HKUST Alumni, Winter 2017

The best people to help

H KUST students as they

start to navigate their way

through the professional

world are those who have

been through

it

themselves.

That's

why the University's

Development and Alumni

Office (DAO) organizes

various activities that allow

current students to tap

into

our network of former

students.

Help

... and

many more

activities

The success of these events relies on the participation of our alumni. If you would like to help out by sharing your professional expertise and experience with the professionals of tomorrow, please let us know a little about yourself, and what you think our students can learn from you. Email us at a/[email protected] Qir events around the world

I.I

a/um.ust.hklhappenings

Professional resources

!ALUMNI

04

02

For

ew

ord

By Vice-President for Institutional Advancement Sabrina Lin

03

Intervi

ew

New Vice-President Sabrina Lin brings fresh eyes from a stellar career in IT to her role at HKUST

04

Feature

Fintech is shaking up the V1.0rld of banking, aid our aumni are at the forefront of the revolution. Four

of

them tell us how

10

Edg

e

Back at HKUST after 10 years as Secretary tor Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor KC Chan wants to see fintech become central to what the University does

12

World

Stage

Find out about recent alumni activities and gatherings around the world

14

In th

e Frame

The HKUST Robotics Team just can't stop winning prestigious local and international competitions. Three team members along with its leader, Professor Tim Woo, explain how they do it

15

Happenings

Alumni groups of all shapes and sizes let us know what they've been getting up to

19

Class

Notes

Discover what personal milestones your fellow alumni have notched up recently

22

Giving

Back

The Student Emergency Fund, which allows students with financial problems to continue with their studies, is just one of many ways the Alumni Endowment Fund helps to support students

HKUST ALUMNI DECEMBER 2017 I I

I

CONTENTS

•

«!D

THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY published by Developme,t& Alumni Office

03

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Clear Wmer Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tet. (852) 23586158 Fax: (852) 3743 0939 Emal: alumnlOust.hk Website: aum.ust.hk

0

2 I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

FOREWORDj

Facing fresh horizons

Dear alumni,

D

would like to welcome all of~ to the

latest issue of HKUST Alumni. Having just started my new job at HKUST, I'm enjoying getting to know all members of tre University community, and in particular our

valued alumni.

I

was

very happy to rreet with alUTini from the Oass of 1997 on campus on November 25 at their 20th amiversary reu,ion. It was delightfu to

see

tre

weys in which their lives ard careers have progressed,

and how they contnue to maintain such dose ties with treir alma mater and each other.

And our community of former students continues to grow: In November we also held the Congregation for the Oass of 2017, welcoming

lass

c.

I was delighted to see many alumni from the Class of 1997 and their families coming back to campus on November25

some 4,825 new graduates to the fold - meaning

that HKUST now has more than 67,000 alumni.

We'd like to extend our warmest congratulations to all of the new graduates. Most importantly, we also want to stress that graduating from the

University doesn't mean saying goodbye; instead it's an opportunity to stay involved, connectoo and

engaged. We would very much like to maintain fies

with every single one of ~u.

Our graduates also continue to make the

University proud. HKUST rose one place to 12th

worldwide and first in Greater China in the annual Global Employability University Ranking this year. This is the fifth consecutive year that our graduates have been ranked In the top 20 globally

and number-one in Greater China It's an achievement for which every HKUST graduate should be congratulated: Your

personal qualities and the high regard that your employers

place on ~u have made you

among the most competitive and desirable employees in the global job market.

Technology is particularly central to all aspects of

business these days, and the

University has a pivotal role to

play in shaping the economy of the future. In this issue

we

profile several alumni who have gone on to work in senior roles for companies that are shaking

up the world of finance. We also talk to Professor KC Chan, recently returned to HKUST after 10

years as the Government's Secretary for Financial

Services and the Treasury, who is on a mission to

put fintech at the heart of what we do.

Finally, as 2017 draws to a close, I wish you all a prosperous and fruitful new year.

Best regards,

Professor Sabrina Lin

I

INTERVIEW

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 I

31

Technology transfer

N

ew Vice-President for Inst

i

tut

i

onal Advancement Professor

Sabrina Un hopes to increase

HKUST'

s

diversity, evangelize the

i

mportance of

technology-

and engage with all

of the

Un

iversi

ty's al

umn

i

D

t's been a busy first few weeks on the job for HKUSrs new

Vice-President for Institutional Advancement Sabrina Un. With a remit that includes o~rseeing alumni affairs, fundraising, PR, international engagement and mainland relations, Hong Kong-born Sabrina, who joined the Uni~rsity on November 1 , faces a very different set of challenges from her previous career. Most of that has been spent in the IT industry, much of It in the US for Hewlett-Packard, along with two Silicon Valley start-ups. Her most recent job was as Corporate Vice President, Commercial Business for Greater China at Cisco Systems, where she was nominated as one of Forbes China's Top 50 Business Women for 2017.

"What doesn't change is you're still trying to develop people,· she says. "I've

been a people manager for a long time. It's also a large Institution like my previous employers. And I've found myself learning a lot from people on the team and across the University, who have a lot of experience in the education sector."

During her IT career Sabrina always worked near major academic institutions and has periodically given guest lectures - at Stanford Unl~rsity when she VvOrked In Silioon Valley, for example, and as Adjunct Associate Professor for HKUST's Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management from 2010 to 2016.

