IAS Newsletter, Fall 2020

Abstract

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Plugging into the Brain IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. John HARDY, Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London, tells us how memory loss could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, which can steal more than just our memory from us.

Special Feature

IAS Program on Chinese Creative Writing This special feature includes an article entitled “別人的傷痛” (The Sorrow of Others) by LO Yi-Chin (駱以軍), contemporary Chinese writer, and a brief recap of the talk “我的文學和思想之路：從香港出發” delivered by another Chinese writer, CHAN Koon-Chung (陳冠中), in the IAS Program on Chinese Creative Writing held last October.

IAS Scholars

The Flow of Life IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. Jason HO Tin-Lun, a theoretical physicist in condensed matter physics whose research covers the field of quantum fluids, quasi-crystals, quantum Hall effects, and quantum gases, shares with us his enthusiasm for research and outlook on life.

Dr. LIU Tong, IAS Junior Fellow Liu’s current research focuses on the environmental determinants of human capital with an interdisciplinary perspective from both economics and science.

Dr. ZHONG Siyang, IAS Junior Fellow Graduated from HKUST with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Zhong is interested in the fundamental studies of aeroacoustics, aerodynamics and their applications to the practical industrial problems.

IAS Community

IAS Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture YAN Lianke Recognized Prof. Yan received the 2021 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature in recognition for his “lifelong contributions to world letters”.

IAS Scholars Receive Funding from the HKSAR Government IAS Bank of East Asia Professor Ching W. TANG and IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. Paul SCHIMMEL have been awarded funding from the Innovation and Technology Commission.

Research Project Led by IAS TT & WF Chao Foundation Professor George SMOOT The first on-sky calibration test of the silicon photomultiplier detector and verification of the possible use of the SiPM as an ultra-fast astronomy detector was carried out last October.

IAS Senior Fellows Receive Prestigious Awards for their Contributions to Research IAS Senior Fellows who have made seminal contributions to scientific research have been recognized by international awards and academies.

IAS Senior Visiting Fellows Conferred Honorary Doctorates by HKUST Prof. John HARDY and Prof. Arup CHAKRABORTY, were conferred honorary doctorates by HKUST in recognition of their distinguished research achievements.

IAS Senior Visiting Fellows Elected Academicians of National Academies A few of the IAS Senior Visiting Fellows are among newly elected members of national academies.

Intellectual Hub

IAS Distinguished Lectures With a broad audience in mind, several Distinguished Lectures were held last fall to inspire students, stimulate new thinking, and encourage new research directions.

IAS Program on Chinese Creative Writing In collaboration with HKUST’s School of Humanities and Social Science and Division of Humanities, the program provides a platform for students and faculty to engage in face-to-face dialogues with world-renowned Chinese writers.

Intimacy of Creativity — Entering the Minds of Composers An online course taught by IAS Helmut & Anna Pao Sohmen Professor-at-Large Bright SHENG gives a new appreciation of music through selected works.

Other IAS Programs, Workshops and Events Highlights of activities held in 2019 and 2020 that featured in-depth discussions on specific research topics.

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Fall 2020 > Cover Story Q Matters Harnessing the Quantum Power in Flux

Over the past 10 years, we have seen people be consumed by the unstoppable hype of quantum and quantum computing, but only a few know that the exploitation of quantum phenomena, which was initiated in the 1950s, is not novel and has existed for 100 years. Quantum science, however, does seem esoteric because of the unsolved mysteries surrounding it. Even Albert EINSTEIN was once skeptical about quantum mechanics, particularly the physical properties of nature at the scale of atomic or subatomic particles or waves, stating that quantum entanglement was “spooky action at a distance.”1 Centuries have gone by and we have moved from mechanical to digital computation. Those who have been taught the basic concepts of quantum physics in high school-level science class may not even realize that we are already in the “second quantum revolution.” Some advances that we have taken for granted, such as global positioning systems, magnetic resonance imaging, semiconductors, transistors, nuclear power, and lasers, are actually the fruits of first-generation quantum-based technological developments. Many questions remain unanswered though. How soon will we enter the next stage of quantum revolution? What type of new quantum technology will occur? We don’t know the answers, but one thing is for sure, whatever technology emerges may become a game changer with far-reaching impacts in all fields, from artificial intelligence and communications to pharmaceutical development.

The Race is On Although the research on quantum science is mainly basic, this has recently become an area of worldwide interest with fierce competition. Quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum metrology, and quantum information science are some popular aspects of quantum science for which places such as Europe, the United States, and China have recognized the importance. They have invested strategically and heavily into exploring the potential uses and technical applications of quantum science from the perspectives of the economy, military, and national security. The Quantum Manifesto, released by the European Union in 2016, is a declaration that “calls upon Member States and the European Commission to launch an ambitious, long-term, flagship-scale initiative combining education, science, engineering, and entrepreneurship across Europe.”2 One of its goals, which has been extensively endorsed across Europe, is to expand scientific quantum research. The United States, as one of the top 10 countries leading the race of quantum computing technology, signed the National Quantum Initiative Act into law in 2018 and is rolling out a 10-year plan for advancing quantum information science and technology applications in the country. New initiatives partnered with universities and tech companies will introduce the principles of quantum information science to US students before they enter college. On the other side of the globe, China is also catching up. After launching the world’s first quantum communications satellite in 2016, the China National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences was established to strengthen the research on quantum information and metrology. It is difficult to say which country is taking the lead in this “quantum race,” but obviously, no one wants to lag behind. Quantum-ready vs. Quantum Reality Throughout the years, scientists have gleaned a better understanding of the untold possibilities of quantum science. While transformative scientific progress has been made, quantum systems have only been successful in a laboratory environment, due to their delicate nature and sensitivity to external interference. Prof. ZENG Bei, Professor of Physics at HKUST, is among those who understand that quantum reality cannot exist until the many scientific and technological challenges of quantum science are overcome. However, she is optimistic and indomitable.

“There have been enormous improvements in the past 20 years, and we may be one algorithm away,” said Zeng, who has devoted her research to the study of quantum information theory (QIT) during the past 20 years. She recalled what Prof. Peter SHOR once said, “There are no real hard problems in the world; we are simply not smart enough.” Shor is the Morss Professor of Applied Mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is well-known for inventing the Shor’s algorithm, a quantum algorithm that calculates the prime factors of a large number.3 By breaking many cryptosystems, this algorithm has driven considerable interest in the creation of quantum computers. As one of Shor’s PhD students at MIT, Zeng has been working closely with him on research projects related to quantum computing and QIT. She shared with us the theoretical and scientific developments in quantum science and provided us a glimpse of the challenges facing scientists today.

“There are a few postulates for the theory of quantum mechanics. First, the state of quantum mechanical system is completely specified by the most fundamental concept of quantum mechanics — wave function,” said Zeng. By wave function, Zeng refers to an equation that describes the behavior of particles. She added that the wave function of a system evolves in time according to the Schrödinger equation, which was introduced by Prof. Erwin SCHRÖDINGER, an Austrian physicist famous for a theoretical experiment involving a feline paradox. “It is a complex value, and everything you see is induced from it,” said Zeng.

Together with Professors Max PLANCK and Werner HEISENBERG, Schrödinger is called the father of quantum mechanics. In 1933, he shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Prof. Paul A. M. DIRAC, an English theoretical physicist, for “the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.”4

Zeng indicated another important postulate of the theory of quantum mechanics incorporated by Prof. John VON NEUMANN, one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, which states that the collapse of a wave function is formulated by measurement and its stimulation.

All these postulates, which were proposed more than 100 years ago, still provide a general framework of quantum mechanics that facilitates connection with real-world physical systems, such as quantum computing.

\\ “There have been enormous improvements in the past 20 years,

and we may be one algorithm away.”\\ Too Soon to Ditch the Classical Computers In 1965, Gordon MOORE, the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel Corporation, predicted that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double approximately every two years, meaning that the processor’s performance will be exponentially stronger. However, some people have recently commented that this famous Moore’s law is no longer applicable, as we fail to produce transistors with smaller sizes and more computing power. In other words, the transistor used in a digital computer is reaching its physical limitations in terms of the processing power. Zeng agreed, “It is true that the Moore’s Law can’t continue forever as the size of transistors is approaching as small as an atom.” This limitation has led to the development of quantum computing technology, which is regarded as the next frontier in computing and a possible solution to our quest for a larger storage capacity and more substantial computational power when handling considerable data. Quantum computing, which is based on quantum mechanics, was postulated by Prof. Richard FEYNMAN in 1981. Although he once said that “nobody understands quantum mechanics,” Feynman was one of the greatest physicists to conceive the possibility of quantum computers. Along with Professors Sin-Itiro TOMONAGA and Julian SCHWINGER, Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for “their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles.”5 Unlike classical binary computers, which are limited to either an on or off (i.e., one or zero) status, quantum computers run on quantum bits (or qubits), which are the basic units of quantum information. Qubits hold the probability of both 0 and 1 simultaneously, which enables exotic quantum phenomena that yield power, such as superposition and entanglement. Since 2010, some tech giants such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft have been pushing the boundaries of quantum mechanics to produce various quantum computers to achieve quantum supremacy — i.e., the performance of computational task considered impossible for classical computers — a term coined by Prof. John PRESKILL, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, in 2012. Yet, it is difficult to maintain the quantum states of qubits in superposition, which are free from the decoherence caused by a noisy environment, and to achieve a fault-tolerant status. “Google’s 53-qubit quantum computer is a big breakthrough but it can’t simulate. Though we have done something that a classical computer can’t do, the error correction does not work,” said Zeng. Recently, IonQ, a start-up based in the US state of Maryland, claimed that its newly launched 32-qubit quantum computer with “low-gate-error” is the most powerful ever and will soon be available on the market. Part of the scientific community remains cynical and hopes that IonQ will provide more research to back up their claims. Perhaps, it is still too soon to tell whether the quantum computer is a dream or a nightmare, a question asked by two French physicists 24 years ago.6 In 2017, in an article titled Quantum Computing in the NISQ Era and Beyond, Preskill again proposed a new term called noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ). He explained that “NISQ devices will be useful tools for exploring many-body quantum physics, and may have other useful applications, but the 100-qubit quantum computer will not change the world right away.”7 Many agreed with Preskill that progress on quantum computing is underway, making it possible for researchers and scientists to venture into certain new and short-term applications. “There have already been increasingly more theoretical discussions on the implications and utilities of imperfect, intermediate-scale quantum computers which are just barely beyond what we could efficiently simulate by nonquantum means. There is a fair chance that such devices will become reality in a few years’ time, and it is an interesting question to ask what they can — and cannot — do when compared to classical computers,” said Prof. Adrian PO Hoi-Chun, a condensed matter theorist who is particularly interested in research on materials science and QIT. He will join HKUST as an Assistant Professor in March 2021.

