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Increasingly fast computers have given us an impression of great advancement in computing technologies. Yet, the computer has literally remained unchanged ever since its creation in the 40s to certain computer scientists. According to Prof. Yao Chi-Chih Andrew, the winner of the prestigious A.M. Turing Award (2000), an award that is widely regarded as the Nobel Prize of computing, although modern computers (or classical computers) have been doing their tasks with considerable improvement in speed, they still rely on basic binary logic as a basis of their computations as they have always been since their first conception. Theoretical computing, one of the specialties of Prof. Yao, is a discipline that tries to bring fundamental breakthrough to computing by studying the very foundations of computation. In time, it may bring us new computers that will completely redefine our notion of computing.

Established by Prof. Yao in 2007, the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science and Communications (ITCSC) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong is now organizing a Winter School (Jan 21 – Jan 25) for about 80 elite undergraduates from top Asian universities in the Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India. The lectures were delivered by Prof. Yao and other notable CUHK engineering professors, including Chair Professors Li Duan, Lee Tong, Xu Lei and Raymond Yeung. A world-class scholar Prof. Bruce Hajek from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had also been invited to give a lecture for the winter school.

The programme explored the wonders of theoretical computer science, a field that deals with the nature of computation. In more casual terms, theoretical computer science aims at determining what problems can be solved by computers and how fast computers can solve problems. The programme also studied relevant topics in theoretical communication and networking problems including information theory (theory governing the capacity of a communication channel) and cryptography (how to keep information confidential or authentic).

"The purpose of the Winter School is to enable students to grasp the 'possibility' in theoretical computing, such as quantum computers. If successfully developed, quantum computers would set off another scientific revolution. They can solve problems currently require billions of years of computing time. Most of the encryption methods now rely heavily on their complexity of computation, therefore whether they be banking transactions or military secrets, will be cracked by quantum computers easily," Prof. Yao added.

Prof. Chiu Dah-Ming, associate director of ITCSC said, “The School emphasizes on breadth. In a regular university’s course, students are given lectures by one professor on one topic while we have 18 professors giving one-hour lectures on different topics, allowing the students to sample many exciting topics from different perspectives and from different professors. It is more like a conference or workshop than a traditional course. It is quite a new experience especially for Asian students.”

"We are promoting world-class research in theoretical computer science and communications among young talents. We are glad to have successfully attracted elite undergraduates in the region to attend this event, including 32 students from Tsinghua University’s Special Pilot CS Class, who are financially supported by their University. It will be an eye-opening event for the students, and we expect that some of these young talents will eventually join us for their postgraduate studies," Prof. Cai Leizhen, associate director of ITCSC said.

Prof. Yao is an important presence in promoting research in theoretical computing. Having established The Institute for Theoretical Computer Science (ITCS) at Tsinghua University in 2004, Prof. Yao established The Institute of Theoretical Computer Science and Communications (ITCSC) at CUHK in July 2007. “Theoretical Computer Science belongs to the field of the Information Science, which is one of the five strategic areas invested by CUHK. With the presence of world top scholars and a strong research team here at CUHK, we can attract more scholars and outstanding students to CUHK and serve as a regional hub in the field,” said Prof. Yao.

The Winter School is the first key activity held by the Institute, and a series of academic conferences and seminars will be held in the near future.