CUHK
News Centre

The Department of Electronic Engineering of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) celebrated its 40^th anniversary recently. Officiating at the ceremony were Miss Janet Wong, Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, HKSAR Government; Dr. the Hon Samson W.H. Tam, alumnus of the Department of Electronics, CUHK and member of the Legislative Council (Information Technology); Dr. York Liao, Chairman of Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications; Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung, Vice-Chancellor, CUHK; and Prof. H.K. Tsang, Chairman, Department of Electronic Engineering, CUHK. Established in 1970 with Professor Sir Charles Kao, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2009, as the Founding Chairman, the Department has grown steadily, and has attained an international reputation for its excellence in research and teaching. 

With a dynamic and talented team, now comprising 23 professors, the Department has educated more than 3,000 engineers. In addition to providing high quality teaching, the Department has attained international excellence in both fundamental and applied research.  Today the Department is particularly strong in photonics, digital signal processing, biomedical engineering, wireless devices, electronic materials and nanotechnology, and integrated circuit design.  Research has flourished in the department particularly in the last 20 years. Its many high impact publications in the last decade has placed the Department amongst the top 100 in the world and the top in Hong Kong in some independent world rankings such as at http://www.highimpactuniversities.com.  More than $200 million competitive research funding has been awarded to the Department in the last twenty years. 

The Department strives to educate students to become global leaders in electronic engineering and instill in them the desire to pursue knowledge and to advance the state of the art in electronic engineering. Taking particular pride in the accomplishment of its alumni over the past decades, the Department of Electronic Engineering will accept the important challenges of the 21^st century. The Department is planning to strengthen teaching and research directed at the important problems of energy (both renewable energy and efficient energy utilization) and reducing the cost of healthcare for the ageing population. The new Biomedical Engineering Programme offered for the first time from this year, and the recruitment of new professors with expertise in biomedical engineering, organic electronics and solar cells are the result of this strategic focus. 

To mark the 40^th anniversary of the Department, a series of Distinguished Alumni Awards has been initiated this year. Eight of the many accomplished alumni of the Department received the awards this year.  They included (in alphabetical order of last name): 

– Dr. Cliff Chok-ki Chan, Founder and CEO, TeleEye Holdings Ltd.

– Mr. Raymond Yiu-wah Cheung, Chairman and CEO, Keybase Global (HK) Ltd.

– Dr. Cheung-wei Lam, Chief EMC Technologist, Apple

– Mr. Eric Lung Lam, Assistant Director (Support), Office of the Telecommunication Authority, HKSAR Government

– Mr. Wai-kwong Lee, CEO, ASM Pacific Technology Ltd.

– Dr. Samson Wai-ho Tam, Member of the Legislative Council (Information Technology), Founder and Chairman,Group Sense (International) Ltd.

– Ir. Ping-fai Wong, Assistant Director-General (Air Traffic Management), Civil Aviation Department (CAD), HKSAR Government

– Mr. Ricky Wai-kay Wong, Co-founder and Chairman, City Telecom (H.K.) Ltd.& Hong Kong Broadband Network Ltd.