Three academic staff of the School of Engineering (SENG) were recognized with the HKUST Common Core Teaching Excellence Award 2023, for their substantial contribution made in designing and teaching exemplary common core courses, and in promoting these courses to students in the University community. The awards were presented at a ceremony on May 30, 2024.

Prof. Kenneth LEUNG, Assistant Professor of Engineering Education from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, received the award for CORE 1231 Exploring Multimedia and Internet Computing. In the course, he pioneered an outstanding blended educational approach, making the acquisition of computational thinking skills by mostly non-engineering students stimulating and attainable within a fun yet purposeful learning environment.

Previously, Prof. Leung received an Honorary Mention for the same course in 2019. He was also the winner in 2021 for another course, COMP 2711 Discrete Mathematical Tools for Computer Science.

Prof. Ben CHAN, Associate Director of Center for Engineering Education Innovation (E²I), and Mr. Paul LAVIGNE, Teaching Associate of E²I, received the Honorary Mention for teaching the course CORE 1200 Engineering Team Design Experience. By setting the task of delivery of an intriguing creative project in their course – such as designing and building the 2050 HKUST campus in an interactive, real-time, 3D virtual environment – they have unleashed innovative thinking, problem-solving capabilities, and engineering design skills among students from different Schools and disciplines.

Prof. Ben Chan was previously the recipient of an Honorary Mention in the 2016 Common Core Teaching Excellence Award, for the course CIVL 1160 Civil Engineering and Modern Society.

Related link:

• Faculty column by Prof. Kenneth Leung: Fun pathways to full-potential engineers (SENG magazine In Focus, issue no. 35, P.17)
• SENG news (July 26, 2023): HKUST Students Co-Created 2050 University Campus in Metaverse