Quantum Materials for a New Science Another emerging field of quantum mechanics and computer science is quantum information science (QIS), an evolving interdisciplinary subject that spans multiple topics and covers fundamental areas of science and technology, such as physics, engineering, and computer science. QIS not only concerns the performance of information processing tasks, such as information transmission, but also aims to find methods for building fault-tolerant architectures for quantum computers by harnessing superposition and entanglement. To process and store quantum information under controlled quantum states, a quantum mechanical system that offers suitable materials and devices is required. In relation to his research, Po indicated that quantum materials, with their exotic physical properties, have been proposed as promising ingredients that can enable the next technological breakthroughs. However, these promises can only be delivered if the desirable properties of the materials can be demonstrated outside stringent conditions, such as labs. “It is important to expand the pool of quantum materials we know, as well as to identify the practical routes for optimizing the materials such that they can function under much more benign conditions. Part of my research is along this direction, which aims at devising more efficient means to predict candidate quantum materials with the desired properties,” said Po, who wants to develop theories that can explain and even predict material properties in which sextillions of quantum particles, such as electrons, interact strongly with each other. Then, the ultimate goal will be to convert his understanding into technological applications. Prof. Berthold JÄCK is another scholar who will become the HKUST faculty in early 2021. As an experimental scientist whose research focuses on quantum matter and microscopy, Jäck’s research on quantum materials has two main directions. The first direction includes a fundamental research component on new quantum materials and instrumentation development, which is useful for pushing the frontiers of knowledge on quantum matter and generating an outlook on the type of technology that might emerge out of these discoveries on a longer time scale of approximately twenty years. The second direction addresses more applicable topics, such as the physics of materials for applications in superconducting qubits. “At Princeton University, before joining HKUST, we made some very promising advances in terms of finding new materials that are better suited for their application in superconducting qubits and developing a better understanding of their intrinsic properties. Right now, we are just at the beginning of this type of research, and a lot of open questions and opportunities remain, including both the optimization of the existing material platforms that are typically based on elemental superconductors and the search for new compounds with, hopefully, much improved properties,” said Jäck. Jäck’s lab at HKUST will apply advanced microscopy techniques and develop quantum microscopy techniques to explore novel quantum phases of matter. He stated that quantum matter or quantum materials research is a dynamic research area that aims to discover novel materials for which the properties cannot be explained by classical physics. “These materials can entail novel types of superconductors, which can facilitate energy-efficient electronic devices, and topological materials with the potential to enable spintronic applications, where information is transmitted by tiny magnetic moments across nanoscopic wires. It turns out that many of these fascinating material properties arise from quantum phenomena occurring at very small length scales on the order of atoms, and suitable measurement methodologies will be required to shed light on these microscopic processes,” said Jäck. By using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) technology, an incredibly powerful technique to study quantum materials, Jäck and his research team will investigate and visualize various fundamental material properties, such as electronic and magnetic characteristics, with atomic-scale resolution. Jäck explained, “STM is an extremely useful technique to generate microscopic insights on the properties of quantum materials, which cannot be obtained through any other experimental means.” During his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Prof. Ali YAZDANI at Princeton University, Jäck and his team used STM to visualize the existence of a peculiar quantum particle, the so-called Majorana zero mode, on a novel quantum material platform that they developed. Jäck mentioned that this particle can revolutionize the field of quantum computing through its unique properties. A Myriad of Opportunities It does not take a rocket scientist to understand Einstein’s famous quote, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on every city and every country. Amid this difficult time, how are scientists preparing themselves for future technological developments? “I think the Coronavirus pandemic has generated fresh momentum for a digitalized presence and future, where more and more businesses and organizations are discovering and adopting its benefits. That entails the adoption of home office programs and online meetings and conferences as well as the integration of cloud storage and sharing plans into the workflow. I can imagine that the integration of quantum technology will complement these developments, and that, for example, quantum cryptography could be incredibly useful to guarantee private communication and data transfer channels between both professional and private actors in this increasingly digitalized world,” said Jäck. Looking forward, Jäck, as a scientist, understands that several important questions in quantum research regarding the development of quantum technological applications await solutions. He emphasized that these efforts will consume considerable time and money. On another front, as an educator, Jäck said that it is our responsibility to educate the necessary talent in the field of quantum technologies, as these individuals will drive the transformation to a quantum world and build the quantum companies of tomorrow. Po, who will collaborate with Jäck to carry out research headed by a diverse group of scholars at HKUST, echoed that researchers have been making steady progress toward the goal of converting findings into technological applications. This progress is particularly due to the development of an “entanglement-centric” description of a quantum many-body ground state in the past few decades. “Facing the experimental and technological challenges of quantum science, I’m optimistic that we are on the right track, and when the current ideas are developed further, we might one day be able to clear the road blocks and stand up to the challenges coming from our colleagues working on the experimental and technological frontiers,” said Po. He added that he looks forward to joining forces with the research groups of other condensed matter theorists at HKUST to better understand and predict the properties of exotic materials. “There are many strong experimental groups in the HKUST Physics Department who have been making many interesting discoveries in quantum materials. It would be exciting to collaborate with them to see how our perhaps abstract ideas could be realized,” said Po, who added “I would also love to learn more about QIT from Prof. Zeng. I think QIT is like the backbone of all other domains of quantum sciences. It provides the grounds which justify the development of other quantum sciences, and turning it around the other quantum sciences serves as the ports connecting QIT with the real world.” Zeng, whose research strives to bring us closer to the goal of reliable transmission and processing of quantum information, is trying to narrow the gap between theory and reality. From the theoretical viewpoint, Zeng is seeking to construct a broad theory for building a large class of quantum error-correcting codes. From the practical viewpoint, she is focused on the design of quantum error-correcting codes with properties that are suitable for high-rate quantum information transmission through practical physical channels, and reliable quantum computation with a high noise tolerance and low resource requirement. Apart from Zeng, scholars from a wide range of fields have been carrying out research on quantum science and technology at HKUST. The Center for Quantum Materials led by Prof. WANG Ning, Chair Professor of Physics, and Prof. Vic LAW Kam-Tuen, Dr. Tai-chin Lo Associate Professor of Science and Associate Professor of Physics, provides a platform for research groups to conduct theoretical and experimental research activities. On the other hand, the research group of Prof. Gyu-Boong JO, Associate Professor of Physics, utilizes atomic quantum simulators and explores the interface between atomic, molecular, and optical physics, as well as condensed matter and quantum information science. Jo also leads the Laboratory for Ultracold Quantum Gases at HKUST. Recently, IAS Senior Fellow Prof. DAI Xi, Chair Professor of Physics, whose research focuses on electronic structure studies of topological and strongly correlated materials, was awarded the 2019 James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials for “the theoretical prediction, design and realization of non-magnetic and magnetic topological semi-metals and new types of topological insulators.”8 The quantum age may not be around the corner, but with joint efforts from the greatest minds in different fields, our research on quantum science will pay dividends someday. 1.

Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2018-08-physicists-demystify-einstein-spooky-science.html 2.

Retrieved from https://qt.eu/app/uploads/2018/04/93056_Quantum-Manifesto_WEB.pdf 3.

Retrieved from https://news.mit.edu/2016/quantum-computer-end-encryption-schemes-0303 4.

Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1933/summary/ 5.

Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/feynman/facts/ 6.

S. Haroche, J. M. Raimond, “Quantum computing: dream or nightmare?” Physics Today, August 1996, p. 51 7.

Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.00862 8.

Retrieved from https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Dai&first_nm=Xi&year=2019

Prof. ZENG Bei 曾蓓 As a chess master at the age of 14, Zeng’s interest in pursuing a university degree was sparked by the defeat of the then World Chess Champion Garry KASPAROV by IBM’s supercomputer, “Deep Blue,” in a chess match in 1997. Zeng received her Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Mathematics and Master’s degree in Physics from Tsinghua University in 2002 and 2004, respectively. In 2009, She obtained her PhD in Physics from MIT and became a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo from 2009 to 2010. In 2010, she joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph, as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to the post of Professor in 2018. Zeng is now a Professor of Physics at HKUST, where she focuses on research related to quantum information, quantum computing, and quantum error correction.

Prof. Berthold JÄCK After graduating with distinction in Nanoscience from Würzburg University, Germany, Jäck obtained his PhD in Physics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland in 2015. He joined the Physics Department at Princeton University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation in 2016. As both a physicist and an entrepreneur, Jäck develops novel quantum materials for potential applications in fault-tolerant quantum computation. Jäck will join the HKUST Department of Physics as an Assistant Professor in January 2021 and focus on the research on quantum matter and microscopy in his lab at HKUST.

Prof. Adrian PO Hoi-Chun 傅凱駿 While growing up in Hong Kong, Po was a top scorer and achieved flying colors in public examinations in 2009. Although he received offers and scholarships from overseas universities, Po decided to pursue his studies in physics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After completing his Bachelor’s degree, Po began his doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked with Prof. Ashvin VISHWANATH, a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and fellowships. In 2016, Po moved to Harvard University together with Vishwanath and completed his PhD in 2018. He is currently a Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT and will be an Assistant Professor of Physics at HKUST starting from March 2021.

