HKU Bulletin April 2010 (Vol. 11 No. 2)

32 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin 33 April 2010 06545"/%*/( 3&4&"3$)&3 "8"3% Professor Frank Dikötter School of Humanities (History) Professor Dik ö tter was Professor of the Mod- ern History of China at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, before he joined the University of Hong Kong as Chair Professor of Humanities in 2006. He believes that history is a craft, and that immersion in primary sources is not only one of the joys of historical research, but also essential in understanding the complexity of the past and resisting some of the simplifications of the present. “History is not the private preserve of a few specialists,” he says. “It belongs to everybody.” Furthermore, he insists, “History does not have to be boring, it can be written in a lively fashion.” Professor Dik ö tter has pioneered the use of archival sources, introduced new research areas and developed fresh approaches to social history that have changed the ways in which historians view modern China. He is currently completing a book for Bloomsbury on Mao’s Great Famine, using recently opened party archives to link what happened in the corridors of power with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the disenfranchised. He believes his work has benefitted greatly from HKU’s supportive research environment. Professor Wang Jian Professor Frank Dikötter 5IJT BOOVBM BXBSE IPOPVST TDIPMBST XIP QSPEVDF IJHI JNQBDU SFTFBSDI PG JOUFSOBUJPOBM NFSJU 5IF SFDJQJFOUT SFDFJWF B NPOFUBSZ BXBSE UP GVSUIFS UIFJS SFTFBSDI Professor Wong Sze-chun Department of Civil Engineering Professor Wong is a firm believer in multidisciplinary work. He has collaborated with colleagues from electrical engineering, mathematics, geography, urban planning, economics and medicine, and his research is primarily concerned with the multidisciplinary subject of transportation. His interests include optimization of traffic signal settings, continuum modelling for traffic equilibrium problems, traffic flow theory, traffic management and control, transportation planning and network modelling, and road safety. He has published widely in refereed journals and currently is editor-in-chief or associate editor of several high profile international journals, and an editorial board member of 10 others. Over the past decade, he has been awarded, as principal investigator, nine GRF grants from the Hong Kong Research Council. Professor Wong received his BSc(Eng) and MPhil degrees from HKU, and his PhD from University College London which he obtained with a Croucher Foundation Scholarship. He received an Outstanding Young Researcher Award from HKU in 2000 and an NSFC Young Researcher Award from the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2007. He is currently Deputy Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at HKU and Director of the Institute of Transport Studies. Professor Wong Sze-chun Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai Department of Social Work and Social Administration The core focus of Professor Yip’s career has been how to use sophisticated quantitative methods to better understand human health and illness. He does not consider statistics to be a remote science but rather, a means of finding ways to make a difference in people’s lives and in the health of the community. Professor Yip has applied that conviction to the challenge of developing an integrative science for solving population health problems from birth to death. He has developed innovative statistical methods in surveillance and monitoring, and provided a better understanding of suicide and its prevention. This understanding is an essential step for developing novel approaches to health promotion. Professor Yip has been awarded the Silver Innovation Award by the Asian Wall Street Journal and is a distinguished alumnus of La Trobe University. He is Director of HKU’s Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention and Vice-president of the International Association of Suicide Prevention. He also serves as a consultant and advisor to the World Health Organization, Family Planning Association, and Central Policy Unit of the Hong Kong SAR. Professor Wang Jian Department of Physics Professor Wang is currently working in the field of nano-scale physics and nano- technology, a cutting-edge research area being pursued by major laboratories around the world. His key contribution to the field is on the quantum transport theory and modelling in nanostructures. He says, “We are the first in the world to combine two very different fields – material science and so-called quantum transport theory.” On the theoretical side, he has successfully developed necessary formalisms to predict AC as well as nonlinear DC transport properties using the scattering matrix theory, the response theory, and the non-equilibrium Green’s function theory. These theoretical developments are closely linked with numerical investigations of atomic and molecular devices. He says, “Most of the time I am always thinking about my project. I like Physics and I have a very good environment here. You don’t have distractions or pressures here so you don’t have any difficulties.” His research has resulted in a new method which has become the de facto standard technique for modelling the quantum transport of nano-devices. His contributions to this area have won him the Achievement in Asia Award of the Overseas Chinese Physics Association and a Croucher Senior Fellowship. 5FBDIJOH "OE 3FTFBSDI "XBSET 5FBDIJOH "OE 3FTFBSDI "XBSET