IEEE Photonics Society Hong Kong Chapter
Thanks to the continuous support of our many student members and colleagues from five participating local universities and local industry, the Hong Kong Chapter is most honored to be recognized by this year’s Chapter of the Year Award, for the second consecutive year. Here, we highlight our student events, technical meetings and international conferences organized this year:
The Photonics (Hong Kong) Postgraduate Student Seminar Series is a student-run seminar series hosted bimonthly by each of the five participating local institutions. The series was launched in April 2008. The Series provides a platform for local postgraduate students (including research assistants/postdoctoral fellows) in photonics to give oral presentations about their recent research work to their peers in local institutions, and also to allow students/faculty members from different local institutions to network and socialize on a regular basis. Each student seminar is comprised of two thirty minute presentations with Q&A. One of the speakers is from the institution hosting the series and the other speaker is from a visiting institution. This way we encourage students to host/visit their peers at different local institutions for technical exchange/social networking. A sub-committee is comprised of postgraduate student representatives from each of the participating institutions is in charge of organizing the events (inviting speakers, publicizing the events via emails/Internet, and providing ample snacks and drinks!)
The 10th Photonics (Hong Kong) Postgraduate Conference was our flagship event of the year. This year we had a total of 22 student papers accepted for oral presentations in five technical sessions from the five participating local institutions. Prof. Andrew Poon of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was the organizer for this annual event. Dr. Daniel Lau of the Federation of Hong Kong Optoelectronics Industries (FHKOI) sponsored three best paper awards and one best presenter award. All papers/presentations were evaluated and scored by a judging panel comprised of faculty representatives from each of the participating local institutions.
We co-hosted a total of 12 seminars at different local institutions. All 12 seminars were given by invited external speakers from universities and industries with a wide scope of topics spanning nanophotonics, biophotonics, green photonics, semiconductor and fiber lasers, and optical communications, etc. The seminars were advertised on our Chapter website http://opto.ee.cuhk.edu.hk/~leos/ and via emails to all our members in local institutions. The seminars were well-attended. One of the seminars was Distinguished Lecture given by Prof. John DUDLEY of the University of Franche-Comte, France. In addition, we also organized a visit to a photonics company, Amonics (http://www.amonics.com/), in Hong Kong to encourage technical exchange with the local industrial community (photo below).
One major activity of the Hong Kong Chapter this year was to co-organize the 14th OptoElectronics and Communications Conference (OECC), held during 13–17 July 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Prof. Alex Wai, our Chapter member, was the General Chair of the Conference, while all current Chapter Officers served in leading roles in the Technical Program/Organizing Committees. OECC is a TOP-tier international conference in the research area of optoelectronics and optical communications held annually in the Asia Pacific Rim. The conference scope featured technical areas in 7 technical categories. OECC 2009 attracted about 500 delegates globally with a total of 280 oral papers, 80 posters, 84 invited papers, 7 tutorials, 3 plenary presentations, and 4 workshops.
The Hong Kong Chapter also acted as technical co-sponsors of the 8th International Conference on Optical Communications and Networks (ICOCN) was held during 15–17 September 2009 in Beijing, China and the Asia-Pacific Microwave Photonics Conference (APMP) was held during 26–28 April 2010 in Hong Kong. All these activities demonstrate the strong presence of the Chapter in international conferences in the Asia Pacific Rim.
Looking Ahead
In the coming months, we will continue with our student-run, bi-monthly, postgraduate student seminar series and with our technical seminars. The year finale will be the upcoming 11th Photonics (Hong Kong) Postgraduate Conference to be held on 28 November 2010 at the University of Hong Kong. Certainly, the Hong Kong Chapter will continue to dedicate its service to its many members, particularly student members, and to reach new heights in 2011.
Dr. Kenneth Kin-Yip WONG
Chair of the Hong Kong Chapter (2009–2010)
The University of Hong Kong |
