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UM to confer honorary doctorates on four distinguished individuals

This year the University of Macau (UM) will confer honorary doctorates on four distinguished individuals, namely Prof. Arden Lee Bement, Jr., The Most Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Dr. Ambrose So Shu Fai and Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, in recognition of their outstanding contributions in the areas of research, culture and education. The conferment ceremony will be held at UM’s Cultural Centre on 16 November, Friday. Higher degrees will also be awarded at the ceremony. Dr. Chui Sai On, chief executive of Macao SAR and chancellor of UM, will preside over the ceremony.

Prof. Arden Lee Bement, Jr. will be the recipient of the Degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa. Prof. Bement has made outstanding contributions in his many important leadership roles in industry, academia, and government agencies. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He conducted materials research in support of advanced engineering conversion technologies. He successively served as professor of nuclear materials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), member of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Bilateral Exchange Program in MHD, and head of the MIT Fusion Technology Program. Of his prominent leadership roles in U.S. government agencies, three stand out prominently: Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Director of the National Science Foundation. Under his directorship, the National Science Foundation opened its office in Beijing, China, showing his initiative in promoting science and technology collaboration between China and the U.S.

The Most Venerable Master Hsing Yun will be the recipient of the Degree of Doctor of Humanities honoris causa. The Most Venerable Master Hsing Yun is the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order. He has established himself as an influential world religious and philanthropic figure, with a large following worldwide. He has built more than two hundred temples all over the world. he dedicates his whole life to the study of the philosophy of religion. He is well-read and prolific in writing. He is committed to the advancement of philanthropic, educational and cultural causes. He has founded a large number of educational institutions both at home and abroad, including fine art galleries, twenty-six libraries and publishers, twelve bookstores, over fifty Chinese schools, and sixteenTsung Lin Buddhist colleges. The Most Venerable Master Hsing Yun has received numerous honours. In 1978, he became the first Buddhist monk to receive an honorary doctorate from the Eastern University in the U.S. In 1992, he was elected honorary president of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. In 1995, he received the Buddha Ratna Award from the All India Buddhist Conference.

Dr. Ambrose So Shu Fai will be the recipient of the Degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa. Dr So is CEO of SJM Holdings Limited, Director of Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, S.A., member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Honorary Consul of Portugal in the Hong Kong SAR, member of the Economic Development

Council and of the Cultural Consultative Council of the Macao SAR government, and President of the board of directors of the Macau Military Club.  Through his various capacities, Dr. So has made significant contributions to the economic and cultural exchange and cooperation among Macao, Hong Kong, China and Portugal, especially in the fostering of Macao’s role as a platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.  Dr. So has over 35 years of experience in Macao’s gaming and tourism industry, during which he has made relentless efforts for the professionalism, regulation and diversification of Macao’s gaming industry.  A devoted artist in Chinese calligraphy, his work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions.  In 2009 he was awarded the Medal of Cultural Merit by the Macao SAR government.

Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao will be the recipient of the Degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa. A renowned computer scientist, Prof. Yao is recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars in computation theory. Prof. Yao has made significant and original contributions to the niche scientific areas of data organization, the complexity-based theory of pseudorandom number generation, cryptography, communication complexity, quantum teleportation as well as computation. Prof. Yao is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He has published nearly one hundred academic papers which covered almost every aspect of the computation complexity theory. He was awarded the Turing Award in 2000 by the world’s leading Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which made him the first and the only overseas Chinese computer scientist to date to have won this award since its founding. Before he received the Turing Award, he had already earned many prestigious awards, including the Polya Prize by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the first Donald E. Knuth Prize which is named after Knuth, the master of the analysis of algorithms. Prof. Yao has taught at a number of prestigious universities in the United States. He is currently teaching at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
 

Should you have any inquiries about the information, please feel free to contact the Information Executives Ms.Lei or Ms Lai of the Communications Office at(853)8397 4325 or  prs.media@um.edu.mo or visit UM webpage www.umac.mo.


 

11/10/2012