Words from the Director
IAS Community
It gives me great pleasure to introduce this to you: IAS Newsletter, the showcase of
IAS’ newest interesting stories.
Since its establishment in 2006, the IAS team is committed to providing a
knowledge hub to nurture talents in the fundamental and applied research relevant
to the region’s socio-economic development. Over the years, IAS has organized
over 300 Distinguished Lectures and Joint School Lectures or Seminars, 30
Focused Programs and Workshops and 25 Nobel Lectures.
Over 30 top-notch Visiting Professors have been visiting IAS on a regular interval
to foster research development. We would love to share with you every piece of
interesting story behind: Why are we doing all these? What have we been doing
to make IAS a truly academic community for the advanced studies? How our
resources could be of assistance to academia’s growth? You are most welcome to
become part of the citizens in our community, and share the joy of knowledge
creation from within.
We hope to make this IAS newsletter a fun piece. In Knowledge Corner, we invite
our affiliates or fellows to share with general readers their most exciting frontiers of
research. The IAS Chatroom, as its name implies, features chats with our faculty,
visitors, or anyone who is affiliated with us. The other feature, the IAS Community,
showcases any news about us, be it the new website, our newly appointed Senior
Fellows, or the newly renovated discussion room. We are honored to have five
new Senior Fellows on board in January 2014 to help and liaise with HKUST
faculties from their respective research areas, in particular with the junior fellows.
Besides, a good overview of all academic events recently held could be found
under Event Highlights.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and staying connected with us.
Henry Tye
Director
HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
Chair Professor of Physics
IAS Lo Ka Chung Building:
An Ideal Platform
to Inspire, Aspire
and Soar
Charismatic Building Concept
The exterior design of Lo Ka Chung
Building is considered to be the most
iconic one in campus, having the
symbolic “I” and “A” as façade,
penetrating into the building. When
staying inside, you see yourself
surrounded by tilted walls. That
means you are in zone “A”. It is not
only the exterior that makes the
building standing out from others, but
the interior design also has its
charisma. The open atrium in the
center connecting five storeys symbol-
izes the cohesion of different users in
the building. The use of glasses all
over the building encourages interac-
tions among the researchers. It also
allows users to take advantage of their
physical location where panoramic sea
and campus views are inescapably
captured in everyone’s eyes. It has
also maximized the influx of daylight –
even on rainy days – as an effective
green measure to minimize electricity
consumption. The building is thus
certified as Provisional Gold Rating
(BEAM 4/04, an assessment method
by HK-BEAM Society), meaning that
indoor environmental quality and
amenities are up to “Very Good” level.
A Multi-functional Building
The five-storey emblematic building
houses a 200-seat lecture theater, an
open auditorium, three seminar rooms,
one conference room and approxi-
mately 100 offices. Serving people
from a wide spectrum of disciplines,
IAS needs to accommodate carefully
their different needs when designing
the use of the facilities. “We try every
effort to make this a dynamic place to
suit different needs,” said Katherine
Wong, IAS Senior Manager, “Glass
boards are installed on every floor to
enable research groups and scholars
to discuss anytime, anywhere. Sofas
and chairs can be found here and
there in the open space for we
embrace the importance in creating a
cozy ambience to foster face-to-face
interactions. Lecture theater and
seminar rooms are equipped with
modern facilities for effective and
professional presentations. As for the
lobby, it is spacious and versatile for a
variety of functions. So far we have
had academic poster sessions,
reception luncheons, music concerts,
inaugural cocktail events – you name
it,” she continued. “IAS is eagerly
expecting the arrival of a new neigh-
bor - the Conference Tower - by 2015.
This lodging facility shall further
facilitate visits of academic visitors in
the long run.”
Situated on the lofty hilltop, the new Lo Ka Chung Building in Lee Shau Kee Campus has
started its operation since June 2013. The building serves to further solidify HKUST’s role
as a research university and to facilitate the development of HKUST,and Hong Kong as a
whole, as a world renowned research center and regional education hub.
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Words from
The Director
MAY 2014
MAY 2014