"It's always good to be around energetic, creative young people - I'm excited by their energy, and it energizes me,• she says, adding that with the youngest of her own four children recently going to university, she no longer gets the company of )QUng people at home.

And the fact that much of it is new to her

is a big part of her new job's appeal, she says. "The other job offers I had were ail in the

rr

sector, and were very similar. At the start of my career I was first interested in the academic world, and this job gives me a chance to see what I missed. Plus HKUST is only just over 25 years old and it's ochieved a lot; this is an opportunity to see if I can contribute to the next 25 years being just as spectacular as the first 25. If I can do that, it'll be a lot of fun."

She hopes her background in the IT industry will give her a few special insights, particularly when it comes to the growing centrality of technology in business. "These days all companies are technology companies," she says. "Technology is disrupting every industry. Traditionally Hong Kong students have favoured sectors like finance and professions like law and medicine, but hopefully they'll come to realize how important technology is, irrespective of industry.•

The senior management of all Hong Kong's universities tends to be male-dominated, so Sabrina's appointment in itself is a welcome move in the direction of diversity. She believes there are multiple ways the University and its people can help encourage more women to progress to positions of influence.

"We need to be good role-models. We East Asians sometimes like not to self-promote, so there's a need for advocacy. There are some policies we can also consider, like making sure when hiring that we haw a diverse set of candidates and a diverse interview panel. And we need to get more young girts interested in technology -there's a lot we can do with current students and alumni to help with

university recruitment among girts.• Her number-one priority, though, is to engage with a broad range of alumni, not Just the most prominent among them. In particular, she plans to coordinate more events on a Uniwrsity-wide basis, rather than within individual schools and departments.

"We have more than 67,000 alumni now,• she says. "It's Important to leverage them, not just for donations but also as mentors, empioy€rs and ambassadors. The focus should be on participation.

"By working together we can make a much bigger impact than by working individually. Our job is to get the whole Uni~rsity community to prefer, choose and advocate for HKUST. We want everyone to

be an ambassador. We have a huge number of latent potential ad\Ocates, and our biggest job Is to get them in\Olved." i.

1

4

I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

_FEATUREJ

F

i

nancial technology

,

or

fintech,

i

s turning the wor

l

d of bus

i

ness

and finance

upside down, offering rad

ically

new approaches to

financial

transactions that

can

make them

cheaper, faster,

more

convenient

and

less risky.

And

some

of HKUST's most

innovative,

entrepreneur

ial

alumn

i

are at the

forefro

nt

of

this

revolut

i

on,

spearheading fintech start-

up

s

.

T

The shipping industry has a problem, and 300cubits,

founded by 1994 alumni Johnson Leung and Jonathan

Lee, thinks it has the solution.

"We saw that in shipping there's a situation that's

quite interesting," says Johnson. "Usually when we book things

like air tickets, the customer will pay first; booking a hotel, you put

down some kind of deposit. When you initiate it, you put down some

commitment, so you make sure the one who provides the service knows they will get compensated whether you show up or not.

"But the funny thing in container shipping is they don't have

such a process - when a customer makes a booking, they don't

need to put down anything. When they don't show up, there are no

consequences, so you can imagine, a lot of customers will handle bookings very casually. So container liners tend to overbook 30 to 40 per oont every time. Then you create inconvenienoo for the

Tat Lee and Karen Ho (above, left to right) are helping revolutionize lending; while Jonathan

Lee and Johnson Leung

(opposite, left to right) want to change the face of the shipping industry

FEATURE

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 15

"The University gave me

a so

l

id foundat

i

on in my career"

- Jonathan Lee

1

6

I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

customers; if they make a booking and get it confirmed from a liner, when they send the cargo into the terminal, actually they don't know whether it'll get on board. You can't do business like that.

"So

we

saw a problem, and recently there's been an urgency in the industry to

fix it. They came up with a solution, bank guarantees, which we thought was not very effective: it's hard to get banks in\Qlved, and very expensive when they do.•

The pair were inspired to form 300cubits, which deploys a cryptocurrency-a decentralized, digital medium of exchange protected by cryptography, of which the best known is bitcoin - called TEU. It's based on the platform Ethereum, which supports a type of secure, distributed ledger known as a blockchain. Tokens will be given to shipping companies and their customers, who can use them as booking deposits; the system protects both the former, who are

FEATURE

J

compensated in case of a no-show, and the latter, who know a confirmation actually means something.

"We started thinking that the liquidity in the crypto market could be used in this case," says Johnson. "So

we

created the cryptocoin TEU token; because we created It, it doesn't really cost anyone anything. To make it worth something,

we

went to the capital markets and sold 20 per cent of the tokens, so all the tokens

we

create have a value - they can be used when we hand them out to shipping companies and customers as booking deposits. When they use them, the value creation sustains the market."

The company launched on August 1. So far two per cent of the total number of available tokens have been sold, for about US$500,000, valuing the whole stock of tokens at US$25m. Another 18 per cent will

FEAT

U

RE

"Working in

a start-up is

the best way

to learn. And

it's much

more fun"

-

Ta

t Lee

1111111111111111111111 II I I I I I I I I I I I I I

ICO next year. The big challenge, though, will be marketing it to the shipping industry.

"They are receptive, especially the commercial people," says Johnson. "They see the value in it, and it involves very little financial exposure from their side. But blockchain and cryptocurrencies are still a very new idea. So they're trying to get a grasp of what it entails and what internal procedures they need to put in plare. It takes some effort to sell to them.•

The pair both previously held a number of senior positions in the banking and shipping industries, but Jonathan says the business climate has become more conducive to start-ups in rerent years.