Fall 2020 > Research Excellence

Plugging into the Brain

We all have occasional lapses in memory. It can be as random as having a name on the tip of your tongue, but being unable to recall it, or as annoying as leaving the house without your cell phone! Many of us, particularly older adults, do not take occasional forgetfulness too seriously, as we often consider it a normal part of the aging process.

A report published in the journal Neuron by Prof. Paul FRANKLAND and Prof. Blake RICHARDS at the University of Toronto highlighted that forgetting things can actually make people smarter. They proposed that “only by combining persistence (remembering) and transience (forgetting) can individuals exhibit flexible behavior and generalize past events to new experiences.”1 In layman’s terms, it is similar to clearing the cache on a computer to enhance the system’s performance. However, if persistent memory loss hinders our ability to function normally in daily life, it can no longer be considered a virtue. In this case, the memory loss could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, which can steal more than just our memory from us.

Unraveling the Secret The term “Alzheimer’s disease” (AD) was first coined in 1910 after a German psychiatrist and neurologist, Dr. Alois ALZHEIMER, who observed shrunken nerve cells in a postmortem examination of his female patient, Auguste DETER, who was in her early 50s and suffering from memory loss and other psychological problems. It was revealed that the cerebral cortex in Deter’s brain was thinner than normal, and contained amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which are now considered hallmarks of this disease.2 This astonishing discovery by Alzheimer laid a solid foundation for future AD diagnostics and research.

Studies later confirmed that these amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are caused by a buildup of protein. Amyloid plaques are defined as “insoluble accumulations of beta amyloid proteins that clump together between the nerve cells (neurons),” while neurofibrillary tangles are “abnormal accumulations of a protein called tau that collect inside neurons, blocking the neuron’s transport system, which harms the synaptic communication between neurons.”3 Both amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles spread and increase in abundance as AD develops.

Despite significant progress in AD research, neurological illnesses such as AD and dementia have a history shrouded in cultural and societal taboo, and in many countries this is still the case.

The “World Alzheimer Report 2019 ― Attitudes to dementia” released by Alzheimer’s Disease International indicated that “35% of caregivers across the world said that they have hidden the diagnosis of dementia of a family member.”4 It is reported that approximately 50 million people worldwide have the disease, and nearly 10 million new cases are diagnosed every year.5 Many patients, particularly the elderly, denied having the disease and perceived it as a disgrace. As a result of this entrenched stigma, they concealed their illness and failed to seek medical and professional assistance. Often, the debilitating impact of gradual memory loss and cognitive impairment significantly affects the patients’ relationships with their partners and family members. AD patients are rarely willing to participate in clinical trials, but Carol JENNINGS is an exception.

The Mind Thief IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. John HARDY, Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London (UCL), gave an IAS Distinguished Lecture on “Genomics in Neurodegenerative Disease ― What Are We Up To” during his last visit to the IAS. He shared a video depicting Jennings, whose father and several aunts and uncles had developed AD in their 50s.6 In 1986, Jennings was on a mission to find out the reason, and approached AD researchers to request to take part in their clinical research voluntarily. Hardy, then a doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, received Jennings’s letter. At that time, neither Jennings nor Hardy knew that the courageous step Jennings took would become a pivotal moment in the history of AD research.

The critical breakthrough came in 1991. A rare form of AD, termed familial Alzheimer’s disease (familial AD), which had been affecting Jennings’s family for generations, was identified by Alison GOATE, formerly a junior researcher in Hardy’s team. In an interview, Hardy said, “when we found the mutations in amyloid in Carol’s family, we knew that is where the disease started.”6

Familial AD is caused by a faulty gene ― the “mind thief” affecting Jennings and her family members, which is inherited with a 50:50 chance of passing from generation to generation. It is also known as early-onset familial AD; in contrast to the more common late-onset AD, symptoms can appear in individuals in their mid-60s or even as early as their 30s or 40s. Caused by an inherited change in one of three genes, amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1 (PSEN1), and presenilin 2 (PSEN2), early-onset familial AD is rare and only accounts for 10% of AD cases.7

Sadly, Jennings also carries the APP gene mutation and is now suffering from moderately severe AD. She and her family have been advocates for those living with familial AD, promoting awareness of AD throughout the years. The contribution of Jennings’s steely commitment to the discovery of the genetic basis of AD is unquestionable and has transformed the research field.

In 2016, Hardy became the first ever UK scientist to receive the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in recognition of his pioneering research in neurodegeneration and the discovery of the APP mutations that cause early-onset AD. Hardy acknowledged the families, including Jennings’s, who volunteered to take part in the research studies, “Special people who took us into their hearts and into their homes. I truly hope we can repay you by curing your diseases.”8

Two years later, Hardy together with other international scientists was awarded the Brain Prize by the Lundbeck Foundation in Denmark for “groundbreaking research on the genetic and molecular basis of AD.” However, there is still far more work to be done.

Finding the Brain Band-Aid In recent years, researchers have gained a better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases like AD, Parkinson’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and a variety of therapies have been developed that can alleviate symptoms. Nevertheless, such neurodegenerative diseases are incurable and irreversible. Hardy and his team have been working on Parkinson’s disease and motor neuron disease with an increasing focus on the genetic analysis of complex traits related to these diseases. His research team is also interested in population genetics, studying how the risk variants for human traits differ in different racial groups. Hardy has been collaborating with the faculty at HKUST to identify and characterize the genetic risk factors for AD and Parkinson’s in the Chinese population and East Asians, respectively.

In 2019, thanks to the assistance of Hardy, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to establish the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Hong Kong Science Park. With funding support from Health@InnoHK, one of the research cluster programs focusing on health-related technologies under the government’s Innovation and Technology Commission, the Center is led by Prof. Nancy IP, Vice-President for Research and Development at HKUST, The Morningside Professor of Life Science, and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience. The Center will engage in advanced translational neuroscience research, aiming to gain new insights into disease pathways and drive translational research efforts to develop improved treatments and tools for early diagnosis.

As the population in many parts of the world ages, we are facing new challenges in tackling the increasing numbers of people with neurodegenerative diseases. It is a race against time for researchers. Combined with technological advancements in clinical trials and scientific research, there is a new sense of hope that in the not-too-distant future improved therapeutics will become available. Until then, adopting an active lifestyle and healthy diet may help to reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.

References

1. Blake A. Richards, Paul W. Frankland. The Persistence and Transience of Memory. Neuron, 2017

2. Retrieved from http://www.alz.co.uk/alois-alzheimer

3. Retrieved from http://www.brightfocus.org/alzheimers-disease/infographic/amyloid-plaques-and-neurofibrillary-tangles

4. Retrieved from https://www.alz.co.uk/research/WorldAlzheimerReport2019.pdf

5. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/health-topics/dementia

6. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/how-one-woman-transformed-alzheimers-research/p05wy4bw

7. Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-disease-genetics-fact-sheet

8. Retrieved from https://breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/2/L168

Prof. John HARDY Prof. Hardy is a world-renowned neuroscientist who is the most-cited AD researcher in the UK. He received his BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds in 1976 and his PhD in Neurochemistry from Imperial College London in 1981. He spent his early career at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Umeå University, and St Mary’s Hospital (which later merged with Imperial College London). Between 1989 and 2007, he worked in the US, taking up several senior positions at the University of South Florida, the Mayo Clinic in Florida, and the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. Since 2007, he has been Professor of Neuroscience at UCL and is currently the Head of the Department of Molecular Neuroscience and the Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology.

Prof. Hardy was elected a Member of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences in 2008, a Fellow of the UK Royal Society in 2009, of the Institute of Biology (now known as the UK Royal Society of Biology) in 2011, and of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2015. He was awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa by HKUST in 2020.

He has received numerous international awards including the Dan David Prize (2014), the Thudichum Medal (2015), the Hartwig Piepenbrock-DZNE Prize (2015), and the Helis Prize (2016). In recognition of his pioneering research in neurodegeneration, he was awarded the prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2016 and the Brain Prize in 2018.

Fall 2020 > Special Feature IAS Program on Chinese Creative Writing The program was launched in 2013 in collaboration with HKUST’s School of Humanities and Social Science and Division of Humanities. The program aims to provide a platform for students and faculty to engage in face-to-face dialogues with world-renowned Chinese writers and masters under the direction of IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. LIU Zaifu, a veteran literary critic and writer. Over the years, many internationally acclaimed scholars such as GAO Xingjian (高行健), Nobel Laureate in Literature 2000, and Prof. PAI Hsien-Yung (白先勇), award-winning Taiwanese scholar, have come to the IAS to explore the issues around and prospects for creative Chinese writing, thereby enriching the academic and intellectual communities at HKUST. Prof. YAN Lianke, IAS Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture, and Prof. Bright SHENG, IAS Helmut & Anna Pao Sohmen Professor-at-Large, are also among past speakers.

Regrettably, in fall 2019, several of the program’s talks were cancelled due to the social circumstances in Hong Kong. Although LO Yi-Chin (駱以軍), contemporary Chinese writer, was unable to present his talk in person, he sent us an article entitled “別人的傷痛” (The Sorrow of Others), a reflection on compassion, desperation, endurance and encouragement through the story of A Small, Good Thing by Raymond CARVER, the American short story writer and poet. This special feature also includes a brief recap of the talk “我的文學和思想之路：從香港出發” delivered last October by another Chinese writer, CHAN Koon-Chung (陳冠中).

