Dr Henry Chan, Associate Professor in the Department of Computing (COMP), is honoured for his excellent performance and achievements in Teaching. Dr Chan joined the University in August 1998. He has received two President’s Awards and three Faculty Awards namely: the President's Award for Excellent Performance/Achievement (Services) 2008/2009, the President's Award for Excellent Performance/Achievement (Services – Team Award) 2007/2008, the Faculty Award for Outstanding Performance/Achievement (Services) 2008/2009, the Faculty Award for Outstanding Performance/Achievement (Services – Team Award) 2007/2008 and the Faculty Award for Outstanding Performance/Achievement (Teaching) 2003/2004. He also received the Faculty Merit Award (Teaching) 2009/2010 and the Departmental Best Researcher Award 1999. His dedication to teaching is reflected in his high SFQ scores. His teaching philosophy can be summarized in one word: TEACH. He believes that a good teacher should be Thoughtful, Enthusiastic, All-rounded, Creative and Helpful. He is also dedicated to nurturing students and realizing their potential and practical dreams. A representative example is Dr Chan’s student, Lau Hiu Fung ("Hong Kong's Stephen Hawking"). Hiu Fung’s final year project won three gold awards. With his nominations, Hiu Fung won the prestigious honour of being recognized as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons 2010” and PolyU Outstanding Alumni Award 2011. He always works tirelessly to support the department’s education initiatives/activities. For example, he played an important role in defining COMP’s CARE education aim: Career, Applications, Research and Entrepreneurship. He also proposed a 5S Model, a Student-oriented, Systematic and Synergistic model for computing education with five essential components: Scheme, Streams, Specializations, Skills and Spirits.
In recent years, he has led three groups of students to visit the University of Cambridge in the UK for academic exchange, which greatly enhanced their international exposure. He is the founding director of the Advanced Enterprise Infrastructure Lab sponsored by Cisco and Macroview Telecom. This lab has benefited many students. Students and others working in this lab have won many awards. Recently, a networked lab was jointly formed by the Advanced Enterprise Infrastructure Lab and a lab of the Zhongshan University, giving students further learning and collaboration opportunities. Dr Chan has also contributed to PolyU in other areas. In COMP, he is serving as the founding chairman of the Marketing and External Liaison Committee, leading various marketing and external liaison activities. In research, he has obtained an Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) grant of over $4 million for a project entitled “Enhancing the Competitiveness of the Hong Kong Air Freight Forwarding Industry Using RFID and Software Agent Technologies”. Under his leadership, a software tool developed as part of this project won a Silver Medal in the 38th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. In services, he is active in professional services and has close connections with the industry. His excellent performance and achievements in services can be reflected from the two President’s Awards received in 2008 and 2009.
(Excerpt from the programme of the Awards Presentation Ceremony)
