Dear Colleagues and Students,
The University Council (UC) agreed at its 3rd meeting of this academic year to the conferment of honorary degrees proposed by the UC members and the Senate. It was agreed to Doctor of Education honoris causa on Professor Lawrence Juen-yee Lau, Doctor of Science honoris causaon Professor Kaixian Chen, Doctor of Science honoris causa on Professor Shuji Nakamura. (See below for the specific degree to be awarded to each candidate). In accordance with Item 2 of Article 13 and Sub-item 13) of Item 1 of Article 18 of the Charter of the University of Macau, the UC recommended to the Chancellor of the University the three candidates for the award of honorary degrees. The Chancellor approved, on 20 July 2020, the above proposal for the conferment of honorary degrees.
Considering the current situation of the pandemic, the arrangements for conferment of honorary degrees in recognition and celebration for the outstanding achievements of the three honorary degree recipients will be announced in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Rico Lam
Secretary, Honorary Degrees and Titles Committee
Introduction to the Three Honorary Degree Recipients
1. Professor Lawrence Juen-yee Lau
Introduction
Professor Lawrence Juen-yee Lau is currently the Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He joined the Department of Economics at Stanford University in 1966 and became Professor of Economics in 1976. He became Kwoh-Ting Li Professor in Economic Development, Emeritus, upon his retirement from Stanford University in 2006.
He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an Academician of Academia Sinica, Taipei. He has received honorary doctorates from various renowned universities including the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Soka University, Waseda University, Taiwan Central University, Fudan University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Professor Lau specialises in the studies of economic development, economic growth, and the economies of East Asia, including that of China. He has authored, co-authored and edited 14 books, including The China-U.S. Trade War and Future Economic Relations, and published more than 200 articles in academic journals. In 1966, he developed one of the first econometric models of China which is still being used today, making significant contribution to China’s economic development. His decades of research provided impactful insights to the nation on its economic development.
He was a member of the 11th and 12th National Committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Vice-Chairman of its Subcommittee of Economics, as well as an Adviser to the National Bureau of Statistics. Currently, he serves as a Vice-Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Development Bank.
Reasons for nomination
Professor Lawrence Juen-yee Lau was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the HKSAR government in 2011 in recognition of his contribution to Hong Kong. He served in a number of high-level advisory bodies in Hong Kong including the Commission on Strategic Development, the Task Force on Economic Challenges, the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee, the Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology, the Advisory Committee on Corruption of the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Honours and Non-official Justices of the Peace Selection Committee (formerly Honours Committee). He was also a Non-official member of the Executive Council of the HKSAR government from 2009 to 2012.
On the commercial front, he was the Chairman of CIC International (Hong Kong) Co., Limited from September 2010 to September 2014. He currently serves as an Independent Non-executive Director in various listed companies including AIA Group Limited, CNOOC Limited, Hysan Development Company Limited, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. Ltd.
Professor Lau served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 2004 to 2010. He oversaw the first ever quality audit of CUHK conducted by the Quality Assurance Council, in which the university was highly commended. He also led CUHK in its efforts to explore new directions in student recruitment and academic exchange and played an active role in the establishment of five new colleges to accommodate additional 3,000 students in 2012 to adapt to the shift to a four-year undergraduate curriculum in Hong Kong.
Professor Lau helped found the Dr. Stanley Ho Medical Development Foundation in 2005, which aims to elevate the healthcare standard in Macao. He brought to Macao top-notch experts and professors of medicine from CUHK including Professor Joseph J.Y. Sung. For the past 15 years, more than a hundred professors of medicine from CUHK have given talks in the foundation’s Medical Symposium. In May 2019, he gave a lecture in the University of Macau on the Sino-US trade war.
Professor Lau’s commitment to public services has contributed greatly to the development of higher education. He led the rapid development of CUHK and has been an honorary research fellow and honorary professor in many academic institutions and higher education institutions at home and abroad. He has lent many unique perspectives in the development of college management, integrating the university’s values into the daily lives of students. He constantly encourages them to seize opportunities and equip themselves with not only knowledge but also a global vision. Thanks to that, the college system has nurtured a large number of outstanding talents who are favoured by employing organisations and enterprises. In his over 50 years of teaching career, Professor Lau has cultivated innumerable students for the benefit of society. Therefore, it is recommended that Professor Lau be conferred the Doctor of Education honoris causa.