別人的傷痛 雷蒙德 • 卡佛有一個短篇，叫《一件很小，很美的事》，故事大概是這樣的：一個叫安妮的年輕母親，到一間小麵包店訂了一個太空船蛋糕，跟師傅說下週一，她兒子生日那天會過來拿，留了電話。

然後敘述跳到星期一下午，那男孩放學回家路上，被一輛車撞了，一開始似乎沒事，但等他自己走回家時，突然癱倒在沙發上。 生日派對取消了，男孩住進了醫院，輕微腦震盪加上休克。

他的父母像雷蒙德 • 卡佛筆下常見的美國小鎮的男女，都有一種對生活本身的刨木屑般乾燥的，輕微的憂鬱、憤怒或茫然。 兒子一度昏睡不醒，他們當然都很著急，但醫生，以及醫院裡來來去去病床的護士、實習醫生，都告訴他們，這男孩沒問題，他只是處在一種「深度的睡眠」中。 當然他們還是非常焦慮，並不全信醫生說的。 而這陪院看顧的幾天，他們分別回家，餵家裡的狗、沖澡、睡一下，但回去的那個，會在空蕩蕩的屋子裡，接到一個陌生男人的電話。

一開始是那丈夫接到，對方說：「你們忘了那個蛋糕嗎？」 丈夫不知有這個蛋糕，不友善地掛斷了。之後安妮回家 (那時憂鬱更擴大了，因孩子沒醒過來的天數增加了) ，這次接到的電話，有點像希區柯克的電影，那頭的男人陰沉如地獄來的聲音：「你是不是把史考帝 (那個昏迷男孩的名字) 忘了？ 」 但掛斷電話。 以為是醫院打來，急撥去醫院，但她先生說什麼變化都沒有，孩子還在昏睡。 她哭著告訴他這通怪電話的事，而他先生安撫她那可能就是個酒鬼或神經病。 總之，等她再到醫院時，又過了一會，男孩突然醒來了，但接著在那短短一兩分鐘，兩眼緊閉，狂吼一聲，然後張開嘴，就那麼斷氣了。

之後醫生跟他們解釋，這男孩的現象叫「隱性腦阻塞」，出現的機率是百萬分之一。 這之後醫生安撫他們，並約定驗屍的手續。 小說到這裡，那個荒謬、人的脆弱，很有瑪律克斯的短篇《我只是來借個電話》、《你滴在雪地上的血痕》的味道。 這一對遭遇這不可思議之悲痛的夫妻，開車回到家後，又接到那通怪異電話。

「你的史考帝，我已經為你準備好了。 」男人說，「你忘記他了嗎？」

他們憤怒、驚恐、悲不能抑，這人又不斷打來，然後掛斷。 電話那邊的背景，似乎有一種機器的嗡嗡聲。這時安妮想起來了，是那個麵包師傅，她向他訂的那個生日蛋糕，他們開車到購物中心，那時已入夜，所有店鋪都打烊了，他們敲門，不斷敲門，那麵包師傅讓他們進去。這安妮簡直想殺了他。麵包師傅說，那個蛋糕已經放了幾天，過期了，可以以半價賣給她。他說別鬧事啊，我在這裡一天工作十六個小時，才能勉強過日子，他得回去幹活了。

這時安妮告訴他，「我兒子死了，星期一下午被車撞了。」他們罵那不斷打電話騷擾的麵包師傅：「你真無恥。」

這接下來的描寫，短短約一千字到小說結尾，真是我讀過最美的小說場面之一。

雷蒙德 • 卡佛寫著：

“麵包師傅把擀麵棍放回工作台。他解下圍裙，也把它拋到工作台上。他站了一分鐘，看著他們，眼神呆滯而痛楚。然後他從放著報紙、收據、計算機和電話簿的桌子底下，拉出一把椅子。 “請坐，” 他說。他又去前面帶了兩張鐵皮椅子回來。 “請坐下吧，兩位。”

他向他們道歉，“我只是一個做麵包的師傅。別無所求。好多年以前，那時候我是一個跟現在完全不同的人······我知道並不能用這些話做藉口來原諒我的所作所為。我太難過太抱歉了。我為你們的孩子感到難過，我為我自己夾在事件當中攪局的行為感到抱歉。”

“不知兩位是否能夠真心原諒我？”

小說寫道：麵包店裡很暖和，那一對原本悲憤無告的夫妻脫下大衣，麵包師傅倒了兩杯咖啡。 “我希望兩位願意嚐嚐我做的熱餐包。在這種時候，吃是一件很小，很美的事。” 然後他端上剛出爐的肉桂麵包，麵包上的糖衣還軟呼呼的。他把牛油和塗抹牛油的小刀放在桌上。小說寫道：“安妮突然間好餓，那餐包又熱又甜。她一連吃著三個。”

他們坐在那兒，聽那麵包師傅說他人生的孤單，他邁入中年時那疑惑徬徨的心情，他們頻頻點頭。他又拿了有糖蜜和五穀雜糧味道的香酥黑麵包，掰開給他們。結尾是這樣幾句：“他們不斷的聽他說，不斷努力的吃。他們把黑麵包吞了下肚。在日光燈底下，屋子裡亮得就像白晝。他們聊到了清晨，窗戶上已經透出灰白色的天光，他們還不想離開。”

對不起我抄引了這麼多小說的原文。但因為它的收尾，那將人世的恐怖哀傷托起的溫柔，知道這個溫柔是 “彼此都是被生命重創的脆弱人們”，在那氣味中，暗淡光影中，哀矜、疲憊讓嘴部咀嚼麵包，啜飲咖啡，那破了洞之後的 “很小，很美的事”，那個溫柔在讀完後，真是一陣熱氣從我鼻腔上鑽到眼眶。

我想說的是，我們從魯迅他們這些人之後，又走了一百年了，我們當然比他們接收了人類更寬廣的文明資產，更多的參照座標讓我們學習，但或許世界異化得更深刻，我們要與這一百多年來，不同歷史遭遇的人互相理解、同情，可能要具備的胸襟與教養，要走更艱難的路。而文學正是紀錄並思索，人類這些極難以個體經驗跨越的困境，對他者的共感。小說不只是故事的交換，更是“人類”這個詞，讓人熱淚盈眶，在大屠殺之後、在種族滅絕之後、在暴力和瘋狂之後，在無法逆轉的歷史冷酷異境之後，仍願意說情，願意相信古典或崇高的想望。魯迅當年說“救救孩子”，其實那些孩子長大後，有的確實延展了一百年前絕望前輩的文明夢，但有的卻做出更恐怖暴力的事。但這都是我們要被包裹在其中的，我們也許無法超出那規模與限制，想像出更宏大的解決方案，那不是我們缺乏想像力，而是經歷的時光還不夠長。但絕不要放棄思索，不要放棄溫暖與慈悲，不要放棄同情理解他人的苦難，然後願意從較長的時間軌跡去觀察人。如大江健三郎《換取的孩子》，如何將一整片白化症森林，被魔法困住，全是假的、維妙維肖的冰雕假嬰孩群中，將那個人類柔軟的嬰孩，真實的那個抱回來。這是我從二十世紀一些偉大小說裡，一直學習到的。

駱以軍

Lo Yi-Chin 駱以軍 Contemporary Chinese writer who was born and educated in Taiwan. Lo received his Master’s degree from the Graduate Institute of Drama at the Taipei National University of Arts. He has won numerous awards for his creative writing including the third Dream of the Red Chamber Award, Unitas Literature Circuit Camp Creative Writing Awards, the Fiction Award from the Taiwan College Youth Literary Awards, the Taipei Literary Annual Award and the 2009 Taiwan Literary Award. His published works include novels, short stories, poems, and proses, among them are Scarlet Letter Group (紅字團), Share a Fairy Tale with a Little Star (降生十二星座), The Third Dancer (第三個舞者), The Surname of the Moon (月球姓氏), Hotel Xixia (西夏旅館), My Little Boys (小兒子), Wife, Dream, Dog (妻夢狗), The Far (遠方), and Ming Dynasty (明朝).

The Story Behind the Stories of Chan Koon-Chung During last October’s IAS Program on Chinese Creative Writing, contemporary Chinese writer CHAN Koon-Chung (陳冠中) shared his passion for publishing and writing with the audience in a talk titled “我的文學和思想之路：從香港出發” (My Literary Journey Starting from Hong Kong), telling us how the ebb and flow of life made him the writer he is today.

Chan, who describes himself as a second generation Hongkonger, was raised in Shanghai and educated in an English school. He recalled what he read outside the classroom were some of the Chinese publications available at that time, such as Children’s Paradise (兒童樂園), The Chinese Student Weekly (中國學生周報), The 70s Bi-weekly (70年代雙周刊), and Ming Pao Monthly (明報月刊). Apart from reading, Chan, who was dazzled by the influence of the West and the New Wave (the French art film movement that emerged in the 50s and 60s), spent most of his adolescent years watching European movies at Studio One, a film club established by Westerners residing in Hong Kong.

Having lived in the British colony for over four decades, Chan recalled a few things that are still fresh in his mind. First and foremost is definitely The Beatles’ visit to Hong Kong in 1964 as part of their world tour. “My elder sisters watched the film A Hard Day’s Night (一夜狂歡) 10 times! They were like crazy,” Chan said with emphasis, making the audience laugh. Another incident that shocked the teenage Chan was the large-scale bloody 1967 riots that shook Hong Kong.

“The older generation always says that Hong Kong is a promised land and we should not ‘rock the boat’,” said Chan. In retrospect, he commented that the 1967 riots were in fact the turning point for Hong Kong, when the colonial government started to introduce different kinds of reforms, followed by a wave of social movements such as the Chinese Language Movement (中文運動) and the Anti-Corruption Campaign (「反貪污、捉葛柏」運動). All of these events left their mark on Chan, and it is understandable why he later co-founded Green Power, a local charity that promotes environmental education, and served as a board member of Greenpeace International.

Then came 1974, a year when Hong Kong stock market crashed which made Chan and many Hong Kong people realize that money could evaporate in an instant. This year also marked a milestone for Chan, who had just graduated from the University of Hong Kong. Unlike his classmates who joined big companies to earn big bucks, Chan chose another path — pursuing a Master’s degree in Journalism at Boston University. After returning to Hong Kong from Boston, he worked as a reporter for nine months for the English newspaper, The Star (星報), but deep down he had a dream.

“I wanted to have a publication for my generation. I was greatly influenced by The Real Paper and The Phoenix, the underground newspapers in Boston,” said Chan, who recalled how Western ideas and the counterculture of the 60s and 70s had shaped him.

\\ “Every Great City Deserves a City Magazine” \\

― printed in the first issue of City Magazine

Without Chan, there would be no City Magazine (號外) ― an alternative cultural, trendsetting monthly magazine founded by him and Peter DUNN (鄧小宇), his secondary classmate at Wah Yan College, Kowloon. It was 1976 when Chan was only 24 years old, a young startupper who had nothing but a few like-minded friends.

