Hong Kong

The course provides skills essential for “pursuing opportunity without regard to resources currently at hand.” It develops several key entrepreneurial skills rather than covering comprehensive topics as in an introductory course. Since pursuing an entrepreneurial endeavor has to overcome obstacles and deal with challenges in novel and uncertain situations, we must transform and give new emphasis to skills commonly used in other problem-solving situations. Indeed, a number of new processes and accompanying languages have to be invented for entrepreneurial practices. Additionally, because changes happen fast, the skill sets essential for entrepreneurial success must be matched with the latest technological and societal development, and to the needs of different student cohorts. By the end of the course, students should become more effective and confident in implementing their entrepreneurial plan or innovation project.

Many students in the Faculty of Arts tend to think of “science” and “technology” as irrelevant to them. Typical reactions range from “I am not a science major,” “science is boring,” or “it's too technical.” However, science and technology actually interact with the contemporary history and society of China in significant ways. For example, how many of you are using Lenovo laptop computers? Do you know the history behind Lenovo, IBM, and the entrepreneurial initiative of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since the 1980s? When you go grocery-shopping at a local supermarket, do you actively accept or reject genetically modified foods? How do new health and reproductive technologies (vaccines, new drugs, contraceptives) transform the healthcare system in China, for better or worse? These are some of the questions explored in the course. This course will introduce students to the multiple ways in which science, technology, and society mutually shape one another in modern and contemporary China. Instead of giving a celebratory history of science and China (i.e. China is so great now because of science), the course will take a balanced approach to discuss the beneficial as well as destructive powers of science. The key is to develop the ability to critically understand the good and bad aspects of science and technology. Instead of asking “why do I need to understand science?” as some of you might ask, I want students to consider “how could we understand contemporary China without science?” This course offers a general foundation for China studies majors, minors, and students in other faculties who are interested in thinking the intersection between science, technology, and society in contemporary China.

Undergraduate level course in probability.Topics include Sample spaces, conditional probability, random variables, independence, discrete and continuous distributions, expectation, correlation, moment generating function, distributions of function of random variables, law of large numbers and limit theorems. Text: Sheldon Ross, A FIRST COURSE IN PROBABILITY.

Application of Vocabulary and Grammar I (Putonghua): An elementary course designed for students who have no knowledge of the Chinese language. It provides students with the use of basic vocabulary and grammar points. Vocabulary introduced is based on everyday conversations and daily usage with a focus on appropriateness in application. Oral Skills Practice I (Putonghua): An elementary course designated to students who have no knowledge of Putonghua. It focuses on students' oral skills and listening ability. Students will achieve fluency in communication with basic vocabulary and grammar points through various kinds of speaking practice. Real life settings are introduced such as greetings, asking directions, ordering of food, shopping, etc. Simplified Chinese characters are used in lessons. Traditional Chinese version of textbook provided if needed. Assessment: student performance (25%), quizzes (50%), final exam (25%).

This course introduces the usage and the application of the most up-to-date computer and electronic technology in the field of music. Emphasis is placed on the theory and practice of computer music software and knowledge of various recording media.

The societal energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources requires novel energy technologies, with material design and engineering at the center of the innovation process. This course explains the enabling materials science and engineering behind advanced energy technologies by answering questions such as why lithium powers our batteries and why it takes silicon to make a solar panel. The course also examines major material challenges of emerging energy technologies. Course topics include: material structure-property correlations used in energy technologies, materials synthesis and fabrication techniques for their incorporation into energy devices, and material evaluation principles in energy applications.

This course aims at providing basic knowledge of programming and conducting statistical analysis with software. Different computing tools, such as R, SAS, C, and C++ are introduced throughout the course for computation and demonstration purposes. The course covers programming with emphasis on data storage, data retrieval, data manipulation, data transformation, descriptive analysis, sorting, files merging, file updating, random sampling and data reporting.

Inner workings of modern digital computer systems and tradeoffs at the hardware-software interface. Topics include: instructions set design, memory systems, input-output systems, interrupts and exceptions, pipelining, performance and cost analysis, assembly language programming, and a survey of advanced architectures.