2. Professor Kaixian Chen
Introduction
Professor Kaixian Chen, medicinal chemist, graduated with a radiochemistry degree from the Physics Department II of Fudan University in 1967. He was admitted as a graduate student into the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in September 1978 and received his PhD degree in 1985. From 1985 to 1988, he was a visiting scholar at Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique in Paris, France. He later served as researcher and doctoral supervisor at the SIMM of the CAS. He was elected as Academician of the CAS in 1999. He is currently Director of the Academic Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SUTCM). He was Director of the SIMM of the CAS from 1996 to 2004, secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences of the CAS from 2004 to 2008 and President of SUTCM from 2005 to 2014. He also served as Director of the Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Drug Research and the Expert Committee on New Drug Research of the CAS. Professor Chen has been appointed as the first principal scientist in medicine of the National Basic Research Program (also known as the ‘973 Program’) and project leader of the National High Technology Research and Development Program (also known as the ‘863 Program’). He was also chief designer for the Innovative Drug and Modernization of Chinese Medicines project administered by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Deputy Chief Specialist of the National Science and Technology Major Project – Innovative Drug Research & Development. He held other important positions such as Deputy Director of the Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission, advisor to the chair of the ISO/TC249 for Traditional Chinese Medicine and convener of the Discipline Appraisal Group (Pharmaceutical Science) of the Academic Degree Commission of the State Council. He assumed the presidencies of the Chinese Association of Integrative Medicine and the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology. He was also Vice President of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Director of the Computational Chemistry Commission of the Chinese Chemical Society. As a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, he has made outstanding contributions to formulating pharmaceutical development strategies for the national 12th and 13th Five-Year Plans and promoting the research and development of a series of innovative drugs.
Professor Chen focuses on the research in medicinal chemistry and innovative drug. He has long committed himself to the study of the structure-activity relationships of drugs and the structure prediction of bioactive small-molecule compounds. He and his research team have put forward and improved multiple methods and technologies of computer-aided drug design, including the methods for research of molecular hydrophobic force field and drug conformation, for pharmacophore searching and for constructing molecule libraries with structural diversity and conducting virtual screenings with computer. These methods have been applied to many molecular simulations and theoretical study of the interactions between drugs and biological macromolecules. He has also been actively conducting drug design research based on three-dimensional structures of drugs and receptors. Some of the research outcomes have been verified and led to the discovery of a variety of compounds that are promising candidates for new drugs. These innovative studies have fostered interdisciplinary research in medicinal chemistry, life sciences and computer sciences, and they are highly acclaimed by academic circles at home and abroad.
Professor Chen has engaged in major research projects of different levels such as the National Science and Technology Major Project, CAS Innovation Major Project and Shanghai Municipal Key Science and Technology Project. He has also been taking an active part in the study and formulation of national and local strategies for the development of biomedical science and technology, having contributed to the construction of the drug research innovation system in China. His research achievements have won him many awards and honorary titles at home and abroad. In 1985, he won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Awards of the CAS. In 1991, he was awarded the title of Chinese Doctoral Degree Holders with Outstanding Contributions by the State Education Commission and the Academic Degree Commission of the State Council. In 1994, he was conferred the title of Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions by the CAS. In 1997, he was awarded the title of Shanghai Model Worker and Top Ten Science and Technology Elites of Shanghai. He won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award of the CAS twice in 1997 and 1998. In 2000, he was recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award of the 863 Program by the MOST. In 2001, he won the Prize for Science and Technology Progress of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation. In 2002, he was given the title of Top Ten Excellent Directors of Academies (Institutes) in Shanghai. In 2008, his team was awarded the Outstanding Research Team of the 973 Program. He was the winner of the first National Award for Excellence in Innovation of the MOST and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in 2017. He also won the Special Contribution to Pharmaceutical Innovation Award conferred by the China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Research Development Association in 2018.