"While we are still not too old, we wanted

to determine what we wanted to do In the second half of our careers. We have been lucky in the banking Industry in the past 20 -odd years and we have accumulated some wealth, so we are able to do something a bit bigger than being an employee of a company. Innovation is getting more attention than before. There's a lot of resourres, like VC funding. And the regulators are very supportive of fintech development."

Jonathan, who studied finance at HKUST, says "the University gave me a solid foundation in my career. In the current business we need to do everything, from the most tedious things to CEO-type tasks, and the training in University helped a lot."

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 I 7

"We graduated in 1994, so we were the first batch of students," adds Johnson, who studied biology. "My studies weren't related to shipping or finance, but the experience of being the first graduates - I think many of them like to try new things, or we wouldn't have entered a university that was still a construction site."

Upending Lending

Welab is Hong Kong's fintech poster child. The company operates mainland Chinese mobile lending platform Wolaidai

(ft*~) and Hong Kong's leading online lending platform Welend.hk, which both work on a simple principle. By utilizing mobile big data, the platforms are able to

1

s

I HKUST ALUMNI w1NTER 2011

provide instant loan approval without ever

having to meet the borrowers. That means

they don't need branches, slashing costs

and allowing them to be competitive

on rates.

Welab is also a fundraising behemoth, closing its latest strategic financing round In November with US$220 million from Alibaba

Entrepreneurs Fund, CCB (International),

Credit Suisse and International Finance

Corporation. Its other investors include CK

Hutchison's TOM group, Khazanah Nasional

Berhad, ING Bank, Silicon Valley-based

venture capital fund Sequoia Capital,

FEATUREJ

Tom Group and China Post's joint venture

Ule.com and Guangdong Technology

Financial Group. Welab's US$160 million

series B funding was the largest for any

Hong Kong start-up in 2016 and, acrording

to KPMG, the fourth largest fintech funding round in the world during 01 2016.

It now employs more than 500 people,

including about 80 in Hong Kong. Among

those driving the company forward are two

HKUST alumni: Hong Kong General Manager

Tat Lee, who has been with Welab since

its launch in 2013, and CFO Karen Ho, who

joined in 2014.

After graduating in computer science from HKUST in 2004, Tat began his career

in the IT department of HSBC, subsequently

moving to the risk department. But "I felt like

I could not find satisfaction from working

in a bank," he says. "Welab's founders Simon Loong and Kelly Wong had an idea

to use technology to Improve the experience

in lending. We know that there are a lot

of problems with the traditional lending

experience: having to wait a long period

before you get approved, having to submit

a lot of documentation, always needing to

spend a lot of time lining up in a branch.

Using technology can change the existing

business model and create an impact In society by giving people a more efficient

lending experience. That's why I joined

Welab as one of the starting members of

the company."

Karen, a 2009 grocluate of the

Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA

Program, first worked as an auditor with

PricewaterhouseCoopers, then joined

Yahoo Hong Kong when it was still a

start-up. She then moved to an adtech company,

and joined Welab after meeting Loong.

"I've always loved working for start-ups,"

she says. "I love bang able lo make an

Impact on the business, as opposed to big

companies, where you're just one part of the

organization. It's rewarding, because you can

instantly see whether what you do makes an

impact.• The stock options start-ups typically

offer don't hurt either, she oclds.

Joining the company back at the start,

when it only had seven employees, meant

Tat's job involved a bit of everything, from

legal contracts to writing marketing copy.

And his job has remained just as varied ever

since, he says.

"If ){)u're working in a large organization, you can only focus on one single thing. Working in a start-up, we always enrourage

FEATURE

people to have a lot of exposure, and to join wtiatever meeting they want to join. It's very exciting. I've only been in the company four and a half years, but I feel like I've learned three or four times what I learned in 1 0 years at HSBC.

"People in Hong Kong are a little bit oonservative, • oontinues Tat. "They always want to go into a large organization and receive training. But actually working in a start-up is the best way to learn. And it's much more fun.

''Technology is changing from day to day. We know the banks are not going to change; they don't embrace change. When we move from a stable environment to a start-up, we don't see risk; we see opportunity."

His education at HKUST has allowed

"I've always

loved working

for start-ups:

I

love being

able to maKe

an impact

on the

bus

i

ness"

-

Karen

Ho

11111111111111111111111111111

I I I I I I I I I I I I

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 I 9

him to adapt to a rarge of different roles, he adds. "HKUST offers a very broad-based educational program. We have the freedom to pick a lot of electives by ourselves, and that gave me exposure to different areas of business. HKUST particularly focuses on

oollaboration and group work. That helped me to strengthen the mindset of being a good team player. I really love teamwork, and I ercourage people to get more exposure outside their orignal function."

"It's been about being able to put thoory

into practice; adds Karen. "My classmates on the EMBA program were all world-dass, and came from very diverse bockgrounds, so

it was an incredible learning experience for me. Even after we graduated, we still have a very tightly knit community." "

I

10 I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

EDGE

j

Fighter for fintech

Professor Chan Ka-keung was plucked from the world of academ

i

a and pitched headlong

into

the world

of pol

i

t

ics

in 2007. Now

back at HKUS

T

after a

10-year stint

as Secretary for

F

inancial

Services and the

T

reasury, he

is spearheading

the development

of fintech

at the

Un

ive

rs

i

ty, as well as

advocating for its

deve

l

opment

in

w

i

der

society.

