Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)

This course aims to cultivate students’ systematic and critical thinking about science, technology, innovation, and society, especially in light of the transition from traditional China to contemporary China. Differing from the usual courses focusing on this subject, this course will take a social and  critical approach, enabling students to understand and analyze the social, political, and cultural preconditions and impacts of scientific and technological development.

This course is designed for non-Chinese language background students who have learned Chinese for up to 150 tuition hours. It prepares students for an intermediate-level understanding of spoken Chinese and equip them with a strong communicative competence in using Chinese in social and professional situations. 

This course examines topics on kinematic analysis of mechanisms (position, velocity, and acceleration analysis of solid bodies and mechanisms) and design/synthesis of mechanisms (how to determine the geometry of a mechanism to achieve kinematic
goals). 

This course examines the history of Western art music, from the medieval era to the present day, with an emphasis on the period between Late Middle Ages (14th century) and Romanticism (19th century). It examines the foundations of music cognition and acoustics by looking at works in their historical and political context while inspecting the relationship of music to other art forms.

This course examines important topics related to e-commerce, including: history of e-commerce, unique features of e-commerce technology, Porter’s five forces analysis, business models for e-commerce, successful examples of e-commerce companies in various business areas, the new social, mobile and local marketing, and the ethical, social and political issues associated with e-commerce.

This course provides an analysis of the power of social media, such as Facebook, twitter, blogs, mashups, wikis, etc. It examines how social media can facilitate creativity and collective intelligence, through enhanced information sharing and online collaboration among netizens; ultimately building the social pool of knowledge. It also examines the downside of this participatory culture. With the growth of web sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, and open source development communities, the web is no longer just about delivery of information. It is about participation and collaboration. This course examines the impact of the open and peer-to-peer collaborations that are the underpinning Web 2.0 on which most of us are spending more time than ever before. In addition to learning Web 2.0 enabling technologies, students examine the social and philosophical implications of this phenomenon. Assessment: Assignments (15%), project presentation (8%), project reports (7%), midterm (25%), final exam (45%).

This course examines the analysis of the equilibrium and dynamic behavior of mechanical systems. It covers equilibrium of particles and of rigid bodies; distributed forces; analysis of structures, including, trusses, frames, cables and beams; kinematics of particles; kinetics of particles, Newton's second law, energy, momenta, impact dynamics; systems of particles; kinematics of rigid bodies; and kinetics of rigid bodies in two and three dimensions.

This course examines irrotational flow, circulation, 2D airfoils, thin airfoil theory, 3D wings, lifting line theory, boundary layers, turbulence, supersonic flow, shock waves, expansion fans, transonic flow, and swept wings.

The development of new technology and innovation plays an increasingly important role in enhancing the competitiveness of countries, firms and individuals. This course describes the development of technology and innovation from social and business perspectives. It covers the technology side of innovations, how an invention can be developed into a successful commercial product, the role of innovation in society and how innovations are created from a socioeconomic perspective. It highlights that successful development and adoption of innovative products relies not only on the technology itself but also a complex process that is subject to the impact of cultural, political, economic and managerial factors. Assessment: Class participation (10%), midterm exam (25%), group project (25%), and final exam (40%).