Reasons for nomination
Professor Chen focuses on the research in medicinal chemistry and innovative drugs. He has long committed himself to the study of the structure-activity relationships of drugs and the structure prediction of bioactive small-molecule compounds. He and his research team have put forward and improved multiple methods and technologies of computer-aided drug design, and applied them to many molecular simulations and theoretical study of the interactions between drugs and biological macromolecules. He has been actively conducting drug design research based on three-dimensional structures of drugs and receptors and discovered multiple compounds that are promising candidates for new drugs. These innovative studies have fostered interdisciplinary research in medicinal chemistry, life sciences and computer sciences, and they are highly acclaimed by academic circles at home and abroad. Thanks to his research achievements, Professor Chen has brought effective advancement to the biomedical technology and industry in China.
Professor Chen has also made remarkable contributions to the medical sector in Macao and other places of the Greater Bay Area, especially in the field of Chinese medical sciences (CMS). He participated in several expert forums for the CMS technology industry in Macao and other places in the Greater Bay Area. In his capacity as leader or member of the expert group in the forums, Professor Chen shared his enlightening ideas on such matters as how to put together CMS talents, and how to build up a sound CMS innovation system and a well-developed ecosystem for government-industry-academia-research collaboration. This aside, Professor Chen has also provided constructive views on the positioning of Macao in the Greater Bay Area development, as well as its advantages in terms of research, economy, geography and policy. This has expedited the rise of the CMS industry in Macao and fostered diversification of Macao’s development.
As the Director of the Second Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine and the Adjunct Chair Professor of the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences of UM, Professor Chen has made significant contributions to the development of the first State Key Laboratory (SKL) of CMS. He has provided many candid and invaluable opinions for the development of the SKL, as well as timely assistance to the SKL to respond to its challenges. Furthermore, he pays visits every year to the SKL and provides advice for its development. Thanks to Professor Chen, great improvements have been made to UM and the SKL in aspects such as academic standing, teaching and output transfer.
In consideration of his outstanding achievements in sciences and his noteworthy contributions to Macao, UM and, in particular, the SKL, we heartily recommend Professor Chen to be a candidate for the UM honorary doctorate of science 2019/2020.
3. Professor Shuji Nakamura
Introduction
Shuji Nakamura has been fascinated by the physics of solid-state materials and focused on semiconductor research since he studied at Tokushima University in 1973. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Tokushima University in 1977 and 1979 respectively. Afterwards, he worked at Nichia Corporation, a chemical and electronics company in Tokushima. His work experience there was an excellent preparation for his later career in scientific research. Nichia, which was an obscure local chemical plant at the time, asked Nakamura to produce gallium phosphide and gallium arsenide, a bulk material used to make infrared, red and green light-emitting diodes (LED). Also, he had to develop AlGaAs based infrared and red LEDs using liquid phase epitaxy (LPE). Knowing almost nothing about LED and materials, Nakamura had to start from scratch. Eventually, he developed commercial-grade gallium phosphide. However, back then, he did not know that the market for gallium phosphide was already crowded.
Metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), a crystal growth technology, is crucial to producing bright blue LEDs. Nakamura had invited Professor Shiro Sakai from the University of Florida to visit Nichia and explain the significance of MOCVD. Professor Sakai suggested that Nichia should send Nakamura to Florida to learn the technology for a year. In March 1988, Nakamura flew to Gainesville. The laboratory that he was assigned to had not yet built the MOCVD system. Therefore, he had to work with his sleeves rolled up for ten months in the US. In the end, he gained deep knowledge on the workings of MOCVD equipment. Having managed to assemble the system, Nakamura returned to Nichia in March 1989. He decided to develop a bright blue LED with gallium nitride (GaN) as the starting material, although, at that time, nobody could foresee that gallium nitride would turn out to perform very differently from previous light emitting materials. His only reason for choosing GaN was that there would be no competition, because no other companies except for one company were conducting work on this material.
Nakamura overcame a string of failures and ultimately developed the best GaN in the world and the bright blue LEDs. In December 1991, he succeeded in producing p-type GaN crystals. On 29 November 1993, Nichia held a press conference in Tokyo to release the world’s first high-brightness blue LED. To Nakamura, the lack of resources, the ridicule and scorn, and all the other hardships that he had experienced in the course of research and development were worthwhile. He obtained his doctoral degree from Tokushima University in 1994 and left Nichia in December 1999 to join the University of California, Santa Barbara as a professor of materials and electrical & computer engineering. He has since continued to work with his team, pushing the boundaries in solid-state lighting and the related crystal growth methods.
