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In memory of Professor Hongjun Lu |
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In loving memory of Hongjun and to carry on his unswerving pursuit for the broadening of knowledge in the database research through education, the Department of Computer Science will establish a memorial scholarship fund under Hongjun's name. The scholarship fund will be managed by a committee at HKUST. Our initial plan is to make use of the revenue generated from the fund for scholarship awards to be given away to selected applicants who should be postgraduate students from universities in Hong Kong and Mainland China in pursuit of database research. Details on the application and selection procedures are yet to be confirmed. We are now soliciting donations and contributions to this scholarship. For those who are interested in contributing to the "Hongjun Lu Memorial Scholarship", please visit the following URL for further information: Prof Hongjun Lu Scholarship Fund Lionel Ni |
Condolence messages
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Professor Hongjun Lu, 25 December 1945 – 3 March 2005
Prematurely taken from us, a void remains at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the place of our cherished colleague, teacher, mentor and friend, Professor Hongjun Lu.
A dedicated and brilliant academic respected by his peers, and a wonderful tutor viewed with equal measures of affection and reverence by his students, Hongjun lost his fight against cancer on the evening of 3 March.
As in his research, as in his teaching, Hongjun demonstrated exemplary mental strength, commitment, patience and courage as he bravely faced the challenges presented by his illness.
Typically, as he prepared to leave Hong Kong on his final journey to the Mainland, he had only smiles to spare for his colleagues and friends. It speaks volumes of the man that, even during this difficult moment, his primary concern was to reassure those close to him that there was hope for the future rather than to linger on his own plight.
Hongjun’s generous spirit and warm nature will be deeply missed. No longer will we enjoy his offers of tea, or the engaging conversation that always accompanied a drink with him. His colleagues in the Computer Science office still talk fondly of the occasion when, while away on sabbatical during Chinese New Year, Hongjun ensured that his co-workers each received his lai see packets and good wishes. For those who knew him, such demonstrations of his remarkable compassion and concern for others come as no surprise.
An acclaimed computer scientist, Hongjun Lu was without a doubt one of the pioneers of database development in China. His desire to bring down barriers in the world was reflected in his work. Indeed, nothing could be more symbolically fitting than that this modest man, who possessed a remarkable humanity and a rare ability to nurture friendships that spanned the globe, should be remembered for helping integrate China’s database systems with those of other countries.
Hongjun took his BSc from Tsinghua University, China, and his MSc and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His versatility knew no bounds, and after a successful spell working in the private sector at Honeywell, he moved into academia taking up a post at the National University of Singapore.
Messages of condolence for Hongjun have flooded into HKUST from all over the world, many of them from his former students and colleagues in Singapore. The loyalty and steadfastness of Hongjun’s character are demonstrated by the fact that he remained at NUS for over 12 years, before the call of the Motherland led him back towards China and his position at HKUST, where he joined us in 1998.
Hongjun leaves a tremendous legacy with his seminal work on data and knowledge base management systems, query processing and optimization, physical database design and database performance.
Respected as he was, his expertise was also called upon by numerous organizations. He was a trustee of the VLDB Endowment, a member of the ACM SIGMOD Advisory Board (1998-2002), an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, chair of the steering committee of the International Conference on Web-Age Information Management, and co-chair (1998-2001) and chair (2001-2003) of the steering committee of the Pacific-Asia Conference of Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining.
With his unstinting devotion to his family, friends and work, Hongjun leaves behind a vast number of grieving people whose lives he touched and improved with his presence. From Asia to North America and on across to Europe, it is testament to the esteem in which he and his work are held that the name of Hongjun Lu recurs again and again.
Hongjun is survived by his beloved wife Juqing Zhu, and his cherished daughter, Ying Lu. His memory will live forever in them, and among his extended family at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
陸宏鈞教授猝然離世，香港科技大學同仁痛失一位摯愛的同事，一位良師益友。
陸教授深受同事和學生推崇、擁戴，是一位熱心盡責，才華洋溢的學者，一位誨人不倦的好老師。3月3日傍晚，他因癌病在廣州與世長辭。
陸教授在與癌病搏鬥的過程中，一如他在教研工作所樹立的精神典範，展現出無比的勇氣和堅毅。
在最後一次離開香港赴廣州前，他不忘為同事和友好留下親切的笑容。即使在最艱難的時刻，他沒有惦掛自身的困境，反而安慰身邊的朋友，他對未來仍然充滿希望。他的高尚情操，令人肅然起敬。
我們深切懷念陸教授的謙厚恭和，親切友善：他愛以茶待客，侃侃而談；即使在學休年，仍不忘在農曆新年時為計算機科學系辦公室的同事送上“利是”，遙寄新春祝福。認識陸教授的人都折服於他的高風亮節。
陸教授是著名的計算機科學家，開拓中國資料庫科技的先驅。他致力打破世界的隔閡，將中國的數據庫系統與世界系統融合。我們懷念這位充滿仁愛、兼容天下的謙謙君子，他建立的深厚情誼，不分地域。
他於北京清華大學取得理學士學位後，留學美國威斯康辛大學麥迪遜分校，取得理學碩士和哲學博士學位。畢業後他先在工業界發展，加入著名的Honeywell公司，表現優秀，其後，他接受新加坡國立大學的教席，在學術界發展他的事業。
自陸教授病逝，來自世界各地的唁文不斷湧至科大，當中不乏他在新加坡工作期間的同事和學生。陸教授勤奮忠誠，在新加坡工作逾12年；1998年，在回饋祖國的感召下，他加入科大。
陸教授的研究工作不斷開創先河，給學術界留下豐富的遺產。他從事研究的學術領域包括數據庫及知識庫管理系統、查詢處理與優化及資料庫的設計與效能表現。
陸教授的學術成就廣獲推崇，他曾任VLDB Endowment信託人、美國計算機器學會SIGMOD顧問委員(1998-2002)、電機及電子工程師學會學術期刊Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering副編輯、萬維網時代資訊管理國際研討會籌備會主席、及知識探索及數據挖掘亞太區研討會籌備委員會協同主席(1998-2001)及主席(2001-03)。
陸教授對家庭、朋友和事業都全情投入，不少曾與他交往，並因而大受裨益的人，對他的逝世深表哀悼。從亞洲到北美，以至歐洲，陸宏鈞教授的名字一次又一次出現，見證著他的卓越成就。
陸教授遺孀朱菊青女士及愛女陸穎，科大的大家庭，將永遠懷念陸教授。
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