More than 120 guests, industry partners, faculty members and students attended the inaugural Distinguished Research Excellence Award Keynote and Award Ceremony, hosted by the School of Engineering on November 28 at the Charles K Kao Auditorium at Hong Kong Science Park.

The lecture on "Future Directions of Display Technologies" was given by Prof Hoi Sing Kwok, Dr William M W Mong Chair Professor of Nanotechnology of Electronic and Computer Engineering, and the first recipient of the School of Engineering Distinguished Research Excellence Award.

Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief and HKUST President Prof Tony F Chan gave introductory speeches at the event.

The School of Engineering established the annual Distinguished Research Excellence Award, Research Excellence Award, and Young Investigator Research Award in 2011. The Distinguished Research Excellence Award, the most prestigious, honors an engineering faculty member with exceptional research achievements and significant impact locally and globally. The recipient is invited to deliver a public lecture, a distinction in itself.

In his talk, Prof Kwok discussed some of the state-of-the-art technologies being developed and introduced activities at the Center for Display Research at HKUST. These include energy-saving liquid crystal displays, alignment surfaces, active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes, and bistable displays. He sees greenness as an essential theme for future displays. He also shared his views on product development and the deployment of new technologies over five-year and 10-year horizons.

The presentation was supported by the Electrical Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and The Institution of Engineering and Technology.