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Winners of the "Visibility Measurement Method Design Competition", an event jointly organised by the Hong Kong Observatory and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), were announced at an award presentation ceremony today (July 7) at the Rayson Huang Theatre of HKU.
Visibility is influenced by factors such as rain, fog and haze, and is closely related to our daily life, especially on days with low visibility when navigation safety of aircraft and ships may be threatened. The objective of this first-ever competition in Hong Kong is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of engineering and meteorology among primary and secondary school students. The competition is funded by HKU's Knowledge Exchange Fund, and supported by the Hong Kong Meteorological Society and the Community Weather Information Network (Co-WIN).
Despite the technical challenges, responses to the competition were very enthusiastic. Over 140 teachers and students from Primary 4 to Form 6 of 16 schools formed 26 teams to compete for awards in the Junior and Senior categories. Different kinds of methodology were presented, ranging from simply identifying profiles of buildings in photographs through naked eyes, to using computer programmes to analyse multiple landmarks for automated visibility estimation. The entries fully demonstrated the students' ability in meteorological measurements and in the application of information technology.
At the award presentation, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of HKU, Professor Norman Tien, commended students' innovation in producing a wide range of methods for measuring visibility. In the course of development works, computer programming, meticulous designs and testing, software and hardware integration, and well-prepared presentation of their final output all suggested that the students would be prospective engineers and scientists of the future.
To enhance the participants' understanding of the various methods to measure visibility, the Observatory and HKU jointly organised a series of talks, workshops and visits early this year to enable students to get familiarised with the subject and to produce effective designs. The Acting Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, Mr Edwin Lai, was most impressed by the students' team spirit. "Over the past six months or so, students had to persevere with their outdoor visibility observations, and to cooperate with each other in combining skills in software programming and hardware tool design to devise innovative methods for visibility measurement. This process was not easy at all," he said.
The full list of award winners (available from the website http://www.cs.hku.hk/~visible/AwardWinnerList-English.php) is as follows:
Junior Category
Champion: YPICA Lee Lim Ming College (SUBG)
First Runner-Up: Our Lady of China Catholic Primary
School (佑華B隊)
Second Runner-Up: Our Lady of China Catholic Primary
School (佑華A隊)
The Most Creative award: YPICA Lee Lim Ming
College (SUBG)
The Best Presentation award: St. Margaret's
Co-Educational English Secondary and
Primary School (Visible Team)
Merit awards: Christian Alliance Cheng Wing Gee
College (CWGC Team A)
Christian Alliance Cheng Wing Gee
College (Visor)
Po Leung Kuk Wu Chung College
(胡忠第一組)
Senior Category
Champion: HKTA Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School
(Team C)
First Runner-Up: Mu Kuang English School (mukuang)
Second Runner-Up: HKTA Tang Hin Memorial Secondary
School (Team B)
The Most Creative award: Aberdeen Technical School
(Mission Invisible)
The Best Presentation award: HKTA Tang Hin Memorial
Secondary School (Team B)
Merit awards: Carmel Divine Grace Foundation
Secondary School (霧中尋主恩)
HKTA Tang Hin Memorial Secondary
School (Team A)
Ends/Saturday, July 7, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:01
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