About the Event :

Technology advancement and new industry ecosystems appear to blur the boundaries between industries, and offer the future workforces in any economy new unprecedented challenges, which demand an organic combination or integration of knowledge and skill set to solve. The seminar seeks to share the experience of HKUST in its pursuit of interdisciplinary endeavors. The speaker will share whether it is merely a gimmick or truly a real need for an educational institution to go interdisciplinary when designing new academic programs. He will recapitulate the key tasks or challenges involved in such journey and shed lights on how institutions could do to overcome them.  

Facilitator(s) :

Professor King L. Chow

King L. Chow, Professor of Life Science and Biomedical Engineering at HKUST, earned his PhD in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He was a Belfer Fellow of Molecular Genetics Department at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. At HKUST, he has served as Associate Dean of Students, Academic Director of the Common Core Program, Directors of the Molecular Biomedical Sciences Program and Bioengineering Program. He currently holds the position as the Director of Interdisciplinary Programs Office which oversees the development of Environment and Sustainability, Biomedical Engineering, Public Policy, Risk Management and Business Intelligence, Technology Management and Innovation Programs. He also heads the Center for Development of the Gifted and Talented overseeing different interdisciplinary research and undergraduate programs and activities nurturing gifted students. His own research focuses on molecular genetics, neural development, synthetic and evolutionary biology. He actively engages in various teaching development programs, spearheads liberal arts education and interdisciplinary education at HKUST. He has taught subjects of his own expertise areas, as well as subjects at the juncture between science, engineering, social science and humanity. He delivers classes in traditional lectures, group work, exploratory-project-based courses, MOOC and extensive flipped classes at undergraduate and graduate level, earning him the School of Science Teaching Award, the Michael G. Gale Medal of distinguished teaching at HKUST.

Intended Learning Outcomes :

Upon the completion of the seminar, participants would be able to:

•  appreciate the importance of interdisciplinarity in today's academic world and institutional establishment; 
  
• appreciate the benefits and advantages brought by interdisciplinary endeavors; 
  
• identify the challenges involved in offering and operating interdisciplinary programs, including but not limited to resources, staffing model, quality assurance, curriculum design, etc; and 
  
• review their readiness in participating in different levels and channels of interdisciplinary collaboration.
  

Target Audience :

All VTC Staff

Enquiry :

Mr LAI Siu Man, Chris
Deputy Director and Head/Centre for Learning & Teaching
Tel: 2836-1237  
E-mail: chris-lai@vtc.edu.hk

Ms CHUNG Kit Man, Gloria
Senior Project Officer
Tel: 2919-1557  
E-mail: gloriac@vtc.edu.hk