News & Events

Following the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2019, the Physics Department is pleased to announce that the 2019 Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award is awarded to Bohan LI, and the Honorable Mention is awarded to King Chun WONG. The Paul and May Chu UG Research Award is the highest honor offered by the Department to recognize outstanding research in physics conducted by an undergraduate student.  Bohan LI, winner of 2019 Paul and May Chu UG Research Award 4th year Physics UG student “For the experimental demonstration of all-optical neural network and realization of optical Eratosthenes’ sieve,” under the supervision of Profs. Shengwang DU (HKUST) and Alex LVOVSKY (Oxford). Bohan LI has worked on experimental quantum optics under the supervision of Prof. Shengwang Du  since May 2017. He made a significant contribution to the realization of all-optical neural network with nonlinear activation functions [Optica 6, 1132 (2019); News Release of The Optical Society on 29/08/2019]. During his three-month summer research with Prof. Alex Lvovsky at University of Oxford, he demonstrated optical Eratosthenes’ sieve by contributing both essential ideas and hard instrumental work. King Chun WONG, Honorable Mention of 2019 Paul and May Chu UG Research Award 4th year Physics UG student “For the understanding of  influence spreading dynamics in complex networks,” under the supervision of Prof. Kwok Yip SZETO (HKUST). King Chun WONG has worked for three years on complex system dynamics under the supervision of Prof. Kwok Yip Szeto. His work on influence spreading dynamics in complex networks was published in the Proceeding of The International Conference on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence (DCAI 2019: Advances in Intelligence Systems and Computing, vol. 1003) and won the best paper award.   For details about the award, please check the HKUST Physics UG Scholarship website:http://www.phys.ust.hk/scholarship/ Congratulations to Bohan LI and King Chun WONG! Sincerely yours,   Prof. Penger TONG Head, Department of Physics The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology   Award Selection Panel: Profs. Jason Z.Y. YANG, Hyokeun PARK, and Bei ZENG Read more

Dear physics students,
 
If you ever wonder how the physics knowledge you learned can change the world, you may be interested in the new courses introduced in Fall 2019 under the collective title Contemporary Applications of Physics:
 
PHYS 4811 - Contemporary Applications of Physics: Machine Learning in Physics (1 unit)
PHYS 4812 - Contemporary Applications of Physics: Quantum Information Technology (1 unit)
PHYS 4813 - Contemporary Applications of Physics: Atmospheric Physics - Making Sense of Weather and Climate (1 unit)
 
These 1 unit courses share the same lecture-tutorial time slots but each runs for 4 weeks only in a sequential manner. They are mutually independent and you can take any one, two or three of them in the same term.
 
Course website link:
https://prog-crs.ust.hk/ugcourse/2019-20/PHYS Feel free to email or talk to the instructors if you have any question concerning these courses. Instructor contact information: PHYS 4811 – Fall 2019-20 Course Instructor: Prof. Tao LIU (Email: taoliu@ust.hk) PHYS 4812 – Fall 2019-20 Course Instructor: Prof. Gyu-Boong JO (Email: gbjo@ust.hk) PHYS 4813 – Fall 2019-20 Course Instructor: Dr. Sai Kit CHEUNG (Email: leoncheungsk@ust.hk) Thank you for your attention. Department of Physics, HKUST Read more

Congratulations to faculty members in the Department of Physics for important recognition of their research achievements (left to right). Prof. Xi Dai was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) upon nomination by the Division of Condensed Matter Physics. Prof. Dai was recognized by this prestigious Fellowship “for contribution in using ab initio calculations to pinpoint the material systems that realized quantum anomalous Hall effect, the Weyl Fermion, and 3D topological insulators.” The APS Fellowship Program was established to recognize members who have made exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise through outstanding research, leadership or service, or application of physics to science and technology. Each year, no more than 0.5% of the total APS membership is elected for Fellowship after a rigorous and competitive review process.  Prof. Ding Pan was the recipient of a Croucher Innovation Award in 2018. Established in 2012, the Croucher Innovation Awards aim to recognize a small number of exceptionally talented scientists working at an internationally competitive level at a formative stage in their careers. Support from the Croucher Foundation will enable Prof. Pan to undertake the project “First-principles studies of carbon in the deep Earth”. In this Project, he will develop and apply computational and numerical methods from first principles to seek answers to the urgent and fundamental scientific questions relevant to sustainable development, e.g., water science, deep carbon cycle, and clean energy. Prof. Ping Sheng was awarded the 2018 Rolf Landauer Medal by the International Associate for the Science of Electrical Transport and Optical Properties of Inhomogeneous Media (ETOPIM). The Landauer Medal is awarded once every 3 years for excellence in the field of composite science. Professor Sheng received the Medal “for his pioneering research contributions to the electrical transport and acoustic properties of inhomogeneous media that include the notable fluctuation-induced tunneling conduction mechanism and acoustic metamaterial.” Prof. Shengwang Du was elected Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA) “for pioneering contributions in photon-atom quantum interaction, including generation and manipulation of narrowband biphotons, observation of optical precursors, and realization of non-traditional quantum heat engines.” The OSA Fellowship Program was established to recognize those who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. The number of Fellows elected each year is limited to approximately 0.5% of the total OSA membership. Read more

Congratulations to Zhao Cong Chan, Yik Chuen San and Pok Man Tam (l-r) for being awarded 2018 Academic Achievement Medals. The Academic Achievement Medal is the highest academic honor bestowed by the University on outstanding undergraduate students upon graduation. The awarding of the Medal was established in 1994 to recognize graduates whose outstanding academic achievements bring honor and distinction both to themselves and to the University. Only the top 2-3% of graduates are awarded the Academic Achievement Medal annually. These awards were presented at the 26thUniversity Congregation on 15 November 2018. We are proud of all of our graduates, and are especially delighted in the achievements of the Academic Achievement Medal awardees.   Mr. Chan is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Big Data Technology at HKUST. Mr. San and Mr Tam are currently pursuing PhD degrees at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA and at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, respectively.  Read more