El

rkonown as fessor Chan KC Chan, mKa-keung, ight be also

HKUST's Adjunct Professor

of Finance these days, but his

career has also taken him Into some 1very different territory. Having spent that career entirely In academia, at Ohio State University

and then, from 1993, at HKUST, where he

was Dean of Business and Management

from 2002, he was called to serve in the

Hong Kong government as Secretary for

Financial Services and the Treasury in 2007.

He recently returned to academic

pastures after leaving his government post, where in recent years he has been a keen

adlA'.>cate of fintech - technologies that help

consumers and financial institutions conduct transoctions more efficiently, quickly and cheaply; in his new job he is also focused

on spearheading fintech-related research and study. The current wave of fintoch innovation and disruption of existing ways of doing business, says Professor Chan, is like nothing we've seen before.

"Technology is not new to the financial-services industry, starting with the ATM.

When we look at the financial services in the past, there's a lot of innovation. What makes this round of fintech so exciting is that it

really has the potential of changing the way of doing business in the financial-services industry. Take, for example, blockchain, a technology that can decentralize the way

rerords are kept, and can potentially make a lot of transoction verification very easy, saving costs; or the advancement of artificial intelligence, which has a potentially huge impoct on the industry. We're seeing new

technology that has a chance of changing the

rules of the game."

China Rising

Fintech is particularly important to the future economy of Hong Kong, he adds, mainly because of the huge potential of the mainland Chinese market. "Fintech is going on around the world, but it's going

particularly strongly in China.

"China has always been under-served by the financial-services industry in the past. Banks are hugely Inefficient. If you open an occount at one branch, ~u cannot

take money out from another branch.

People didn't use credit cards; only a few

years ago everyone carried around a stack of cash. The development of fintech in

China is particularly breathtaking. Mobile

phone technology changes the way all this electronic commerce is done.

So

what we've seen in China is a total leapfrogging over everybody in the world in terms of going from a cash society to a cashless society.

And in my view that's only the beginning.

Chinese companies amass huge amounts of data -Alibaba through AliPay, Tencent

through WeChat, the banks - and big data is the nutrition of fintoch.

"In Hong Kong we are ranked quite

high in terms of banking efficiency, but suddenly China is overtaking everyone. So it's important for Hong Kong to change

and invest so that we can upgrade our technology, to give consumers a better

experience. Our consumers are frequent

visitors to China, and they will want to have

the same kind of oonvenience in Hong Kong. "Secondly,

we

can be a very good bridge

between Chinese and international fintech. China is doing fintoch in a dosed market, but

its companies have international ambitions.

Hong Kong can be a perfect place for

them to come in and experiment; it's very convenient and they know the market. I think it's very important for Hong Kong to grab the opportunity. Hong Kong should aim to be much bigger in tem1s of how we contribute to and collaborate with Chinese fintoch companies, and that means we need to

heavily invest in R&D.

"I would hope that Hong Kong can aim to be an innovator. That means we have to

go out and support our own fintoch Industry.

ln1vesting in people Is important. That means going back to university."

Academic Innovation

His own most important ochievements during his time in the government to

enoourage the development of fintoch in

Hong Kong, says Professor Chan, came as a result of his role chairing a steering oommittee on the subject. "We worked with

both regulators and industry. The regulators halve set up sandboxes: when you're a new

toch company, you might not know how to comply with regulations - even existing banks that are trying to introduce a service on mobile. In a sandbox something more experimental can take place."

HKUST also has a critical role to play

in shaping the fintech professionals of the

future, he adds, with the teoching of and research into financial innovation at the

University evolving fast "I have been back since August 1, and I was 1very happy to talk

to the Dean of Business and Management

Professor Kar Yan Tam, about the number of foculty members who are submitting research proposals on fintech. It was the Dean's wish

that we incorporate more fintoch into the existing curria.ilum. Potentially fintoch degree oourses could be launched. We have faa.ilty

members who are strong in the subject." And while his new role at the University is quite a contrast from his old one in

government, he says there are more similarities than you might think. "Number

one, I was an academic from day one, and

I always felt that never changed in terms of how I approach a subjoct like fintech. I

believe my training as an academic always guided me as a policymaker and a regulator.

"Of course being bock in an academic environment has been very different. In

government I would be the policymaker; now

I'm finding myself more of an advocate. "And I have a more immediate task,

which is to help position the Uni1versity's fintech program. At HKUST we are already

an important player in this field, and I think we should play a key role. We can do more In terms of training doctoral and masters

students in fields we're good at, like Al, data sciences and business management." 4

ED

GE

"I would

hope that

Hong Kong

can aiin to be

an innovator"

II I I I II I I I I I I II

1111111111111111

Ill Ill II

I

12 I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

W

ORLD ST

AGE

I

From tr

e

e-p

l

ant

ing

to table tennis

Several special events have helped enthusiastic HKUST alumni in Toronto become close- than ever. They joined counterparts from

~

.L

~

other Horg Kong l.lliversities at a tree-planting event in June, and also a table tennis relay race in October in celebration of both the

, T ,

20th anniversary of the HKSAR and the 150th anniversary of Canada. They also spent a pleasant afternoon together on Toronto's

favorite rooftop patio.

