Contest: Hong Kong Cup (Hong Kong Regional Final) on 12 March. Open for all translation undergraduate and postgraduate students registered under local tertiary institutions, the contest is part of the 6th Cross-strait Interpreting Contest to be held in April 2016 in Taiwan where regional winners, including those from Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan and the UK, will compete for the champion’s title.



Kudos

Professor Li Qiusheng from the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering has been awarded the 2016 Jack E. Cermak Medal by the American Society of Civil Engineering. Professor Li is the first Chinese scholar in the Greater China region to receive this honour, which is the highest in the field of wind engineering and industrial aerodynamics. The award presentation ceremony will be held in the US in May.

Students Dai Peng, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE), Liu Jiacheng, Department of Computer Science, Liu Xinhong, Department of Electronic Engineering (EE), Wei Lin, Department of Media and Communication, and Wu Haotian, EE, won the Gold Award in the JOS Innovative IT Project Awards 2015–2016 for their project titled “QNO - A Mobile Solution to Queuing Problems”.

A team from CityU also won the Silver Award in the same competition. The winning students in that team were Lam Wah-shing, Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Lee Sylvia See-wai, Department of Linguistics and Translation, Leung Chiu-yee, ACE, He Danyun, Department of Management, and Revanth Banala Nithyanandam, EE. Their project was called “Self-Transformable Wheelchair from City University of Hong Kong”.

Organised by the Jardine One Solution (JOS), the contest encourages students in tertiary institutions to apply technology and innovation to deliver improvements in the retail, construction, utility and transport sectors.