New appointment
Professor Xi Ning has been appointed as Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and concurrently as Head of Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management. Professor Xi assumed duty on 3 January. He received his DSc degree in systems science and mathematics from Washington University in the US and was previously the John D. Ryder Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of Robotics and Automation Laboratory at Michigan State University. He has received a number of best paper awards and patents and was a recipient of the US National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Nano Engineering Award of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineering. Professor Xi is a Fellow of IEEE and currently the President of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council. His research interests include robotics, manufacturing automation, micro/nano manufacturing, nano sensors and devices, and intelligent control and systems.

SRIB opens
The opening ceremony for the City University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) Research Institute Building (SRIB) will take place on 20 January. Guests from CityU and the Shenzhen government will preside. SRIB will become a permanent base for the University's applied research, incubation and teaching activities on the mainland. It is one of several major capital projects aimed at developing the University into a world-class institution.

Advanced Institute launched
The opening ceremony for the Hong Kong Advanced Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Studies, which will be headed by Professor Gregory Lee, Chair Professor of Chinese and Transcultural Studies and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, will be held on 12 January.

To mark the occasion, there will be a poetry reading by Duo Duo, the 2010 winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the first Chinese author to win the accolade. In addition, three public lectures will be held on 13 and 14 January. Professor Pauline Stoltz, Senior Lecturer of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, Sweden, will give a talk on 13 January titled "Silent assumptions—assumptions on silence: fiction, non-decision making and the politics of memory". Dr Sharon Freeman, President of the All American Small Business Exporters Association, Lark-Horton Global Consulting, International Foundation for Trade and Investment Skills Development, will discuss Chinese-African relations at her talk titled "On China in Africa: lessons learned" on 14 January. Professor Bo Petersson, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, will address stereotypes of minorities in Swedish societal discourse in his talk on 14 January titled "Representations of socio-cultural risk: contemporary debates in Sweden".

President's Lecture Series
In the next President's Lecture Series, Professor Ron Hui Shu-yuen, Chair Professor of Electronic Engineering at CityU, will give a talk titled "Wireless power transfer—historical developments and modern applications". Professor Hui will trace the development of wireless power transfer and explain the basic principles, challenges, milestones and modern applications. He was recently elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and is the winner of the IEEE Rudolf Chope R&D Award and the IET Crompton Medal. His lecture will take place on 17 January.

Donation from construction industry
A cheque presentation ceremony was held on 4 January for a $400,000 donation from the Hong Kong Construction Association (HKCA) to the Department of Building and Construction and the Division of Building Science and Technology. The donation will be used to set up an entrance scholarship to encourage research. The aim is to advance construction technology and quality in Hong Kong. Professor Way Kuo, President, Professor Arthur Ellis, Provost, Professor Jian Lu, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, Ms Ada Leung Wing-yee, Associate Vice-President (Development), Professor Sritawat Kitipornchai, Head of the Department of Building and Construction, and Dr Paul Ho Hok-keung, Head of the Division of Building Science and Technology, received the cheque from Mr Conrad Wong Tin-cheung, JP, President, HKCA, and Mr Thomas Tse, Secretary General, HKCA, at the presentation ceremony.

Distinguished lecture
Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, Fellow of the British Academy, will give a talk titled "Humanity between gods and beasts? Ontologies in question" on 20 January as part of the City University Distinguished Lecture Series. The address will offer an interdisciplinary commentary on the debate concerning what makes humans human, with reference to ancient Greek and Chinese ideas as well as more recent anthropological proposals. Professor Lloyd has been based chiefly at Cambridge University during his career. He was Master of Darwin College from 1989 to 2000 and is currently Senior Scholar in Residence at the Needham Research Institute.

Emerging Technologies Forum
Smart grid technologies will be the focus of attention at the Emerging Technologies Forum on 27 January. In these forums, speakers from industry and research institutions are invited to talk about the latest government policies, technological trends, local and regional initiatives and product development strategies related to their sectors. Speakers from CityU will include Professor Ron Hui Shu-yuen, Chair Professor of Electronic Engineering, Dr Tsang Kim-fung, Associate Professor in the Department Electronic Engineering, and Dr Norman Tse Chung-fai, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Building Science and Technology. The talks will cover a range of issues, from smart metering in Hong Kong and practical issues in future smart grids to smart grid developments from a global perspective.

Structural engineering and construction conference
The Department of Building and Construction will host the 12th East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction (EASEC) from 26 to 28 January in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. EASEC, one of the key conferences in the field, looks at the current state of related research and addresses industrial developments and applications. Professor Sritawat Kitipornchai, Head of the Department of Building and Construction, will give the opening address.

City Literary Awards
The 6th City Literary Awards hosted by CityU is now open for entries. The aim is to encourage young people to participate in creative writing and promote the literary culture of Hong Kong and Macau. The theme is "Hong Kong Cityscape Embraced in Mountains and Seas". There are four categories: prose, short stories, poetry, and art and cultural criticism. All local and Macau residents aged between 15 and 24 are welcome to take part.

Art exhibition
An exhibition of over 50 oil and watercolor paintings by the British painter Professor Mike Knowles titled "Where the Light Lies" will run from 26 January to 13 February at the Run Run Shaw Library. Professor Knowles will attend the opening ceremony on 26 January. The organiser is the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

Chinese brushes exhibition
The Chinese Civilisation Centre is organising an exhibition titled "Everlasting Splendor of the Chinese Brushes: the Recent Works of Zhang Sen" at CityU Gallery from 13 January to 13 February. The officiating guests at the opening ceremony on 12 January will be Mr Zhang Sen, Mr Che Pengfei, Vice-President of the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, Mr Chan Mong-biu, Chairman of the Hong Kong Calligraphers Association, and Professor Cheng Pei-kai, Director of the Chinese Civilisation Centre.

Kudos
Mr Kengood Lo Kwok-chun, who graduated with a BSc (Hons) from the Department of Computer Science (CS) in 2010, was awarded the silver prize in the HKEIA Innovation and Technology Project Competition Award (2009/2010) for his final year project "Geographically Aware Walkie-Talkie for iPhones and iPod Touch". The competition was co-organised by the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association (HKIEA) and the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association Education Foundation. Mr Lo's project outperformed 28 others from undergraduates in electronic engineering or related engineering fields at universities in Hong Kong. Dr Duncan Wong Shek, Associate Professor in CS, helped to coach Mr Lo on his project.

Professor Robert Li Kwok-yiu, Associate Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, and his team members, including Professor Xue Xiaolin of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, were conferred a second-class award under the State Natural Science Award in recognition of their achievements in the field of composite structure, the injection moulding process and fracture behaviours of plastics.

Wang Huai, a PhD student from the Department of Electronic Engineering, won third prize in the 2010 IEEE Hong Kong Section (Postgraduate) Student Paper Contest. His winning paper is called "Single-step high-voltage high-efficient compact power converters for energy savings in modern public transport".

CityU's 2009–10 undergraduate advertising campaign won the bronze award in the print advertisement category of the 2010 International Galaxy Award. The Galaxy Award is sponsored by the International Academy of Communications Arts and Sciences/MerComm, Inc.