In

sp

ir

a

tion

i

n Atl

a

nt

a

~ Alumni in Atlanta congregated at a dim sum gathering In

SIii:::

celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival in October. Among

· those present were Siheng Ji and Xinlu Liu, who are working - at Coca-Cola and Koning Corporation respectively. They are both prominent figures in their industries and everyone was motivated

by their inspiring experiences.

~ A broad spectrum of programs organized

&,!la

by our alumni in Singapore help them

to bond and spend time together. Apart from regular get-togethers, alumni got the

chance to meet up at special occasions including a Chinatown

walking tour, a gala dinner hosted by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, a joint-university Mid-Autumn Festival Dinner and an Al panel talk.

St

a

r

t-

up

s

p

ec

ial

•

Operated by HKUST R and D Corporation (Shenzhen) Ltd, the Blue Bay Incubator in Qianhai, Shenzhen offers a comprehensive nurturing environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, and assists HKUST members in establishing start-ups, as well as benefitting the local society and regional economy. In September 2017, a group of alumni from various backgrounds joined a guided tour of Qianhai in a rewarding

I

WORLD STAGE

Happy times

-~ ~ Everyone at the happy-hour drinks held in

• London in April was overjoyed to reconnoct

-~ ~ · with old friends and meet new faces. Alumni

.,. ~ here maintain close ties and always have a lot of fun together. Celebrations of the festive season will follow soon.

~ Professor Chia-Wei Woo,

1111:

founding president of · HKUST, met alumni in

_ . Northern California at a

cozy dinner. It was an opportunity for everyone to cherish their fond memories since the University was founded 26 years ago. Throughout 2017, there have been various get-togethers Including a Unkedln campus tour, a board game day and mid-autumn night sky viewing, alongside

regular family and networking lunch and dinner gatherings. Our alumni association has also

become a member of the United Chinese

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 I

131

•

Alumni and students in Beijing cheered on the HKUST Football Team during their match against the Oxford University Football Team at the 2nd World Elite University Football Tournament at Tsinghua University. Though the HKUST team lost the fiercely contested match, it showed its never-say-die spirit throughout.

Reco

r

d breakers

•

Organized in Shanghai

in celebration of the 20th

anniversary of the HKSAR, the large-scale

All in One Heart event brought together alumni who, joined by many others, broke a world reoord by putting together a backdrop featuring 15,000 brooches. On another occasion,

they collaborated with alumni of other Hong Kong universities to present the Shanghai and Hong Kong Economic Forum, at which renowned academics and experts shared their views on topics including

One Belt

One

Road and internationalization of the renminbi.

I

14 I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

_{IN THE}

_FRAME

I

The

robots are con1ing

The Robotics

Team

is

an

HKUST

success story.

Formed

in 2003, the team has since received remarkable

results

at local and international student robotics competitions.

Th

is

year alone

it

has picked up no fewer than

11

prizes,

i

nclud

ing

the world championship of the

Marine

Advanced

Technology Education

Center's

international

Remotely

Operated Vehicles

(ROV)

Competition

i

n

Long

Beach

,

California: the

first

team from

Asia

to scoop the award.

Led

since 2010 by Professor Tim Woo,

Found

ing

D

irector

of the Center for Global

&

Community Engagement at

the School of

Eng

ineering,

who

is

an

HKUST

alumnus himself,

it

consists of three

s

ub-teams

,

with a total of

70

members who come from a diverse range of educational and demographic backgrounds; senior

st

udents

provide

mentorship to

j

unior

ones. Among the team's current members are

Nicole

Yueh Chee

Lin

of the

Rooocon Team;

Lee Chun

Hei

of the Smartcar

Team;

and Yoon Hongseo of the ROV

Team

- all of whom say they now want to

pursue a career

in

robotics.

How many applications are there to join the team, and how are

team members selected?

Prof Woo: This

year

we receil,ed rrore than 300 applications, from Busness and Humarities students as

we!

as Science and Engineerirg. During our recruitment

we

try to re~h out to all students: we want to encourage a diverse range of students to participate. 0Lr theme is Family: if you take part in a corrpetition, no one can guarantee y0u'II be

Ire champion, but

we can guarantee

that

we work as a family

. Students can benefit from that team spirit: each ore of trem can contribute. How much are student team members guided by staff, and to what extent are they left to their own devices?

Prof Woo: I give them some tecmical advice, but mairiy I like the design of the robots to be driven by trem. The team leaders uswly haven't

managed a team before - it teaches them problem-solving, leadership and &:hedulng. And wren we take part in an international competition, we visit the local uriversity to share skils and krowledge. It helps to

broaden tre stl.dents' roizons. In high sct'ool, all 1heir project work is iruividual. When they work as a team here, there are always conflicts and different expectations. We train them to leave their oomfort zone. Trey

prep~e a lot of oontirgercy plans. When a problaTI happens. what can trey do about It? They really eri<>Y tre jourey.

Would it be fair to say the team are also evangelists for robotics?

Prof Woo: They have to reach out and demonstrate what robotics can do in society.

Public demonstrations are a good forum to do so. Also, robotics can be combined with community service in order to contribute and give back to society.

In what ways does membership of the team help the students?

Prof Woo: Students become more mature and get hands-on experience. A lot of them

proposed their own final-year projects, Instead of hav,ng them assigned by their professors, which strengthens their confidence.

Robotics Team

Nicole Yueh, Lee Chun Hei, Prof Tim Woo and Yoon Hongseo

What made you decide

to

get involved with the Robotics Tean?

