Published by Development & Alumni Relations Unit, Office of University Development & Public Affairs The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel : (852) 2358 6158 Fax : (852) 2358 0537 Email : [email protected]
www.ust.hk/alumni
HKUST
03 Once a Wilderness, Now a Shangrila for Scholars
08 UST Spotlights
Found Love @ UST
School of Business and Management Alumni Dinner Alumni Day
12 Thanks to Our Alumni Donors
14 News on Alumni Associations/Groups
18 Class Notes
The
10 Years
This coming 1 July will be the 10th anniversary of our HKSAR government. On 1 July, 1997, Hong Kong became an integral part of China. This reunification was brought home to members of the University community in a multitude of ways. The national flag has been flying in our campus since that day. The playing of the national anthem has marked the opening of every Congregation since the University’s Fifth Congregation in 1997. However, our spirit to be the best remains the same.
for Hong Kong, China and the
world. It has blossomed fully into
a leading university. This is our
Our Campus
Our campus is still a popular attraction for local tours. You can find the elderly strolling on our campus during weekends. The campus has changed quite a bit and will change a lot in the years to come. To prepare for the 3-3-4 educational reform, the University has planned a big scale development work on the existing Clear Water Bay Campus. There are quite a number of new building names or new structures on campus. Business School Central located downtown is also in service, offering convenient venues for our PG business courses. Besides, HKUST has reached into the Mainland with a physical and intellectual presence in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Nansha.Extension to Existing Academic Building Hall VII (350 places)
Hall VIII (350 places) Hall IX (350 places)
Additional Laboratory Facilities New Academic Building Executive Education Residence IAS Residence
IAS Building
Campus Expansion
The newest building on campus – The HK Jockey Club Enterprise Center. Annex 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
Figures : 1997’s Vs 2007’s
1997 2007
Books in the Library No. of lifts
No. of halls
No. of student rooms
No. of lecture theaters Hall rent
per residential year
No. of students
Size of the graduating class Median monthly income of fresh graduates (UG)
403,157 28 8 2,078 8 UG twin-bed room $7,800 PG bunk-bed room $6,750 7,176 2,175 $10,500 (Class of 1996) 633,000 32 9 3,828
(be increased to over 4,500 in 2012) 10 UG twin-bed room $9,600 UG triple-bed room $7,190 PG bunk-bed room $7,980 9,000 3,200 (estimated) $11,158 (Class of 2006) The new look of
UC Bistro
Remember the days and nights you spent at the Library? It’s now called Lee Shau Kee Library The number of lecture theaters
is increasing
Business School Central located downtown
Despite the impact of the Asian economic crisis in 1997, the median monthly salary of our Class of 1996 was $10,500. It was about the same as that of the Class of 2006. Based on the Graduate Employment Survey conducted by the Student Affairs Office, the median monthly salary of our Class of 2006 was $11,158.
Some of the then professors of your faculty are now the Deans or even our Vice Presidents. Have a look at the photos below and see if you can recognize some of the faces.
Our People
President, Prof Paul Chu
Vice President for Academic Affairs (Acting), Prof Roland Chin
Vice President for Administration & Business,
Prof Yuk-Shan Wong
Vice President for Research and Development (Acting), Prof Tony Eastham Dean of Science, Prof Shui-Yuen Cheng
Dean of Business and Management, Prof K C Chan
Dean of Humanities and Social Science, Prof Alvin So Dean of Engineering,
The campus and the people here at HKUST may have changed. However, the bond we have with you endures and will never change. Visit our campus sometime to see your old friends here at HKUST. Our doors are always open for you. Mark your diary, call your old classmates and come join the Alumni Day on 29 July to relive your campus life! Read about our first Alumni Day on p.11.
Our
Achievements
Our
Bond Endures
The University has chalked up tremendous achievements over the past decade. Below are just a few recent rankings reflecting these achievements.
As at January 2007, we are:
World’s top 17th university in technology (THES rankings)
World’s top 52nd university in social science (THES rankings)
university in Greater China (Newsweek rankings)
in Engineering & Social Science in Greater China (SJTU survey)
in Global EMBA ranking by Financial Times
No.1
No.1
No.3
The first UST Valentine's Day program for alumni, "Found Love @ UST" Contest, was held on 1 February 2007. It is our pleasure to have Emily Nason, Alumna and Assistant Professor of Department of Management Organizations, and Karen Ma, Alumna and Assistant Director of PG Programs to be our judges. They both found their l o v e a t U S T. We n d y, S e n i o r U n i v e r s i t y Development Officer of the Development & Alumni Relations Unit has also been involved in the selection process. It was no easy task for the judging panel to choose the UST sweethearts for the 3 awards. Read about their stories to discover how their love germinated and blossomed at UST! The winning couples were invited to enjoy a wholesome lunch at Restaurant Petrus on the Level 56 of the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong Hotel overlooking the spectacular Victoria Harbour on the Chinese Valentine’s Day.
