Last update: 2005
Dr. Lau first learned computer science in 1976, at Acadia. Ten years later, he received a PhD in computer science from Waterloo. His PhD research was on a concept related to process naming and structuring in distributed OS. Dr. Lau joined the Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong as a lecturer in 1987. His research in OS continued, which led to the formation of the Systems Research Group (SRG) in the department. The group's motto is to develop real software on real hardware to solve real problems. Over the years, the group has graduated over 40 MPhil/PhD students. He was appointed and started serving as the head of the department in 2000 (until 2005).
Dr. Lau is an active member of the IEEE Computer Society. He pioneered the society's Distinguished Visitors Program for Asia/Pacific in 1993. He served on the society's board of governors in 1998, as a member-at-large of the Publications Board, and then as vice president for chapters activities in 1999. He was a member of the society's Technical Activities Board, in charge of Asian technical activities, and was a core member of the ACM-IEEE/CS Joint Task Force on Curriculum 2001. He received a Golden Core recognition in 1998 and an IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000 for outstanding achievements and contributions to the IEEE Computer Society.
As an active member of the fast-growing Hong Kong computing community, Dr. Lau was elected into the Council of the Hong Kong Computer Society in 1990. He chaired the society's Education and Training Committee, Publications Committee, and Professional Development and Examinations Committee. He was an early promoter of open system technologies in Hong Kong and helped form one of the first open systems special interest groups in Hong Kong. Dr. Lau was a member of the engineering panel of the Research Grant Council, and a member of the vetting committee of the Innovation and Technology Fund.
Dr. Lau's research interests include operating systems, parallel and distributed computing, object-oriented programming, computer music, Internet and the web. He has written many journal and conference papers, and is a co-author (with Dr. C.-Z. Xu) of the book, Load Balancing in Parallel Computers, published by Kluwer Academic Press.
In his spare time, Dr. Lau pretends to be a musician. He derives a lot of pleasure from playing the violin, and had played in several amateur orchestras at times when he was not so much loaded with work. He was once a pianist in several Christian churches in Hong Kong.