Yoon Hongseo: I didn't have any robotics experience before, but when I saw the underwater robots at the robotics team's promotion

booth, I just thought that was so cool. There's been a lot to learn, both technically and interpersonally. Now I'm a senior team mEmber

and I have to lead freshmen, which is new for me.

What do you enjoy most about it?

Lee Chun Hei: I've enjoyed working with many people from different

backgrounds, fighting for the same goals, helping each other to

improve and working hard to get good results in competitions. What's the most valuable thing you've learned as part of the team?

Nicole Yueh: I've learned that we need to be aware of technical limitations In one competition

we planned

to use a lac,er but the judge

said that wasn't allowed for safety reasons. You have to respond and think of alternative solutions very quickly. Because of our training, we are able to solve problems quickly and creatively. You learn soft skills

like becoming a team player as well.

Yoon Hongseo: The most important thing I've learned is to prepare

for the worst case and make plans for different scenarios. That takes effort. ,

I

H

A

PP

E

NI

NG

S

Convocation commitments

Alumni were overjoyed to come back to campus and spend a cozy elA:lning in the Conference Lodge for the HKUST Alumni Association's annual dinner

in October. With the theme A1: Where We All Belong, the dinner was a rare opportunity for alumni to look back over an eventful past year and look forward to the next. Serving the rommunity is one of A1's key missions, and as

always its Community Service Team organized the distribution of

mooncakes before the Mid-Autumn Festival, with more than 60 alumni and their families delivering gifts and their good wishes to elderly people. A1 Exco members also said farewell to Dr Eden

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 115

Convocation

_trm,m~,,~ae

To mark the new

academic year, the HKUST Convocation held a welcome drinks happy hour for alumni and students, where they could meet new friends and

find out how the Convocation supports the advancement of HKUST and serves as a

bridge between the University and the public. To get

involved or find out more about the

Woon, the former Vice-President for Institutional Advancement, before his retirement in October, expressing their gratitude for his support of the Alumni Association over the past seven years.

I

16 I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

The reunion

The Class of 2007 celebrated the 10-year

anniversary of their graduation in August, gathering on campus with their families. The get-together was marked by plenty of

laughter as alumni reconnected with each other. It was followed by a bus tour around the campus, showing the former students their alma mater's rapid development over the

past decade.

Winning streak

HAPPENINGS I

Investment for the future

The MBA Class of 2016 have come up with an innovative way to fund their class reunions. Before graduation, they started a company,

Reunion Capital, with the 20-plus classmates

each depositing a small amount Into a fund and deciding as a group where to invest it. They then

use this money to pay for a reunion every two years. The debut saw them take up residence in a villa near Trieste in northeastern Italy. If other groups of alumni would like to do something similar, they're always happy to talk them through the process.

The year 2017 has been a particularly rewarding one for the paddlers of the Alumni Dragon Boat Club. Among several exceptional results, they beat some very strong competition to finish third in the BOCHK Cup at the Dragon Boat Festival in Shatin. Early

In the year the club formed a new team comprising women who are new to dragon-boat

paddling, which has gone on to race at several events.

Newty launched in 2017, A Coffee for your Thoughts

helps current undergraduate students explore working life by connecting them with alumni volunteers in casual, one-off meetings where they can learn

about that person's personal and

professional development after graduating. Alumni sharing their experiences in the first round of this initiative include Jackson Rothe of Lufthansa Technik, Amy Wan of Trimoo Group, Jacky Mak of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited and Jessica Ho of Commercial Radio.

I

H

A

PP

E

NI

NG

S

Success stories

To inspire students to follow ther start-up dreams, the HKUST Convocation and the Development and Alumni Office co-organized an Alumni Entrepreneur

Sharing session, where three alumni talked about their

innovations in the tech start-up sector. Students and alumni alike enjoyed an engaging conversation about the ups and downs of their start-up joumE¥s with Nelson Chu of Expresii, Cathy Jim of RHT Industries and Kevin Wong of Origami Labs.

~

EMBA e}rtensions

Members of the EMBA Alumni Association extended a wam, welcome to EMBA freshmen at the school commencement ceremony In September, giving them tips on adapting to their new environment. In the same month, golf lovers joined up with their counterparts at other universities at the 2017 Overseas Chinese Town 4th International EMBA Golf Tournament, achieving Impressive results.

\f

-2017"~fn~~l!;f.12ruWtJ,tfiWjl~fiE00fij;EMBAili$g~~q

The Engineering Enterprise

Management Alumni Association (EEMAA) extended Its wam,est welcome to the latest batch of students in its residential program at

the Hong Kong Regal Riverside Hotel in August. Professor Fugee Tsung of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics

Management gave an opening speech to the newcomers, which was followed by a sharing session and an introduction to the EEMAA and its forthcoming events.

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

1

171

The Dragon Boat Team of the MBA Alumni Association hosted a spectacular open day on campus and out on the water, allowing the numerous attendees to get a deeper understanding about dragon boating and the team. Over the years the paddlers have achieved incredible results and this year has been no exception, with achievements including winning the gold plate at the final

mixed heat at a Cheung Chau Premier League race in June. Other events were also overwhelmed by MBA graduates,

including the Friday Monthly MBA Alumni Mixer; and the Future Camp - Adjustment Problems of New Public Housing Estates in Hong Kong.

Global networking

,<um,;

"""""vs

am

II

scattered around the ~

globe, so the Dual - ·

Degree Program

C!1

·

in Technology

and Management Alumni

Association has launched a

career sharing session via Skype.