“We were lucky to have people who volunteered their time and talents,” said Chan. Among them were Henry WU (胡君毅), Joseph YAU (丘世文), John SHUM (岑建勳), and Tina LIU (劉天蘭). After a few ups and downs, it eventually took six years for City Magazine to generate a profit.

Anyone who happened to pick up a copy of City Magazine from a newsstand in the 80s or 90s would agree that it was one of the most avant-garde magazines in Hong Kong: it stood out from the crowd not only for its unusual size, but also for something else. Focused on lifestyle, quality of life and culture, City Magazine also featured articles on controversial and even provocative topics. At that time, reading it was like making the bold statement that “I am different.” Indeed, as Chan said, City Magazine was not designed to appeal to the masses, but to a small group of intellectual elites ― the middle class.

“In the 80s, we received lots of advertising revenue because the advertising agencies identified us as a ‘yuppie’ magazine. At that time, the yuppie culture was at its peak in the United States,” said Chan, who witnessed the economic growth and thrived. The city was at its best in this period. These were “the fat years” of Hong Kong.

Until 1999, Chan was the chief editor and publisher of City Magazine, and over the years he became involved in other media thanks to the rise of the Cantopop culture and booming movie industry. “The best DNA in Hong Kong’s culture was its films,” exclaimed Chan, who later became a screenwriter and producer for more than thirteen films including Hong Kong 1941 (等待黎明) and Eat a Bowl of Tea (一碗茶).

In 1992, Chan left Hong Kong for Beijing to invest in the cultural industry and then moved to Taipei in 1994 to work at a television station. Chan’s encounter with Taiwanese culture can be traced back to his college years when he was a frequent visitor to the upstairs bookstore in Tsim Sha Tsui, where he purchased counterfeit books originally written by Prof. PAI Hsien-yung (白先勇) and LI Ao (李敖) and published in Taiwan. “My literature foundation was built from there,” said Chan. Ironically, after his book Marxism and Literary Criticism (馬克思主義與文學批評) was published in 1981, it was counterfeited by a Taiwanese publisher in 1985 and became a top seller. In 1998, a year after the handover of Hong Kong, Chan’s Chinese novella named Nothing Has Happened (什麼都沒有發生) was officially published in Taiwan.

Chan continued to tell the audience how he settled in Beijing and started focusing on writing novels at the turn of the twenty-first century.

“When I first arrived, I could not comprehend the Chinese culture as there were too many hidden agendas,” said Chan, “But the new connections with local writers and scholars make it all worthwhile.” After nine years, Chan’s futuristic censored novel The Fat Years (盛世：中國2013年) was published but was banned in China. The novel, which has been translated into 13 languages, conveys a subtle message about the superpower, wealth and norms of contemporary Chinese society, leaving an underlying question for readers to ponder: “Between a good hell and a fake paradise, which one will people choose?”

Together with The Fat Years, two of Chan’s novels, The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver (裸命) and the award-winning The Second Year of Jianfeng — An Alternative History of New China (建豐二年: 新中國烏有史), are regarded as the “New China Trilogy.” In 2020, after living in Beijing for over 20 years, Chan published a new book Zero Point Beijing (北京零公里) which is about a teenager who was killed in the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown, depicting the history and the contemporary China with a magical twist.

At the end of his two-hour talk, Chan was asked when the best time is to start writing novel. He said humorously, “I started at 57 years old, so everyone can start writing anytime!”

CHAN Koon-Chung (陳冠中)

A renowned writer, publisher, screenwriter and film producer who graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree in 1974 and continued to study journalism at Boston University in the US. He has recently been conferred an Honorary University Fellowship by Hong Kong Baptist University. Chan is the founder of City Magazine (號外)and one of the five founders of the Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild. He also co-founded Green Power, an environmental group in Hong Kong, and served as a board member of Greenpeace International. Minjian International is a non-profit organization established by Chan to connect Chinese intellectuals with their counterparts in other countries. Currently living in Beijing, Chan is the author of many Chinese books including Nothing Has Happened (什麼都沒有發生), The Fat Years (盛世：中國2013年), The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver (祼命), The Second Year of Jianfeng — An Alternative History of New China (建豐二年: 新中國烏有史), and My Hong Kong Generation (我這一代香港人). His recent book is Zero Point Beijing (北京零公里).

Fall 2020 > IAS Scholars

The Flow of Life

Prof. Jason Tin-Lun HO, a theoretical physicist in condensed matter physics, has been associated with the IAS since 2011. As one of our IAS Senior Visiting Fellows, Ho comes to HKUST from time to time to share his latest research findings with faculty members and students by giving distinguished lectures and carrying out collaborative research projects. Often flashing his warm signature smile, Ho can easily strike up a friendly conversation with those around him. We took the opportunity to sit down with Ho during his recent visit to the IAS, to discuss his enthusiasm for research and outlook on life.

“I came from a humble background, and studying in the university had always been my dream.” Ho, modest as usual, added, “At that time, earning a degree could land you a better job and possibly help you claw your way to the top.”

Thanks to his interest in mathematics and physics, at which he excelled academically in secondary school, Ho was eventually accepted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to study physics. “These two subjects were like a game to me — based on a few rules to deduce a great variety of outcomes! I chose physics as a major because it describes phenomena that a person can directly observe.”

Ho expressed that he felt blessed to have brainy friends to hang out with at the university. “They introduced to me The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Prof. Richard FEYNMAN, which was beautifully written. It inspired me to carry out research in physics as a profession,” Ho recalled. Feynman’s widely read book is a manuscript of lectures that he gave at the California Institute of Technology. No physics student, teacher or scientist would be unfamiliar with Feynman, who shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Japanese physicist Prof. Sin-Itiro TOMONAGA and American theoretical physicist Prof. Julian SCHWINGER for “their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles.”1

After graduating from CUHK Chung Chi College in 1972, Ho could have stayed in Hong Kong and become a teacher, but he chose to continue his graduate education in the United States. “I love doing research, but there was no such opportunity in Hong Kong,” said Ho. When he arrived in Minnesota and began his first year of graduate school, things were not what he had imagined.

“I didn’t have friends!” said Ho with a hint of sadness creeping into his smile. Obviously, no one would expect a friendly and gregarious person like Ho to have encountered such a situation. After a year of struggling with social isolation, Ho pondered leaving, even though he attained excellent grades. His professor, who saw his potential, recommended Ho to another professor at Cornell University. Four months later, Ho was at Cornell, which proved a welcome breath of fresh air to him.

The Watershed Moment “Cornell was a place where I grew up professionally. Many outstanding students from all over the world came to Cornell during this exciting time of great discovery, when many experiments were carried out and research flourished,” said Ho, who remains very enthused about what happened more than 40 years ago. And he was right. A few years before his arrival, the superfluidity in helium-3 was discovered in the low-temperature laboratory at Cornell by Professors David M. LEE, Douglas D. OSHEROFF, and Robert C. RICHARDSON. Their work in low-temperature physics gained them a Nobel Prize. In 1982, another professor at Cornell, Prof. Kenneth G. WILSON, received the Nobel Prize in Physics for “his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions.” Indeed, to many young PhD students like Ho, the 70’s and 80’s were the golden age to test, trial and to make new discoveries in fundamental physics.

“The training at Cornell made me a better researcher,” said Ho. For him, the choice of becoming a theoretical physicist was obvious. “I like theories relevant to mathematics. It is the understanding of how nature works that really interested me. I don’t have any talent in experiments, and sitting in the lab would be too boring for me!” Deeply intrigued by physics, Ho was also greatly inspired by his thesis advisor, Prof. David MERMIN, Horace White Professor of Physics Emeritus at Cornell, a solid-state physicist best known for the eponymous Mermin–Wagner theorem.

“Mermin is such an original and deep thinker who has a unique way of teaching — he shows you what he did, which was incredibly original, and sees if you can make further progress by thinking outside the box. If not for him, I would not have ended up in physics. He was very patient with me,” said Ho graciously, also recalling that Mermin is famous for his writing.

To many science students, mastering the skill of academic writing is already daunting, even before the challenge of putting complicated scientific concepts into words. That is why Ho admired Mermin for being a prominent solid-state physicist and at the same time a highly articulate science writer who has published seven books and voluminous academic papers. As American physicist Peter FRANKEN said in Physics Today, “David Mermin is one of those rather rare scientists who can write with cleverness and style.”2

A Soul-Stirring Mission Ho, who has taught at Ohio State University (OSU) for 37 years, is now a Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in the Department of Physics there. The pinnacle of his research career occurred when he was awarded the Lars Onsager Prize of American Physical Society in 2008 for “his contributions to quantum liquids and dilute quantum gases, both multi-component and rapidly rotating, and for his leadership in unifying condensed matter and atomic physics research in this area.”3 Even now, the two things that lie firmly at the heart of this theoretical physicist remain research and teaching.

“I love the beach. Doing research is like strolling along the beach. Every now and then you, as a researcher, seem to find something. Whenever I have new discoveries or see a different aspect of things that I have proposed, I am thrilled. It is hard to explain the emotion, but many scientists would agree with me that the journey of discovery is more memorable than the results themselves,” said Ho.

Ho, as an internationally recognized scholar whose work focuses on condensed matter theory and ultra-cold quantum gases, has always been interested in the so-called macroscopic quantum phenomena, in the relation between geometry and physics.

“Simply put, I study materials in which the mysterious quantum processes of the atomic world are magnified to a macroscopic level. As many quantum processes do not generate heat, their magnification can lead to great savings in energy and useful applications,” Ho added, “and there are in fact many practical applications of physics. That’s why I want to understand the laws of nature. There are also many questions within our field that I want to answer, such as how to realize a room-temperature superconductor, how to control individual quasi-particles [localized excitations] in quantum Hall systems efficiently so they can be used to build quantum gates [the hardware of a quantum computer], how to simulate dynamic gauge fields, the simulating processes in high energy physics with cold atoms…the list can go on.”

