Instructors
Prof. Cindy LAM
Prof. Cindy Lam obtained her Ph.D. in Marine Environmental Science at the University of Oldenburg, Germany in 2007. She has joined the Department of Ocean Science at HKUST as a Lecturer since 2012 with extensive experience in organizing experiential learning and ocean science-related education projects for secondary and university students. She has extended her interests in incorporating innovative tools (e.g. AR, VR, gamification) to enhance students’ motivation and active engagement in lectures and lab courses. With her research interests in investigating the potential impacts of microplastics on marine ecosystems, she has the enthusiasm to develop autonomous devices and speed up the monitoring and detection of microplastics in the ocean.
Course offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1001
Prof. Frank LAM
Prof. Frank Lam is currently the Associate Dean of Students and Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at HKUST. He received his Ph.D. at HKUST in 2005 and has been a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (TIIT) in Israel and the Department of Chemistry at The University of Hong Kong, conducting research on functional materials for environment and teaching on the environmental engineering. His research focuses on separation, air pollution control, and wastewater treatment through adsorption and heterogeneous catalysis. He also concentrates on the Experiential Learning approach and Visual Reality for knowledge delivery.
Course offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1001
Prof. Dennis CHAN
Prof. Chan obtained both his BSc (in Chemistry) and Ph.D. (in Organic Chemistry) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He specializes in the organic synthesis of molecules with potential pharmaceutical values, application of organometallic reagents in organic synthesis, the extraction of medicinal phytochemical components, and their chemical structure elucidation. He currently teaches a University Common Core course (in the science and technology area) and supervises final-year undergraduate students in completing their capstone projects. He also oversees practical chemistry courses in the Department of Chemistry in various areas of the chemistry realm – including organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, biomolecular chemistry, materials chemistry, and pure chemistry. He has been teaching SISP 1102 'Chemistry in the Modern World' for the HKUST Summer Institute since 2011. He has also been teaching courses organized by the Center for the Development of the Gifted and Talented, HKUST since 2011 and is experienced in teaching gifted secondary school students.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1102
Prof. Emily TSANG
Prof. Tsang obtained both her BSc (in Environmental Science, with Chemistry Concentration) and Ph.D. (in Chemistry) at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. During her graduate studies, she conducted research in the area of polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells, and published research articles and book chapters in a number of international academic journals. Prof. Tsang joined the Department of Chemistry at HKUST in 2012. She is now a Lecturer and teaches credit-bearing courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. These include the introductory General Chemistry courses, the Chemistry Capstone Project courses, as well as the postgraduate-level course in Macromolecular Analysis. She has been jointly teaching SISP 1102 'Chemistry in the Modern World' for the HKUST Summer Institute since 2013 and has received excellent teaching evaluations from students.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1102
Dr. Philip LAM
Dr. Lam received his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Southern California, USA. He is currently a Lecturer at the Division of Life Science, HKUST. He has years of substantial teaching experience. He is familiar with various new pedagogical strategies such as e-learning and blended learning. Dr. Lam believes that it is of utmost importance to provide students with a learning environment that nurtures critical thinking.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1113
Dr. Jessica TANG
Dr. Tang received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Kings College, University of London. Currently, she serves as a Lecturer in the Division of Life Science at the HKUST where she teaches lecture courses including microbiology as well as experiential laboratory course. Additionally, she is also an instructor of the HKUST Team for the iGEM competition – the largest international synthetic biology competition for undergraduates, and for the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) student training program. She is a dedicated educator and has successfully delivered a wide range of life science courses using various pedagogical approaches and formats to students. She hopes to ignite a love of learning and cultivate curiosity in her students for further exploration of the subject.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1115
Prof. Tian Wen CHEN
Prof. Chen Tian Wen received his Ph.D. at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently an Associate Professor of Science and Education in the Department of Physics, HKUST. Prof. CHEN has been very actively involved in UG/PG education of the department and training of the Hong Kong Physics Olympiad team, and is also in charge of training Physics UG students to take part in outreach activities.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1116
Dr. Chi Wai YU
Dr. Yu is currently working as a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, HKUST. He obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of British Columbia. He has more than 10-year extensive experience in working with statistics and in teaching probability and statistics with different computer software like R, SAS, and Python at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1117
Prof. Tim WOO
Prof. Woo is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering. He is actively promoting STEM education to primary and secondary school students. Prof. Woo has received 3 teaching awards, including the University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award 2015, the Michael G Gale Medal for Distinguished Teaching 2015 at HKUST, and the School of Engineering’s Teaching Excellence Appreciation Award 2009-2010 at HKUST.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1303
Prof. Man Fung CHEUNG
Prof. Cheung is an Assistant Professor of Science Education in the Department of Physics. He is passionate about incorporating new methods and technologies in teaching. He is also actively involved in science education in secondary school, including Physics Olympiad training, developing learning modules on “Junior Secondary Science Online Self-Learning Scheme” and teaching courses for gifted secondary school students. He received the HKUST School of Science Teaching Award in 2023 and was elected three times as one of the Ten Best Lecturers in 2013-2015 at HKUST.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1303
Prof. Kenneth LEUNG
