School of Chinese Medicine
History & Development
With Chinese medicine embarking on a process of establishing a global presence as a form of health care system during the last several decades, the School of Chinese Medicine, established within the Faculty of Science in 1998, timely launched the Chinese Medicine programme in 1999 and admitted undergraduate students for the first time. The aim of the Programme is to produce new generations of Chinese medicine practitioners who are not only qualified and competent to provide Chinese medicine care to clients but also capable of communicating with their conventional medical counterparts, i.e. general practitioners and other orthodox medical specialists, to decide on the best treatment for the patients.
Major Research Areas
• Standardization and analysis of Chinese medicinal materials
• Plant chemistry and discovery of biologically active components from Chinese medicines
• Pharmacological and biochemical properties of Chinese medicines
• Development of botanical products for health
• Clinical study of Chinese medicine
Environmental Science Programme
History & Development
In response to the growing public concern about environmental issues, the University Grants Committee (UGC) approved the establishment of a B.Sc.degree programme in Environmental Science (ENS) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in the 1992/95 triennium. The programme has been jointly offered by the Departments of Biochemistry, Biology, and Chemistry. Since the 90's, much effort has been directed to the protection of the environment and the conservation of natural resources. This new environmental campaign significantly increases the demand for specialists and technologists to work on various types of environmental problems.
The ENS Programme admitted its first batch of M.Phil. students in 1995, and the first Ph.D. student enrolled in 1998. The Programme has since graduated over 250 proficient environmental scientists at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Major Research Areas
• Environmental Monitoring and Impact Assessment
• Environmental/Biochemical Toxicology
• Environmental Biology
• Environmental Biotechnology/Microbiology
• Environmental Chemistry
• Environmental Health
• Marine Ecology/Pollution
• Wastes Analysis and Treatment
Food and Nutritional Sciences Programme
History & Development
The Food and Nutritional Sciences Programme was established in 1994 in response to the rapid advancement and expansion of food related industries and a growing awareness of the relationship between diet and health in Hong Kong. The Programme is jointly managed by the Departments of Biochemistry and Biology of the Science Faculty. It is intended for those interested in food science and nutrition and their diverse applications in both industrial and health sectors. The mission of our Programme is to train students who are capable of interpreting, evaluating and communicating information on food and nutrition related matters to a wide variety of groups, including the food industries, health authorities and the general public.
Major Research Areas
• Antioxidants and Free Radical
• Blood Cholesterol and Diet
• Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism
• Heavy Metals in Food
• Dietary Fiber: structure and function
• Flavor Analysis and Chemistry
• Natural Product, Safety, Health and Applications
• Food Evaluation and Food Product Development
• Soy-Based Fermented Food
Double degree Programme in Mathematics and Information Engineering
History & Development
This is the first double degree programme at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the programme is open for admission from the year 2006. This programme aims at educating a new generation of information scientists. It enables students to develop in-depth mathematical thinking and solid engineering skills at the interface of mathematics and information technology. This programme is jointly offered by two top academic units in The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Department of Mathematics and Department of Information Engineering.
Molecular Biotechnology Programme
History & Development
Biotechnology is widely regarded as the technologies of the 21st century. Programmes and centers of biotechnology have been developed and established in universities and countries all over the world. The sprouting academic programmes of biotechnology all over the world have attracted many bright students, providing them with excellent career opportunities, and thus fulfilling the great manpower demands of the rapidly growing new biotechnology industry.
The undergraduate programme has been extremely successful in training students to gain the ability and passion in scientific research. Most of the graduates decide to pursue further degrees for a career in research in biotechnology or closely related fields. With this great demand of the students, the MBT Programme established Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Programmes in 2000 and admitted the first batch of students to the MPhil Programme in 2001, and the first batch of PhD students in 2002.
Major Research Areas
The fields of research of teaching members of the MBT Programme are diverse, encompassing conventional fields of microbial, plant, and animal biotechnology, specialized fields of biomedical sciences and Chinese medicine, and contemporary fields of genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. Staffs' research areas are well balanced in that they are expanding the boundaries of knowledge through fundamental research and solving practical problems of the biotechnology industry through applied research. Several groups are formed among programme staff and other staff members of the Biochemistry and Biology Department through their mutual interests. The collaborations are clearly synergistic and very fruitful in terms of excellent research results and production of highly resourceful students.
Risk Management Science Programme
History & Development
To meet the demand of Hong Kong society, starting from September, 1999, the Department of Statistics is launching a new Risk Management Science stream. This new stream will then be developed to a new Risk Management Science Program starting from September 2000. The new program is designed for students who plan to pursue a career in financial institutions, securities companies and insurance companies and also aspire to an education in scientific methodologies. The rationale behind the establishment of this program is the reality that in recent years many major financial institutions and insurance companies have systematically recruited people with strong science background, people with degrees in mathematics, statistics, physics and computer science for a wide range of positions. With a large amount of real-time data available, decision process of financial investment and financial risk management have become increasingly scientifically based rather than empirically based.
Due to the great success of this undergraduate program, an M.Phil. programme in RMS was launched in 2002, and a M.Sc. programme in RMS in 2003.
Major Research Areas
• Financial time series
• Finance and Econometrics
• Derivatives Pricing
• Interest Rate Modeling
• Financial Risk Analysis
• Computational intensive methods
• Data mining
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