Ho, obviously infatuated with research more than ever, hopes that his efforts can help eventually advance a few frontiers. Currently, he is trying to finish a paper on recent topics related to quantum simulation of the Hubbard model, non-abelian exchange of particles, and quantum gases in inflating manifolds.

Always sparking with passion for science and life, Ho said, “Science is a discipline in which people can use their rational thinking — the best gift from God — to understand the work of the physical world. The process of understanding the concepts of physics and science allows us to advance the quality of our material and spiritual life.”

In addition to research, Ho also wants to pass his overflowing passion for physics on to the next generation. He picked up the task of teaching undergraduate students again in 2018 and enjoyed it tremendously.

“I last taught undergraduate courses 10 years ago. In the past, I mainly taught postgraduate students because their course work is research-oriented. To me, it was like training up a group of specialized technicians.” When Ho was a Member of the Academic Committee of Institute for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University, China, he organized activities and gave many talks related to his field. “I am glad to see that some of the outstanding students whom I met there have come to OSU. Teaching undergraduate students is different, and all I hope is that they can be inspired,” said Ho earnestly. As he said when he received the OSU Distinguished Scholar Award for his exceptional scholarly accomplishments in 2002, “the simplest way to get rid of fear [about physics] is to get curious about what’s going on in nature.”4

Before the interview ended, Ho spoke fondly of his family, wife and two daughters. “I think I am an incredibly lucky person. I don’t take this lightly.” Perhaps it is Ho’s innate modesty that makes him such a keen scientist and devoted teacher whose sense of true happiness always speaks for itself.

References

1. Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/summary/

2. Retrieved from https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2809842

3. Retrieved from https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Ho&first_nm=Tin-Lun&year=2008

4. Retrieved from https://www.thelantern.com/2002/11/physics-professor-receives-recognition-for-research/

Prof. Jason HO Tin-Lun Prof. Ho graduated from Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1972 and received his PhD at Cornell University in 1977 under the supervision of Prof. David Mermin. He joined the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1983 and is currently a Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in the Department of Physics since 2002.

His research covers the field of quantum fluids, quasi-crystals, quantum Hall effects, and quantum gases. He has studied the topological properties of superfluid He-3 and has done pioneering works in different areas of quantum gases. Ho has served on many advisory and review committees of the funding agencies of the United States, Canada, Australia and China. He was also a board member of Aspen Center for Physics for ten years.

He is recipient of the Lars Onsager Prize of American Physical Society for his contributions and leadership in cold atom physics in 2008. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Simons Fellow in Theoretical Physics and a Sloan Fellow. He has also been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Fall 2020 > IAS Scholars IAS Junior Fellow and Research Assistant Professor of Social Science Dr. LIU Tong Once a physicist, always a physicist? It is not uncommon for physicists to end up working in fields other than physics, such as business and finance. The Dutch economist Prof. Jan TINBERGEN, the 1969 Nobel Memorial Prize laureate in Economic Sciences, is once such renowned physicist-turned-economist. IAS Junior Fellow Dr. LIU Tong, however, did not have to leave physics to take up economics. He completed a dual undergraduate degree in both subjects at Peking University and continued his education with a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy and Management at HKUST. Here, Liu tells us how his mathematical physics background and analytical skills have helped him excel in academia.

What did you find so fascinating about economics? How different is it from physics? Science has always been where my passion lies. I enjoyed studying many subjects, including mathematical physics, theoretical and statistical mechanics, and lab experiments at the School of Physics at Peking University. Based on my internship in a solar energy company, my bachelor’s thesis applied atmospheric modeling to estimate the energy efficiencies of various solar panels. Prof. LI Chengcai, who is an outstanding scientist and a great mentor at Peking University, supervised me and encouraged me to learn more about atmospheric science, which became one of my research interests. In terms of economics, I didn’t actually have a chance to study it formally until university. I was inspired by many great scholars at the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University, including Profs. Justin LIN Yifu, ZHOU Qiren, YAO Yang and ZHANG Fan, among others. There, I had the opportunity to explore a variety of topics in economics, such as development and environment, institutions, and the Chinese economy. I am particularly interested in economic and environmental disparities in urban and rural China. I like both economics and physics, and have found many similarities between them. For example, some scholars have used the theory of entropy to probe the economic system. Economics and physics follow similar research paradigms to discover causality with critical thinking, rigorous modeling, experiments, and data analysis. As a student of both disciplines, I pay attention to economic phenomena and apply mathematical tools to the understanding of human behavior. Some human behaviors and activities can be irrational or suboptimal, and it can be challenging to tackle their externalities, which calls for more empirical evidence to support theory development and evidence-based policymaking. Why did you pick environmental economics for your graduate studies? What did you intend to achieve? Environmental issues have been very close to my heart. As you know, air pollution is a pressing issue in China. I grew up in a rural resource-dependent county in Northwest China and got used to the smoke from coal burning. In college, I served as a volunteer for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and witnessed the bluest skies I had ever seen, which made me wonder about the relationship between the environment and economic and social development, and prompted me to think about ways to improve the air quality in China. Besides pollution, farmers in my hometown used to cut down large numbers of trees for farming and grazing, which exacerbates soil erosion and sandstorms. During my final year of undergraduate studies, I joined the Global Social Venture Competition in China and co-founded an entrepreneurial team to look into the balance between farmland and forests in Northwest China. We designed a social business model to help struggling farmers and the environment by growing Caragana, an eco-friendly crop with good economic value. In my graduate studies, I further investigated how agricultural straw burning, a common practice adopted by farmers to clear the fields for cultivation in agrarian regions worldwide, affects air quality and human capital — including physical health, mental health and cognitive performance — in China. There was also a sharp decline in straw burning when the government started to subsidize straw recycling beyond command-and-control regulations. The findings of my study serve as evidence of the social costs of air pollution and support policymaking to reduce the costs. Looking backwards to connect the dots in my life, I consider myself lucky to have found my research interest in environmental economics and to have been able to pursue it with support from many people including my supervisors, collaborators and colleagues. I hope my research can facilitate the sustainable development of our society. What part does interdisciplinary research at HKUST play in your graduate studies? What is special about it? HKUST is a young university with great potential and an excellent research environment. Working with two excellent scholars, Prof. Alexis LAU Kai-Hon, Chair Professor of Environment and Sustainability, and Prof. HE Guojun, Assistant Professor of Economics, is a true privilege and means that I get the best of both worlds. The interdisciplinary approach to research helps students like me to think outside of the box, to be exposed to alternative perspectives, and to carry out cross-disciplinary collaborations.

For instance, Prof. LAU offered me rich opportunities for data exploration and training in atmospheric science. I worked with him and Prof. Jimmy FUNG Chi-Hung, Head and Professor of the Division of Environment and Sustainability, on air quality forecasting in Hong Kong, combining numerical modeling with statistical methods. The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a top journal in atmospheric science. During the process, I also had the chance to advise two visiting international students on related research projects. Prof. He inspired me with his great research enthusiasm, creative ideas and solid analysis in applied microeconomics. Thanks to his introduction, I also met Prof. Joshua GRAFF ZIVIN, Professor of Economics and of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego, who later hosted me as a visiting scholar for the last year of my PhD studies. It was an invaluable experience — I attended many seminars, gave talks and met many outstanding scholars with whom I later developed collaborations. Do you have any suggestions for students who plan to follow in your footsteps and pursue an interdisciplinary degree? The first and foremost thing is research interest — you have to ask yourself whether what you are working on is really going to keep you up at night. Second, you need an open mind to engage with people from different disciplines using their own academic languages. Third, it is important to have a clear-eyed understanding of your research purpose, seeing things critically with strong analytical skills. Having a steely commitment to becoming a researcher who stays motivated to find the frontiers of research topics is crucial. After all, it takes just as much time to do research on a bad topic as on a good one. You finished your PhD without an MPhil in just four years. What’s the secret of your success? As the saying goes, “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.” I was fortunate to have teachers and peers who taught me to stay focused on my studies and other important things in life. I have had opportunities to work with and learn from the best in the research field. I could not have done much without wholehearted support from them and my family. I will always follow their example and commit myself to research and teaching. What do you aim to achieve with your research? Environmental economics may seem like a small sub-field of economics, but, in fact, it encompasses many topics that are worth exploring in depth. My current research focuses on the causes and consequences of environmental issues in Mainland China and Hong Kong, covering a variety of topics on human capital accumulation, industrial production, technologies and institutions. I hope that my research can reduce the environmental and economic disparities between urban and rural contexts, help those who are disadvantaged or left behind, and improve social welfare.

Fall 2020 > IAS Scholars IAS Junior Fellow and Research Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dr. ZHONG Siyang The study of aeroacoustics has undergone profound development since Prof. Sir Michael James LIGHTHILL, a British mathematician, introduced the topic in the 1950s. Given the advances in aviation technology and high-performance computing over the past few decades, it is not hard to imagine where the future of aeroacoustics might take us — to quieter skies. IAS Junior Fellow Dr. ZHONG Siyang has been circling around aircraft aerodynamics and aeroacoustics. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in 2011 and his Master’s degree in Control Theory in 2014, both from Peking University, Zhong was accepted into the PhD program at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) of HKUST. Currently a Research Assistant Professor of MAE, Zhong tells us why this kind of aircraft noise that we sometimes hear but seldom care about is so special to him.

