IAS Newsletter - May 2014 - page 4-5

Positive Feedbacks
Since its operation in June 2013, there
were numerous scholars, students,
program participants, lecture attendees
as well as other faculty members and
colleagues who had personally visited
and used the building first-hand.
Some participants of the world’s
well-known Gordon Research
Conferences that took place in IAS last
summer spoke highly of the venue:
The proximity to the nature has also
been a hot topic among the staff and
students on campus. “I couldn’t
imagine how to make it to climb up
the hill every day before moving into
this new home. But it finally works out
well – what’s so bad if you can do
some
exercises and they’re not really that
heavy?” said Maggie Law, IAS staff,
who witnessed the transition from the
previous office to the present one.
“I enjoy very much the spectacular
view of the 5/F balcony. I went there
whenever I encounter any difficult
problems in my research,” said Hong
Fu, an MPhil student of Physics from
the Particle Theory and Cosmology
Research Group at HKUST, “I feel like
photosynthesized under the
sunshine,” He laughed.
IAS Visiting Professors Marvin Cohen
and Yuen-Ron Shen, both from the
University of California at Berkeley,
also enjoyed their last visits to IAS in
April. “We like working in this building
very much. We like seeing the big
birds flying freely outside our office – it
is just fabulous.” said Prof Cohen.
“This is a beautiful place with excellent
staff. I am sure that the institute will
have a promising future to attract
more talents and distinguished
scholars from all over the world,”
continued Prof Shen.
IAS is striving for excellence on its way
to the success of running the Hong
Kong’s first-of-its-kind Institute for
Advanced Study. With its strategic
mission to be a premier intellectual
center in Hong Kong, Asia and
beyond, IAS is deemed to be a legend
as one of the HKUST milestones.
Quick Facts
The IAS building capital project was kicked
off in 2009. It was funded by the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region Government and
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The
project was designed and carried out by Woods
Bagot and Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects
& Engineers (HK) Ltd respectively. It was built on
a slope in Lee Shau Kee Campus, together
with the Lee Shau Kee Business Building.
IAS moved to this new home in
mid-June 2013.
• “The lecture hall, break area, and
poster area were all the best
compared to all other meetings”
• “Beautiful location. New and state
of the art facility with nice office
space for afternoon work”
• “The facilities were modern and up
to date”
IAS is proud to announce five new Senior Fellows who
came on board in January 2014. Including these five
professors, there are in total 19 IAS Senior Fellows from
different disciplines.
IAS Senior Fellows are expected to help maintain a vibrant
scholarly atmosphere at HKUST and IAS, to lead frontier
research projects that echo the mission of IAS, and to
promote research interaction between IAS and academic
departments. They contribute to and participate in the
IAS activities as well as program running. They may also
act as mentors of IAS Postdoctoral Fellows.
Here are the five new IAS Senior Fellows and their sharing:
Guochen Jia
Chair Professor of Chemistry
It is a great honor for me to be
associated with IAS. It provides a
good opportunity for me to learn
from and to work with brilliant
scientists.
Xiaoping Wang
Chair Professor of Mathematics
I am honored to be an IAS Senior
Fellow. Through the IAS platform, I
hope to make contributions in
organizing IAS programs and
conferences, in promoting
interdisciplinary, collaborative
research between local and
international researchers.
Kei May Lau
Chair Professor of Electronic and
Computer Engineering
Since the establishment of IAS in
2008, I have introduced and
engaged a few eminent scholars,
namely Profs Evelyn Hu, Shuji
Nakamura, Thomas Kuech, and
Steven DenBaars, to IAS, as well as suggesting
many prominent top researchers to give IAS talks.
Prof Hu has initiated and is working with us on a
summer project collaborative program for Harvard
and HKUST students to work together. The other
three professors are working on an on-going
Theme-based Research Project with my group.
Furthermore, Prof Yablonovitch has participated in
our proposal application. My plan is to continue
such effort with IAS visiting professors in my
research area.
Tianshou Zhao
Chair Professor of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering
IAS engages the best and the
brightest of HKUST, bringing forth
a much-needed platform for
collaborative research that transcends
disciplines. As an energy researcher,
much of my work requires the
collaboration between scientists, intellectuals and
policy makers for this multidisciplinary subject. IAS
provides the perfect opportunities to establish these
important networks. It has been a great honor to be an
IAS Senior Fellow and I look forward to what the future
holds for this institution.
Jaideep Sengupta
Chinese Estates Professor of Business and
Chair Professor of Marketing
It is an honor to have been
appointed a Senior Fellow at the
IAS. I look forward to working with
colleagues in activities and
programs consistent with the goals
of the Institute -- for instance,
helping to conduct research workshops that attract
leading scholars to HKUST to engage in sustained
scholarly interaction with colleagues and doctoral
students. Such endeavors will, I hope, further enrich the
vibrant intellectual atmosphere of the University, and
enhance our reputation both locally and globally.
Senior Fellows are under the IAS fellowship program for
HKUST faculty members. It aims to build clusters of
research activities in IAS and new initiatives at HKUST; and
create an environment conducive to promoting
interdisciplinary research.
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IAS Senior Fellows
NEW
IAS Community
IAS Community
MAY 2014
MAY 2014
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