An outstanding alumnus—Dr Po Lai-man, associate professor of the

Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong

Dr Po was a F.7 graduate of Ho Chuen Yiu in the school year 1984-1985. Then he enrolled in a degree programme of the City Polytechnic and was offered a three-year Postgraduate Fellowship from the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Council for his postgraduate studies at the City University of Hong Kong where he successfully obtained his Ph. D. degree. Dr Po is now an associate professor of the Electronic Engineering Department.

The four ‘FIRSTs’ of Dr Po:

• one of the first batch of undergraduates who enrolled in the City Polytechinc’s degree programmes

• one of the first batch of Ph.D candidates studying at the City Polytechnic

• the first Ph.D graduate of the City Polytechnic

• the first student who studied from the undergraduate programme to the Ph.D at the City University

Upon the conferment of the Ph.D. degree, Dr Po started teaching at the City Polytechnic. He witnessed the transformation of the Polytechnic to a university which was used to be a teaching-oriented institution and now it emphasizes also research work. In these 20 years, he has been researching on the areas of image/ video compression and contributing to this fast-and ever-changing society. He reckons that innovation and breakthrough are important in research studies. Imagination and ideas can be unlimited and cluttered in the early stages of a piece of research work; however, the conclusion should be logical and well-organized. It is easier said than done; now Dr Po has realized it.

Hyperlink to Dr Po’s website:

http://www.ee.cityu.edu.hk/~lmpo/