What exactly is your research about? What inspires you to carry out research in this area? My research interests lie in high-order simulations and analytical acoustics studies on the noise generated by turbulence. This research area has a strong industrial background and my research is driven by the needs of practical applications. For example, airline companies aim to reduce the aircraft noise from the engine or the noise inside and outside the cabin. Both airfoils and rotors are common aerodynamic devices that will generate undesired noise. The key challenge in the study is that associated flow patterns are complex and sensitive to concrete factors like geometry, speed and medium. As sound is part of the flow, a small variation in the flow can lead to significant impact on the noise signature. Actually, aircraft noise is highly relevant to us and our daily lives. Remember the old Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon City, which was in close proximity to the local community? In the past, the noise impact of aircraft on the nearby residents was excruciating. My aim is to understand the mechanisms involved in noise generation and to develop a method to predict and reduce noise, not just from the conventional large aircraft but also from drones and possibly high-speed trains. For example, by using acoustic imaging techniques, we can study the location and strength of the sources. Yet, I want to extend the capability of the current methods. In acoustics, it is difficult to identify low-frequency sources because of their long wave lengths. Recently, we try to introduce ideas from other fields such as the tomography technique to introduce high-frequency incident waves to resolve the target low-frequency sources. The initial results seem promising. We hope to extend the method to other applications. Have you been always interested in this topic since your undergraduate studies? Actually when I was young my passion was physics. I remember that during my secondary school years I was inspired by Stephen HAWKING’s book A Brief History of Time. I also participated in the National Physics Contest for secondary students, but unfortunately I was not awarded the first prize. Later, I was accepted by Peking University and assigned to the College of Engineering. It was the first time I had the opportunity to be trained in applied mathematics and mechanics subjects, such as fluid and solid mechanics and aerodynamics. Gradually, I found that what I was learning had many applications in the real world, especially in aviation, and that’s what drew me into research on aerodynamics and aeroacoustics. That’s why you came to HKUST to pursue a PhD in MAE? After I received my Master’s degree in Control Theory from Peking University, I wasn’t sure which path to take: continue studying or work in industry. In the end, I chose to work as an Associate Engineer at the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institution of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China. I am glad to see that the company is making continuous progress in developing China’s civil aircraft. The senior members there helped me a lot during my employment. This experience gave me a better picture of what it was like to work in industry, but soon I realized I was more interested in fundamental studies and theory than only applications. Simply meeting project deadlines wasn’t really what I wanted. Even when an idea is innovative, it may not be a priority for a company, whereas in academia when you have an idea you have more freedom to dig into it. That said, I do want to solve industry-relevant problems and investigate phenomena that need our expertise. This is the role and strength of academic researchers. Therefore, I decided to pursue a PhD at HKUST and I was very lucky to work with Prof. ZHANG Xin, Swire Professor of Aerospace Engineering, whom I met at a conference in 2014. You have been here for over five years now. How did Prof. Zhang inspire you in your research? I appreciate being here at HKUST, where the faculty, staff and students pull together and work very hard. Prof. Zhang was my PhD supervisor and has been a very important mentor to me. He is experienced and has unique insight in the academic and industrial fields. It is a privilege to work with Prof. Zhang and other postgraduate students in his research group at the Aerodynamics Acoustics and Noise Control Technology Centre. I like the process of exchanging ideas and designing experiments together. Prof. Zhang is strict and critical in academic research. We need to have a clear overview of our ideas before discussing them with him, but he will be supportive once he is convinced. Another important thing that I have learnt from him is that we have to be problem-solving oriented, and there is always a smarter way to come up with a better solution. We also make use of the Aerodynamics and Acoustics Facility, which is under the directorship of Prof. Zhang. It is equipped with world-class low-noise wind tunnel and acoustic testing laboratories for conducting aerodynamics and acoustics research with industry partners such as the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and DJI.

What was the best experience of your research career so far? Have you encountered any major difficulties? When we encounter challenging research problems, I guess for most researchers it is like facing an uphill battle, struggling along the way. In my PhD studies, I needed to compute the sound from the turbulence data collected on a single surface. This is related to practical needs but also requires a deep understanding of the underlying physics. It is a longstanding problem of sound and turbulence: we have to find out what is sound in the turbulent flows. In the past, people have developed methods to understand the complexity in this process, but only in specific circumstances. That’s why this problem stimulated my curiosity. For part of my PhD work, I had to separate the components, and my gut feeling told me that this would be possible because flow turbulence and sound fluctuation have different characteristics. I kept thinking of this problem and literally dancing between frustration and hopefulness. Then one night, an idea popped up in my mind. I immediately jumped out of bed to write down the equation and tested some cases. And it worked! So perseverance matters. To those who want to pursue their graduate studies or research in MAE, what would you recommend them to consider when choosing an area of interest? I seldom give recommendations to others! This is my principle. Nevertheless, there are several areas in MAE, and graduate students must choose a field that coincides with their interests. In academic research, collaborating with people from different backgrounds is common. Along the way, we overcome difficulties and share findings. Having strong critical and analytical thinking skills, in my opinion, is a key requirement of academic research. You’re a Research Assistant Professor at HKUST; are you planning to pursue a career in academia? What are your future research plans? Teaching requires a different skill set to doing research. I need to organize lectures, improve the slides and tutorials, and most importantly, arrange the content in a logical way for students to understand. I hope to have an academic career related to my research areas, though I haven’t set myself any boundaries. In terms of research, I am currently learning new technologies such as high-performance computing. Combining this with traditional research methods will be a powerful means to solve problems and to better understand complex physics. I am also interested in the bio-inspired design, such as the flight of birds. My goal is to combine this field with materials technology to manufacture ideal structures, which may be useful to control flow and reduce noise. I have recently received funding from RGC’s General Research Fund for my research project “Aerodynamic Noise of Multi-Rotor Powered Flying Vehicles.” As Principal Investigator, I want to study the aerodynamic interactions of multi-rotors (such as drones), their flow patterns and noise generation mechanisms, and to investigate how the sound propagates and interacts. This project will keep me fully occupied in the coming three years.

Fall 2020 > IAS Community Congratulations to IAS Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture YAN Lianke on His Award and New Book

Prof. YAN Lianke received the 2021 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature from the Institute for US-China Issues of the University of Oklahoma in recognition for his “lifelong contributions to world letters”. The 2021 award ceremony and online symposium will be held next March. Some previous Chinese winners include MO Yan (莫言), Xi Xi (西西), and HAN Shaogong (韓少功).

Earlier this year, Yan released another new Chinese long prose called “她們”, a portrait of four generations of women who are close to Yan’s heart — his mother, aunt, wife, sister, sister-in-law, and granddaughter. With Yan’s unique perspective, the book reflects women’s roles and lives in Chinese society over the 100 years.

Fall 2020 > IAS Community IAS Scholars Received Funding from the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC)

Prof. Ching W. TANG, IAS Bank of East Asia Professor, has received funding from ITC under the Innovation and Technology Support Program for his project titled “Development of SiNx Shadow Masks for Patterning Ultrahigh-Resolution OLED Displays”. The primary objective is to develop a robust method to fabricate large-area (>2 inches), ultrahigh-resolution (>2000 pixel-per-inch), ultrathin (~1 micron), self-tensioned silicon nitride (SiNx) masks suitable for the manufacture of full-color OLED displays for VR applications.

Prof. Paul SCHIMMEL, IAS Senior Visiting Fellow (right), has also been awarded a grant by ITC under the Partnership Research Program for the development of bi-specific antibodies targeting neuropilin-2, which have the potential to become a new class of therapies for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. The project was carried out by HKUST and Pangu BioPharma, a Hong Kong subsidiary of the biotherapeutics company aTyr Pharma, Inc. co-founded by Schimmel. Prof. ZHANG Mingjie, Kerry Holdings Professor of Science and IAS Senior Fellow (left), will collaborate with researchers at the IAS HKUST-Scripps R&D Lab to participate in this project.

Fall 2020 > IAS Community Progress on the Ultra-Fast Astronomy (UFA) Research Project Led by Prof. George SMOOT, IAS TT & WF Chao Foundation Professor

As one of the projects of the Quantum Optics for Astrophysics and Cosmology Laboratory, the first on-sky calibration test of the silicon photomultiplier detector (SiPM) and verification of the possible use of the SiPM as a UFA detector was carried out at the Assy-Turgen Astrophysical Observatory last October by Albert LAU Wai-Kit, an HKUST PhD student who is developing a fast detector camera under Prof. George Smoot’s supervision. The initial measurements using the silicon single-photon detector for UFA have been achieved, and further developments and field tests will be performed to explore the high time-resolution domain of astrophysics. This project is being performed in collaboration with Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and the University of Paris, France, to develop a silicon-based single-photon sensor array for detection of possible ultra-fast astronomical and cosmological signals, with a focus on ultra-fast astronomical events. Lau is also working with CHAN Yan-Yan, an HKUST undergraduate student, on a project titled “Setup of an Automated Telescope System as Sensor Testbench” which has recently received funding from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, an HKUST signature program designed to provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to engage in academic research. The project, which is supervised by Smoot, will develop a telescope system from commercial parts and specific software for testing of different types of astronomical sensors including photon counting devices. The telescope will act as a local testbench before moving the sensor onto remote observatories.

Fall 2020 > IAS Community Congratulations to IAS Scholars Awarded Research Grants In the latest round of the annual General Research Fund (GRF) exercise by the Research Grants Council, several IAS faculty members and Junior Fellows who collaborated with HKUST professors successfully received funding support. Below are the funded research projects in diverse disciplines, including physical science, life science, and engineering, which will advance the impact of HKUST in Hong Kong:

Wave-Dark Matter Simulations, Predictions and Confirmation Principal Investigator: Prof. George SMOOT, IAS TT & WF Chao Foundation Professor; Chair Professor of Physics; and Director of Center for Fundamental Physics, HKUST

Co-Investigator: Prof. Tom BROADHURST, IAS Senior Visiting Member; Ikerbasque Research Professor, Department of Theoretical Physics, University of the Basque Country

Organic Down-Conversion Materials for Full-Color Micro-LED Microdisplays Principal Investigator: Prof. Ching W. TANG, IAS Bank of East Asia Professor; Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, of Chemistry, and of Physics, HKUST

Co-Investigator: Dr. DONG Shoucheng, IAS Junior Fellow; Research Assistant Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, HKUST

Stabilization of Blue OLEDs Using Radical Scavengers as Additives Principal Investigator: Dr. DONG Shoucheng, IAS Junior Fellow; Research Assistant Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, HKUST

Co-Investigator: Prof. Ching W. TANG, IAS Bank of East Asia Professor; Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, of Chemistry, and of Physics, HKUST

