CW Chu College The Chinese University of Hong Kong eNewsletter

The College congratulates the following members on their outstanding achievements recognised by prestigious awards.

Mr OR King Tat King: The D.H. Chen Foundation Scholarship

For more details about King receiving the above award, please refer to Page 38 of the Report of the Master published in November 2017.

Mr Ethan CHIANG: The Best Architecture in the Student Category at the Asia-Pacific-wide A&D Trophy Awards

Ethan, a Year 4 Architecture student and a member of the University and College Rowing Teams, has won the Best Architecture in the Student Category at the Asia-Pacific-wide A&D Trophy Awards in December 2017. His award-winning project, 'Endless Bounds', is a rowing centre in Kuala Lumpur based on a conceptual juxtaposition. As a floating training centre, it has a quality of weightlessness, contrasting with a boathouse bounded by earth—becoming a part of the landscape. The idea of a cantilever structure came from studying tropical vernacular architecture which is elevated using stilts. The rowing centre maximizes natural ventilation, making it a sustainable design.

As a rower himself since his first year in university, Ethan was excited when he learned about the brief and became interested in the project immediately. He understood the sequence of the activity as well as the technical spatial requirements. His training experience helped inform every design decision. His initial concept sketches were imagined from what the buildings would look like from the water, which helped drive his project to the very end.

This was the first and only architecture competition that Ethan has entered. He was fortunate enough to be nominated for the 'Best Studio Award' in CUHK, where he had to present his project for a second time to a panel of external architects in April 2017. He found out about the competition during summer and decided to give it a try.

Ethan expresses his gratitude towards his mother and friends for their help, and to his tutor, Mr Bruce LONNMAN, for his devoted teaching. He is also grateful for his rowing training experience which has inspired his award-winning design. He regards the award as an encouragement to make an even better project next time.

Photo Credit: Mr Ethan CHIANG

Prof Tjonnie LI: Early Career Award by the Research Grants Council (RGC)

Prof Tjonnie LI, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, received the Early Career Award from the Research Grants Council (RGC) on 19 October 2017, for his project entitled 'Testing the strong-field dynamics of gravity using gravitational waves emitted by the mergers of compact objects'. Prof LI's research focus is gravitational waves, and was the only scientist from a Hong Kong institute to work with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) team.

The discoveries by LIGO have garnered for its team leaders the Shaw Prize, the Kavli Prize and the Nobel Prize; all members of the team, including Prof LI, are cited as co-winners together with the team leaders for the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and the 2016 Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize. Prof LI expressed his gratitude to the RGC for naming him, and to CUHK and members of his research team for their support. He hopes that this award will encourage and inspire local research in gravitational waves, astronomy, and fundamental physics.

Photo Credit: Communications and Public Relations Office