Prof. Leung is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Education in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at HKUST. After receiving his Computer Science degree at the University of British Columbia, he has further pursued his Master's and Ph.D. studies in Computer Science and Engineering at HKUST. He has been teaching a variety of computer science courses at all levels. Kenneth is passionate about teaching. He leads various teaching development projects, and uses different learning and pedagogical approaches, including active learning, experiential learning, gamification, and e-learning to stimulate critical and creative thinking in his classes. He has received numerous positive comments about his teaching style and skills in his teaching evaluations. He has also received the Best Teaching Award in the Master of Science Program in Information Technology.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1312
Prof. Robin MA
Prof. Ma obtained his Ph.D. in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. He has been active in engineering education for over 15 years. He is an Electron Microscopist, having carried out nearly 8 years of research work in the world- class electron microscope centers in both Sydney (Electron Microscope Unit at UNSW) and Melbourne (Bio21 Institute). He was also an engineer at the AJAX Engineering Fasteners (Melbourne) in 2006. He also has an increasing involvement with new approaches to education, including experiential learning, blended learning and undergraduate research. He believes that this broader contemporary approach is beneficial for students, especially for engineering students preparing for professional careers. On the other hand, he is the Director of the Centre for Industry Engagement and Internship (IEI) in the School of Engineering (SENG) at HKUST.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1314
Prof. Larry LI
Prof. Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He received his BASc and MASc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia (Canada), where he was a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council Scholar in the Applied Fluid Mechanics Laboratory. He then went on to study for a PhD at the University of Cambridge (UK), where he was a Bill & Melinda Gates Scholar. After graduating, he stayed on at Cambridge as a Research Associate before joining HKUST in 2014. His research focuses on fluid mechanics, thermoacoustics and nonlinear dynamics, with applications ranging from aircraft propulsion to spray painting. He has investigated a variety of thermofluid phenomena, including global instabilities in open shear flows, non-Newtonian atomization in crossflows, and forced/mutual synchronization of thermoacoustic modes. His industrial experience includes time spent at Rolls-Royce (UK), LB Foster (Canada) and Coanda Research & Development (Canada).
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1319
Prof. Ronald LAU
Prof. Lau joined HKUST in 2001, he is currently an Associate Professor of Business Education in the Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management. He has taught courses in the areas of operations management and decision analysis. Staying close to the current industry practices, Prof. Lau also maintains an active connection with management in financial, logistics, information technology, and business consulting industries. Over the years, he has completed many consulting projects for logistics, financial, manufacturing, and e-learning businesses. Prof. Lau has been teaching SISP 1505 for HKUST Summer Institute since 2011. He has been highly rated by past Summer Institute participants and has consistently been ranked one of the top course instructors for the program. Prof. Lau was also the winner of HKUST Best Ten Lecturers and Franklin Prize for Teaching Excellence.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1505
Prof. Stephen NASON
Professor Nason has taught at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology since 1995. He is a faculty member in the Department of Management and the Director of WBB, the World Bachelor in Business Program (HKUST). Professor Nason has taught in a wide range UG and post graduate programs at HKUST, including the full time, part time, executive, and company specific MBA programs. He has received official “letters of commendation for excellent teaching” from the dean for each semester that he has taught at HKUST and his teaching evaluations are consistently in the top 10% of the University. Professor Nason has worked with a variety of organizations, including Samsung Electronics, Cisco, Motorola, and the Health Care Forum.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1512
Prof. Gavin Percy DIAS
Prof. Dias is an Associate Professor of Business Education at the Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management at HKUST. He is also the Director of the Center for Business Education. He was accredited as the Expert Level Instructor (top 10% of instructors globally) by Cisco Networking Academy, and he received the IT Governance Achievement Award in the Public Sector by ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter for his achievements in promoting and implementing outstanding IT Governance practices in Hong Kong in 2017. Prof Dias’s exceptional teaching performance has earned him various prestigious awards at HKUST, including the Michael G Gale Gold Medal for Distinguished Teaching in 2017, HKUST Inaugural Faculty Recognition in 2017, the Franklin Prize for Teaching Excellence (five times between 2000 to 2019), University Teaching Innovation Award in 2004. He was also elected twice in the Best Ten Lecturers Election which was an independent student-led initiative to express their appreciation of the teacher’s good work.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1513
Dr. Nicolson SIU
Dr. Nicolson Siu is a neuropsychologist who joined the Division of Social Science at HKUST in 2022. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, with a specialization in Neuropsychology, as well as a Bachelor of Social Science in Psychology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Master of Counselling from Monash University. Dr. Siu's research delves into the complexities of human cognitive functions and the dynamic interplay between the brain and behavior. Utilizing cutting-edge neurophysiological techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), he investigates how neurological activity shapes cognitive processes. His dedication to practical applications is reflected in his intervention studies designed to support children with special educational needs (SEN) and elderly individuals facing cognitive challenges. Additionally, Dr. Siu brings valuable consultancy experience in neurophysiological assessment and training initiatives for children with SEN, further enhancing his contributions to the field.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1703
Prof. Julian GROVES
Originally from the UK, Prof. Groves graduated with a Master's Degree and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has taught at HKUST for over 20 years and has published numerous articles in academic journals on migrant domestic workers, youth, social work, and education in Hong Kong. He offers courses in sociology, gender, education, Hong Kong society and social research methods. Prof. Groves first offered SISP 1706 for the HKUST Summer Institute in 2012, and it has since then become one of the most popular courses in the program. Prof. Groves is also one of the most beloved course instructors in the Summer Institute; he has consistently received remarkable ratings as evaluated by the Summer Institute participants.
Course Offered in Summer Institute 2025: SISP 1706