Demonstrating Artificial Gauge Fields in Photonic Topological Metamaterials Principal Investigator: Dr. GUO Qinghua, IAS Junior Fellow; Research Assistant Professor of Physics, HKUST Co-Investigator: Prof. CHAN Che-Ting, Daniel C K Yu Professor of Science; Chair Professor of Physics; and Director of Center for Metamaterials Research, HKUST

Modulation of Postsynaptic Density Complex Formation by IRSp53 Principal Investigator: Dr. FENG Zhe, IAS Junior Fellow; Research Assistant Professor of Life Science, HKUST

Co-Investigator: Prof. ZHANG Mingjie, Kerry Holdings Professor of Science; IAS Senior Fellow; Chair Professor of Life Science; Director of Center of Systems Biology and Human Health; and Associate Director of State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, HKUST

Aerodynamic Noise of Multi-Rotor Powered Flying Vehicles Principal Investigator: Dr. ZHONG Siyang, IAS Junior Fellow, Research Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, HKUST

Manipulating Excited-State Molecular Motion in Nanoparticles towards Efficient Phototheranostics Principal Investigator: Dr. KWOK Tsz-Kin, former IAS Junior Fellow (2017–19); Research Assistant Professor of Chemistry, HKUST

Co-Investigator: Prof. TANG Benzhong, Stephen Kam Chuen Cheong Professor of Science; IAS Senior Fellow; Chair Professor of Chemistry and of Chemical & Biological Engineering; and Director of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction (Hong Kong Branch), HKUST

Fall 2020 > IAS Community IAS Senior Fellows Receive Prestigious Awards and Elected to National Academies

Prof. LAU Kei May, Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, HKUST, Chair Professor in Microelectronics Thrust, Functional Hub, HKUST (Guangzhou), and IAS Senior Fellow, becomes the first female winner of the J. J. Thomson Medal for Electronics awarded by the Institution of Engineering and Technology for her fundamental work in compound semiconductor materials and device physics.

Lau has also been named the recipient of the 2020 Nick Holonyak Jr. Award from the Optical Society for her contributions to “hetero-epitaxy of compound semiconductors on silicon for future integrated lasers and advancing the field of light-emitting diode microdisplays.” She is only the second female scientist to receive this award since its establishment in 1997.

Prof. Irene LO, Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and IAS Senior Fellow, received a Natural Science Award (Second Class) in the 2019 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science and Technology) from the Ministry of Education of China for her research on applying iron-based magnetic materials in heavy metal pollution control. Lo’s scholarly interest lies in remediation of hazardous waste and soil, treatment of water and wastewater, and lifecycle assessment of waste treatment process and construction materials. Her academic achievements have been recognized through numerous awards. In 2017, she was appointed a Justice of the Peace by the Hong Kong SAR Government in recognition of her contributions to the community.

Prof. SHENG Ping, Dr. William M W Mong Professor of Nanoscience and IAS Senior Fellow, was elected as Member of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences last December, thanks to his fundamental contributions to the science of composites and soft matter, especially in the initiation and development of acoustic metamaterials leading to novel applications in noise remediation. This year, Sheng was also elected as Honorary Member and Fellow of the Physical Society of Hong Kong for his research achievements and contributions to the scientific community.

Prof. TANG Ben-Zhong, Stephen Kam Chuen Cheong Professor of Science and IAS Senior Fellow, was elected 2020 Class Fellow (Chemical Science) by the World Academy of Sciences, in recognition of his research on aggregation-induced emission (AIE). This involved his elucidation of the mechanism of the AIE phenomenon, development of new AIE molecules, and exploration of the high-tech applications of AIE materials. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009.

Prof. ZHAO Tianshou, Cheong Ying Chan Professor of Engineering and Environment and IAS Senior Fellow (left), was one of two Hong Kong scholars who were elected Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences last year. He is widely recognized for his intellectual range and accomplishments in the areas of fuel cells, advanced batteries, multiscale multiphase heat and mass transport with electrochemical reactions, and computational modeling.

Fall 2020 > IAS Community IAS Senior Visiting Fellows Conferred Honorary Doctorates by HKUST

IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. John HARDY, Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London (left), and former IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. Arup CHAKRABORTY, Robert T. Haslam (1911) Professor of Chemical Engineering, Professor of Physics and of Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (right), were conferred honorary doctorates (Doctor of Science honoris causa and Doctor of Engineering honoris causa respectively) by HKUST in recognition of their distinguished research achievements. Hardy received his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds in 1976 and his PhD in Neurochemistry from Imperial College London in 1981. He is a world-renowned neuroscientist whose research interests are in the genetic analysis of neurodegenerative disease. He has made exceptional contributions to the study of major neurodegenerative diseases. Chakraborty received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware in 1988. For over twelve years, the central theme of his research has been the development and application of theoretical/computational approaches to study how T lymphocytes, orchestrators of the adaptive immune response, function.

Fall 2020 > IAS Community IAS Senior Visiting Fellows Elected Academicians of National Academies

Prof. Thomas RANDO, Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, USA (right), and Prof. David WANG Der-Wei, Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University (left), are among newly elected Members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), an honorary society that recognizes world leaders from across disciplines and convenes professions to address important issues.

Another IAS Senior Visiting Fellow Prof. CHENG Yifan, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of California, San Francisco, is also a Member of AAAS. He was recently elected as Member by the US National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his distinguished achievements in original research.

Prof. Surendra P. SHAH, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering Structures and Materials of the University of Texas at Arlington and IAS Senior Visiting Fellow, has recently been elected a Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Founded in 2010, the NAI is an organization that recognizes inventors with patents, enhancing the visibility of academic technology and innovation.

Fall 2020 > Intellectual Hub The IAS organizes lectures, programs, conferences, symposiums, and workshops throughout the year for renowned scholars, international researchers, and participants to exchange information and have in-depth discussions. Below are highlights of major events held in 2019 and 2020. IAS Distinguished LecturesAnchor Last fall, several Distinguished Lectures were held, bringing together students and faculty members to explore topics ranging from life science to physics, chemical & biological engineering to mechanical & aerospace engineering, stimulating new thinking and encouraging research directions.

1. How to Save the World, One Burger at a Time [Video] (September 3, 2019) Speaker: Nick HALLA, Senior Vice President for International, Impossible Foods

2. Unlocking the Healing Power of Plants with Synthetic Biology [Video] (September 27, 2019) Speaker: Prof. Christina SMOLKE, Professor (Research) of Bioengineering, Stanford University

3. The Long Journey from Phosphotyrosine to Phosphohistidine, and New Cancer Targets [Video] (October 18, 2019) Speaker: Prof. Tony HUNTER, American Cancer Society Professor and Renato Dulbecco Chair in Cancer Research, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; IAS Senior Visiting Fellow IAS Program on Chinese Creative WritingAnchor Co-organized by School of Humanities and Social Science and Division of Humanities, HKUST.

4. 我的文學和思想之路：從香港出發 [Video] (October 25, 2019) Speaker: CHAN Koon-Chung, Contemporary Chinese Writer Other IAS Programs and WorkshopsAnchor

5. IAS Program on Particle Theory: [Details] de Sitter Vacua in the Swampland Era (September 10, 2019)

6. IAS Symposium on DNA Recombination [Details] (September 24, 2019)

7. IAS Program on High Energy Physics [Details] (January 6-24, 2020)

8. IAS Program on Particle Theory: Spatially Covariant Gravity Theories with Two Tensorial Degrees of Freedom [Details] (January 8, 2020)

9. IAS Workshop on Emerging Scales in Granular Media [Details] (January 14-16, 2020)

10. Intimacy of Creativity — Entering the Minds of Composers [Details] (An online course on Coursera)

Fall 2020 > Join Our Events IAS Conferences / Programs / Workshops After months of facing the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the IAS like other institutions has come up with a new framework for engaging our stakeholders. We will also make a concerted effort to host our events, either in virtual or hybrid approach, to continue bringing our academic community together irrespective of their geographic location.

Below are events covering topics from basic science, engineering to arts and music to be held in the upcoming months.

Date Event 2 0 2 0 November Nobel Popular Science Lecture Series December 7 – 11 IAS Focused Program on Mechanisms of Gene Transcription and its Regulation

What is on the new line-up for 2021? The IAS will collaborate with different partners to present you a wide array of online programs.

Date Event 2 0 2 1 January 11 – 15 IAS Conference on Industrial and Applied Mathematics January 14 – 21 IAS Program on High Energy Physics March 1 – May 12 Inaugural Conference of the Association for Chinese Animation Studies

Other events are highlighted as follows. For the latest details of events, please visit http://ias.ust.hk/events Applied Inverse Problems Conference HKUST Music Alive! & Intimacy of Creativity IAS Program on Heavy-Tailed Time Series and Change-Point Problems IAS Symposium on Nanoporous Metals from Alloy Corrosion IAS Workshop on Flexible Electronics with Integrated Active Components IAS Workshop on Nanomaterials and Their Applications in Displays and Photonics IAS Workshop on Post-Moore’s Law Computer Architecture IAS Workshop on Quantum Simulation and Quantum Information Otto Poon Lecture Series

Fall 2020 > IAS Corner What Can the IAS Do for You?

\\ The IAS is committed to education and to the promotion of public engagement with the frontiers of knowledge. We provide a platform for prominent scholars to share the fruits of their research with HKUST and the wider community and to inspire new thinking. The IAS takes pride in its professors, fellows and regular visitors, who engage in a host of education and research projects, and has sponsored many lectures, seminars, conferences and programs in physical science, life science, engineering, business, economics, humanities and the social science. We also welcome distinguished scholars and international leaders from diverse different backgrounds for extended visits to collaborate with HKUST faculty to advance scientific discovery and inspire students. While the global outbreak of COVID-19 has made face-to-face academic and research activities more challenging, we remain committed to supporting scholarly collaboration and promoting the exchange of knowledge and ideas through online initiatives, and face-to-face interactions where the situation allows. //

The success of the IAS depends on your support and input. Please contact Prof. Andrew G. COHEN, Director of the IAS and Lam Woo Foundation Professor, to discuss how you might support the IAS.

E: ias@ust.hk | T: (852) 2358 5968

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