Sun Kwok
Today, from 12 to 1pm, in the Paul Delaney Gallery, Bethune College, Professor Sun Kwok, dean of science and chair professor of physics at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) will deliver a special guest presentation on the reform of the science curriculum at HKU.
In this talk, Kwok will give a brief overview of HKU and its Faculty of Science and the future plans for development in the increasingly competitive arena of higher education.
HKU is a university with more than 100 years of history. In the last 10 years, it has undertaken major governance and curriculum reforms. A sequence of science foundation courses required of all incoming science students is designed to teach science in an integrated manner, and to emphasize the concepts, rather than computational techniques, of mathematics.
Additionally, a number of non-discipline specific common core courses have been developed to broaden students’ awareness of the relevance of science to society and the interdisciplinary nature of science. In designing these reforms, the University has taken into consideration the need to prepare a small number of students for graduate studies at the highest international level, while at the same time providing the majority of science students with the broad analytical skills needed to serve society in a variety of leadership roles.
Kwok has previously served as director and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Killam Fellow of the Canada Council for the Arts, and was a professor at the University of Calgary. His recent books include Stardust: the Cosmic Seeds of Life (Springer, 2013), Organic Matter in the Universe (Wiley, 2011), Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium (University Science Books), Cosmic Butterflies (Cambridge, 2001), The Origin and Evolution of Planetary Nebulae (Cambridge, 2000).
He has served as president of Commission 34 (Interstellar Matter) and is the current president of Commission F3 (Astrobiology) of the International Astronomical Union.
All are welcome, light refreshments will be provided.