IA

I!]

.

Alumni speakers have revealed their tips on pursuing further studies both abroad and in Hong Kong. Visit their website to find out more and meet the alumni.

j

1s I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

_HAPPENINGS

I

Books and bikes

Members of the Mainland Alumni Association had a fruitful book-sharing session in September, co-organized by its Clear Water Bay Reading Club and HKAORS Salon. HKUST's Professor Zhang Dongcai addressed members on the

importance of morals In modern society. They also went for a relaxing bike ride to Tai Po together.

Members of the Volleyball Alumni Team have

maintained close ties since they graduated; apart from regular matches, they often spend weekends together with families, and the community keeps on growing.

Friendly games

Alumni football

enthusiasts had a fierce yet fun-filled match with

their counterparts from Yang-En University on a pleasant Saturday afternoon on campus

in July, demonstrating the close rapport they've developed since graduating.

Top toasts

Alumni can sharpen their

communication skills at the

meetings held by the MBA Alumni Toastmasters Club at Business

Central on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. The two-hour meetings

give everyone an opportunity to practice conducting meetings, giving Impromptu and prepared speeches, and offering constructive evaluation.

The Alumni Golf Club hosts a range of events suitable for everyone from veterans to beginners. Games In the past couple of months included autumn golf fun days at Kau Sai Chau and Nansha Golf Club, an indoor golf gala night organized in

collaboration with HKUST Alumni Association, and the Alumni Golf Club x Bentley golf day.

The Alumni Wine Association

brings wine lovers together at

its monthly wine workshops and gatherings, which have

recently included Unlock the Mystery of Whisky and Discover

Wines for Business Occasions,

in collaboration with the MBA Alumni Association. Established

with the aim of engaging alumni

through wine appreciation and

promoting entrepreneurship through wine culture, the

associatioo is

II.~

always on the ~..:. ~ lookout for ·

I

CLASS NOTES

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 119

Where are they now ...

Life can be a fast-moving journey for all of us, and alumni always have plenty of

[!].[!]

post-graudation achievements to chronicle, from professional achievements to marriages,·

births and other personal milestones. Through Class Notes, you can let all your former •

-classmates know how your life has progressed since you left the University.

[!]

·

.

,

11Ar,A

Brian Wu

2000BBA1S

I was delighted to be elected

as

the Chairman of Hong Kong Association

d Freight Forwarding and Logistics. Starting my career In finanoe and IT, I stepped into the cargo business In 2003 and then joined my family's company,

BEL International Logistics, in 2006.

Kelvin Lo

2004BBA1S

Presa,tly a lecturer at the School d

Professional Education and ExOOJtive DeJelopment at The Hong Kong

Polytechnic University, I was thriled to receive the CPCE C>.Jtstanding Teaching Pertormance/.Achievement

Award 2016117.

Luu Kar Wai & Terry

Tsang

2013 BSc BIOL

et

2011 BEng

MECH

Magic brought us together for life:

Liu Ying

2017 MSc MAED

Upon graduation, I started teaching mathematics at the new Shenzhen

Dalton Xinhua School. Unlike traditional schools. our students are grouped Into families, with each family comprised of students from different gradeS. I am the growth mentor d the fox family -we have lunch together

and hang out before and after class. It is a valuable opportunity for our

students to learn from each other, which Is critical to their personal growth.

Bruno Lee

2009MSc!M

Andrew

L

au

2010 BScAPHYMS

I recently participated in the 2017

ASTC Asian Cup triathlon at Sunny Bay.

Our love story began when we first

met on campus at a Magic Club

activity in 2010. We have relocated

to Liechtenstein since our wedding In August 2017.

With lhe support of , 9"'"P of '""ntee.-s.

most•

my ciassmetes at HKUST. I "'"" '°"nded " - '

~I

Curiosity, which uses a brand new micro-computer called the P.aspberry Pi and recycled monitors, :;. :i,

keyboards and mice from corporate donors to promote computer literacy and coding, and most 1¥ ~

importantly to provide equal opportunities to learn, to children in need. I have also started a company,

[!l

.,, ·

20 I HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017

CLASS NOTES

I

Shum Chit Yan

2000 BE11gCPEG, 2014MSc IM

A travel enthusiast, I have

published the book Before the Age

of40(//11+ziiri), In which I share

my travel experience in places

including the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America during

my one-year sabbatical from v.ork.

Carrie

Ng

2010 BBA GBUS

I was honored to be named as one of the 2017 Top 30 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders by EMpower and the Anancial Times. Presently working In the banking industry in London, I am committed to

promoting diversity and inclusion in both my workplace and the wider community.

Debbie Tsui

&

Jeremy Chiu

2010 BBA MARK e1 2010 BBA GBUS

We were randomly assigned to the same project group during our year-one studies by our marketing professor, who joked: "Hug your new

friend. He or she may become your lifelong partner." And it came true on February 18, 2017.

Raymond Wong

2006 BEng ELEC

-After dating for tv.o years, Yuen Ling and

I tied the knot on November 9, 2017.

2014MSc1MT

Jainam Bharatkumar

Mehta

(right)

2017 BEng ELEC

The ECE final project from Saif Ahmed. Ahmed Ben Ayed and me, Brain-computer Interface for Wheelchair Control, completed

under the supervision of Professor

Jianan Ou, was awarded the Silver Prize at the HKElA Innovation &

Technology Project Competition

Award 2017. We hope this project will revolutionize life fa tetraplegic people by letting them control their wheelchair navigation through the power of their thoughts.

