Appointment of Head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Prof Mounir HAMDI, Professor 
of Computer Science and Engineering, as Head of Department of Computer 
Science and Engineering with effect from 1 July 2008.  Prof Hamdi is 
succeeding Prof Lionel NI, the current Head of Computer Science and 
Engineering, upon his retreat to an academic position in the department.

Prof Hamdi earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of 
Pittsburgh in 1991.  He joined HKUST as Assistant Professor in the same 
year and rose through the rank to Full Professor in 2004.  He was the 
Director of the Computer Engineering Program from 1998 to 2006.  He is 
currently the Director of the Master of Science in Information Technology, 
the Director of the Computer Engineering Lab and the Co-convenor of the 
UGC Outcome-based Education Committee. He is an internationally renowned 
researcher in the filed of high-speed networking. He has held a visiting 
professor position at Stanford University in 2000.

Please join me in congratulating Prof Hamdi and in giving him your 
generous support in his new capacity as Head of the department.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof Lionel Ni for his 
leadership and contribution to the department as Head of Computer Science 
and Engineering in the past six years.  Also many thanks to members of the 
Search Committee, Professor Khaled Ben Letaief (Chair), Professor Kar Yan 
Tam, Professor Frederick Lochovsky, Professor Siu Wing Cheng, Professor 
Dit Yan Yeung and Professor Qian Zhang, for their time and effort in 
conducting the search for the headship position.

Roland Chin
VPAA(DP)