Distinguished mathematician returns
Professor Stephen Smale is rejoining CityU as University Distinguished Professor. Professor Smale is a Fields Medallist, a Wolf prize winner, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A world-renowned mathematician, Professor Smale served as Distinguished University Professor at CityU from 1995 to 2001. He is currently serving as Professor at the Toyota Technological Institute at the University of Chicago.

Electronic engineering honours
Department of Electronic Engineering students have claimed top honours at the Institution of Engineering and Technology Hong Kong Young Member Exhibition/Conference (YMEC2009), at which students and young professionals in the engineering and technology industry present their projects on a competitive basis. PhD student Xuan Kai earned the Best of the Best Award as well as the championship in the postgraduate section for his paper A Dual-band Low Noise Amplifier for Zigbee application. Xuan's supervisor was Dr Tsang Kim-fung, Associate Professor. Year 3 student, Ivan Kwong Wing-cheong, supervised by Dr Xue Quan, Associate Professor, took the runner-up award in the undergraduate section for his paper A Wideband Parallel-Strip Balun for Balanced Frequency Doubler.

PhD student Md Ashraful Amin, supervised by Chair Professor Yan Hong, recently received the SMC Student Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics (ICMLC) 2009 for his paper, Phase Congruency Based Retinal Vessel Segmentation. ICMLC is a leading international conference focused on machine learning and cybernetics.

New library branch
The Library has opened its Shatin Branch on the 21st floor of Grandtech Centre, 8 On Ping Street, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin. Since 2002 it has served as the Library Archive to house some less frequently used monographs, older formats of media and also print version of bound serials / journals that have electronic equivalents. University cardholders can now visit the Shatin Branch in person and utilise the free shuttle bus from campus.

Porcelain exhibition
The Chinese Civilisation Centre is hosting the “China Westward – Early Sino-Portuguese Trade of Chinese Ceramics” exhibition at the CityU Gallery from 24 July to 23 August. The exhibits date from the period before 1557 when the trade in Chinese porcelain took place at Shangchuan Island, the year the Portuguese were permitted to trade onshore. It also covers the period between the late 16th century and the early 17th century.