Mandy

Chi

&

Chau Wing

Lung

2006 BBA MARK e1 2006 BBA

MARK, 2012 MBA

We were excited to welcome Travis to our family in December 2016.

C

Sabrina Jaap

[!]

.

I~[!]

I established our brand TeneTRIO- derived from the

Oeft)

41111111 ~ ~ · 1: Latin name of the mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, and ; : . also signifying our three founding partners, Katrin, Ina

[!lt,

and me - in Germany in June 2017. We make special

dog treats from edible Insects, which are sustainable, healthy and tasty, providing an alternative for dog owners who are looking for something unusual or whose dogs have allergies.

I

CLASS NOTES

2008 BBA MARK

HKUST ALUMNI WINTER 2017 I 21

I

Marie Leung

&

Rick

Chan

2006 BBA ECON e1 2006 BEng C!VL We've been married since 2012.

II

Alie, mo,,iog back to Hoog t<oog f,om LoOdoo "'' Y8", my ""'""'d aod 1 ... • established our company CYPHER, a cybersecurity consultancy providing

I , ethical hacking services to SMEs to enhance their security. We are deeply

[!],::S:

·

Inspired by the talented, energetic and Innovative people we meet here.

ICT C

onference

2016

tET

Gary Wan

2002 BSc ECOF

An economist at Dah Sing Bank, I lead the macroeconomic and Investment strategy function across the retail and private wealth platforms. Before joining the financial·services ndustry, I was a journalist for lVB, NOW and CRHK, responsible for local, China

and nternatlonal news.

Kelvin Wan

2011 MBA

[!]

Specializing In

'X'.::'TY'lL.iU.:' ~ artificial-intelligence

'Ii and business

-[!]

·

Intelligence projects,

my start-up BcondulT Ud has

managed to break even in just three months. We moved to the Science Park in November.

I am delighted to share the news of our wedding on July 29, 2017. A big thank you to HKUST,

which provided me with the opportunity to study in Hong Kong and meet my wife Maggie.

Jacqueline Chan

1995BBAACCI'

Our family of two has now become five - our boy, Darryl, Is 11 years old; and our girls, Alicia

and Megan, are now nine and six respectively.

ALHMNI

END WMENT

FU D

STUDENT

EMERGENCY

FUND

Securing Futures

Your generosity allows students suffering from financ

i

a

l

hardship to continue the

i

r education

M

any s

t

u

d

e

nt

s

b

e

n

efi

t from th

e

in

i

ti

a

ti

ves s

up

po

rt

ed

b

y t

h

e

HKU

ST

Alum

ni

En

do

wm

e

n

t

Fun

d

-but

fo

r

so

m

e, i

t'

s

th

e diffe

ren

ce

b

e

t

wee

n

ca

r

ry

i

n

g o

n

w

i

t

h

t

heir

s

tu

d

i

es a

n

d a

b

a

nd

o

ning th

e

m

.

I would l

i

ke to

emphasize the prec

i

ous

help

I'

ve received at this

point of my life. It enables

me to focus on my PhD

rather than w

i

thdrawing

from my education.

The fund has rel

i

eved

my financial burden and allowed

me to concentrate on my study

.

The generosity has made a

p

r

ofound impact on my life,

which in return inspires me to do

the same - helping others to

achieve their goals

.

Our father

,

be

i

ng

the sole bread w

i

nner of the

family, passed

away

during our

university studies. Thanks to the

emergency fund of the University,

our family

was able

to go through that

rough time. This a

l

ways reminds me

of the

i

mportance of helping

students in

need. Terry and Terence Tsang Student Emergency Fund Donors

The Emergercy Fund Is just one cl a host of w~ In which the Alumni Endowment Fund lmp<oves the quality of HKUST students' lives. We need your donations lrJ carry on and expand !hat good wor1<.

Every dollar makes a dtf..-ence. Please he\:> us to help HKUST students live their lives to the fulesl

Donate now!

alum.ust.l,k/supporti11g-l1kust

,

---

·

---,

.

'

Alumni Endowment Fund Donat

i

on Form

Last name _ _ _ _ _ _ First name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Email _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Mobile _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Malling address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I would like to donate HK$ _ _ _ _ _ _

D One-time D Monthly for _ _ _ months D Monthly until further notice

D Remain anonymous

I would like to pay the above donation by

D Credit card Visa / Mastercard (please select)

Holder's name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Card no. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Expiry date _ _ _ _ _ (month) I _ _ _ _ _ (year) Card security no. _ _ _ _ _ _ (last 3 digits to the right of signature box)

D Crossed check (check no.

-Please emal, lax or post this lonn to us. For checks, please make payable to "HKUST" and ma1'< your tul name and mobile number on the back.

Development and Alumni Office, HKUST, Clear Water Bay, HK

Tel: (852) 2358 8131 Fax: (852) 3743 0939 Email: [email protected]

The personal data colected (name aid contact details) wll be used by the Development and Alumni Office as wel as Internal departments for direct marketr,g and non-drect marketing purposes. We w,I do !his through venous communication channels such as direct mal, emal, mlephone and SMS usr,g your personal data. The p..-sonal data collecmd will be treated In strlcmst conldentlallty. The University wll not disclose any personal data provided by you to any external bodes or orgarnatlons unless you have been previously 1ntormed. Should you have fur1her enqur,es, please emal us at alu1ml0uslhk.