As the Research Director of the Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center (SSLEEC) and the Cree Professor in Solid State Lighting and Display, Professor Nakamura is overseeing the research into the next generation optoelectronic devices. Among the various research topics, he is a strong advocate of developing and using native gallium nitride substrates, which can significantly improve the performance of the devices for high-efficiency light emission at high current levels. Furthermore, it has opened the door to research into the use of laser-based solid-state lighting. The superior performance of lasers over LEDs at very high current densities results in higher light output. In order to achieve this effect, his research focuses on bulk single crystal growth of GaN boules using the ammonothermal method – a method for growing GaN single crystals from a supercritical ammonia solution under extreme conditions (thousands of atmospheres of pressure and hundreds of degrees Celsius).
To date, Professor Nakamura holds more than 200 American patents and more than 300 Japanese patents, and has published over 550 academic papers in his field. He was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. After joining the University of California, Santa Barbara, Professor Nakamura has become a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He has also received numerous awards, including:
· Charles Stark Draper Prize (2015)
· Order of Culture Award (2014)
· Inventor of the Year Award from the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (2012)
· Technical and Engineering Emmy Award (2011)
· Harvey Prize from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (2009)
· Japan Science of Applied Physics Outstanding Paper Award (2008)
· Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2008)
· Czochralski Award (2007)
· Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce Innovator of the Year Award (2007)
· Finland’s Millennium Technology Prize (2006)
· Global Leader Award, Optical Media Global Industry Awards (2006)
Reasons for nomination
Perhaps Professor Shuji Nakamura’s biggest coup was developing a blue laser diode. Many people thought such devices would be impossible given that gallium nitride (GaN) crystal was riddled with micro-cracks. To amplify light, a laser needs a more complicated structure than a light-emitting diode (LED). It also has to be pumped with more current. The structural defects in the material should have scattered the light, preventing optical amplification. Under high current, the defect-ridden layers should have caused instantaneous catastrophic failure.
For a long time, white lights and colour displays using the solid-state lighting technology could not be widely used in everyday life due to the lack of short-wavelength LEDs. In 1992, Professor Nakamura invented the blue LED based on his discovery of p-type GaN semiconductor. Since then, lighting technology has ushered in a new era. He was one of the three laureates of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics ‘for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources’. Besides, Professor Nakamura holds more than 200 US patents, over 300 Japanese patents and has published more than 550 papers in his field.
Professor Nakamura is one of the pioneers mastering the technology of converting electric energy into light energy. His great invention has enabled people around the world to enjoy electric lighting at a much lower price. One of the research areas of the Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering (IAPME) at UM is similar to that of Professor Nakamura, and his ideas and theories have brought great advancement and impetus to the optoelectronic research at UM.
In December 2016, Professor Nakamura visited Macao to co-chair the International Workshop on Solid-State Lighting of LED and Laser Diode, where he delivered a speech on high-efficiency blue LEDs and the future development of solid-state lighting. Over 80 prominent scholars and industry leaders from the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China attended the workshop. They analysed the current status of solid-state lighting and had lively and in-depth discussions on the problems and challenges facing its development. The workshop built a bridge of technical communication for leading scientists and enterprises in the field to seek new opportunities and development areas for the optoelectronic industry. It also established a free and open communication platform to promote a diversified and healthy development of solid-state lighting technology, and made active contributions to advancing this technology in Macao. In the same year, Professor Nakamura was invited to give a large-scale lecture at UM on the invention of high-efficiency blue LEDs and future solid state lighting.
Professor Nakamura’s great invention and outstanding contributions have benefited people around the world, bringing hope and convenience to their lives. With a passion for science and relentless pursuit of ideals, he constantly strives for excellence in scientific research and shares his achievements with the industry and the world, exerting positive impact on and driving the development of society. In view of this, we propose to confer the University of Macau honorary doctorate of science on Professor Shuji Nakamura. |