Sandy Mok, 1999 BBA (ACCT) Peter Ngai, 1999 BEng (ELEC)
Elkie Hui, 2002 BBA(ACCT) Jason Tsang, 2001 BBA(FINA)
Venus To, 2001 BEng (CPEG) Ivan Leung, 1999 BEng (CPEG)
Venus Ivan 1997 7 18
Venus Ivan Venus
Ivan Venus
1997 Concourse
Venus CPEG Ivan Ivan
Venus O'camp spy Venus
99 10
Venus Ivan MPhil Venus Lab Tutor
Venus Ivan CPEG
MPhil Ivan 2004 8 21 Venus Ivan Venus 2006 1 1 Venus Ivan Ivan Venus Ivan Venus Venus Ivan
the
Best
Love Story
For more information about the contest, please visit http://www.ust.hk/alumni/about/ foundloveresult.html
the
Most Look-a-like
Sweethearts
the
Happiest
UST Couple
The School of Business and Management Alumni Dinner was held on the 7th day of Lunar New Year, known as “Everybody’s Birthday”. About 140 alumni and their families packed the China Garden Restaurant to celebrate the arrival of the year of the “Golden Pig”. All enjoyed the evening very much as it provided a good opportunity to re-engage with the School, reconnect with former classmates and celebrate the various achievements of the University and the School.
The Dinner started after Prof K C Chan, Dean of School of Business and Management (SBM) greeted the party for the Lunar New Year. Prof Angela Ng, Director of Undergraduate Programs, SBM, invited the alumni to extend their support to the trUST Program, a fundraising project initiated by current students. Through the program, more students will be able to afford their exchange studies.
The highlight of the evening was the game “Spring Greetings” which excited all participants. A lucky winner of each table was invited to express his or her greetings by using the Chinese words enclosed in the Lai See. Dean Chan together with the alumni coming up from different majors and graduation years conveyed their hearty blessings to the school and every guest. The night was filled with laugher and joyous applause.
School of Business and Management
Alumni Dinner
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
Happy Birthday!
News on Alumni Associations/
Groups
05
04
CENG ALUMNI GROUP
In the evening of 14 April 2007 (Sat), 33 CENG alumni, students and faculty members joined a dinner gathering at Hotel 36 in Prince Edward. Since 1996, the first batch of chemical engineering students graduated, this event had attracted the most number of student and alumni participants from different years.
At the beginning of the event, we had 3 alumni speakers sharing with us on “To Be a Chartered Engineer”. They were Jasper Yip (’97 graduate), Harry Lee (’99 graduate) and Jacky Fung (’99 graduate). They shared about the job application experience, the reasons why they are interested in the field and the good points of being chartered engineers.
While we enjoyed the meal, alumni and students had the opportunities getting to know each other. Students were eager to ask about career development related questions. Alumni also had fun knowing more about the present university life of the students. All had a wonderful evening. Our alumni enjoyed meeting our “old” friends, faculty members and our younger brothers and sisters. Lastly, we all wish Jacky Fung good luck as he will continue his chemical engineering career in Australia.
DRAMA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION – PLAYZONE
(www.playzone.hk) 2006 2 _i stealove 9 21–23 http://www.xanga.com/playzoner Alumni Stories Alumni Stories
06
MBA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
MBAAA has again prepared an array of activities throughout the year for alumni with diverse interests. These activities evolve around the framework built on 4 major themes: Reunion, International Network, Continuous Learning and Hearts. Major activities include dragon boat, in-school Mini-Olympics, Oxfam Trailwalkers, Biztral 730, mentoring, MBAAA alumni forums, contributing newspaper articles and much more. Our efforts are also being recognized in the community with the award of the Caring Organization. So come on out and join us!
MTM ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
MTMAA had the spring dinner on 17th March 2007 at the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce
Members Club. It recorded turnout with some 90 participants from all different intakes, and also guests from MTM Program (Prof Rachael Zhang and Prof Rao), HKUSTAA, MBAAA and HKUST Office of University Development and Public Affairs. Everyone enjoyed this fantastic opportunity to catch up with old classmates and to meet new friends. The AA is looking forward to another successful spring dinner in 2008.
Following the spring dinner, the association is organizing its second knowledge sharing session in May and a study trip to Taiwan in September. We welcome all MTM alumni to join. Besides the above mentioned activities, we will have our
Class Notes
So, what’s new with you?
Just married? Just moved? New job? New baby? Started a new business? Your fellow alumni want to know. Send us a Class Note to share your news. Simply fill out the online form at www.ust.hk/alumni/classnotes or email your news to us at [email protected].
There are always unexpected happy encounters in life. I am lucky to have many amazing inspirations and support from friends that I put all these in a very special book, suitable for all ages. The story of ‘ Wellmei the Mermaid ’ with many colorful paintings in attempt to demonstrate the remarkable power of creation and imagination, spread out the message of environmental protection and harmony between human beings and sea creatures. It also pursues and displays love in various relations. I am so happy that this book had received more than 300 orders before printing, was awarded a contract to print stamp covers and will participate in the coming book exhibition held at HK Convention and Exhibition Centre in July 18-24,2007. The book allows me to make lots of new friends and if you are interested to share my story of this or join our book exhibition in July or simply make a friend with me, pls feel free to email me at [email protected] or take a visit to my website at www.windy-lee.com to share my f e e l i n g s o f l i f e expressed in various poems. 1995
Windy Lee, BBA (MGTO)
1997
Philip Poon, BBA (ACCT) – MA
1997
Emily Nason, BBA (MGTO)
We have just got married on 10 March, 2007. On that day, we returned to UST campus for photo-taking, where recalls our sweet memories - we met at the Cafe. After marriage, we started to plan our internet trading business. If you have time, you can visit my own website: www.philipooncy.com and our net trading website: www.jppoon.com which will be open in June.
S o m e o n e asked if what are the “gain” and the “loss” for my 3 years experience in Shanghai. The gain #1: proficiency in Mandarin/ shanghainese and chinese literature; #2: a beautiful wife and a good daughter; #3: some white hairs. The loss #1: fear of the future as I now have target in my life; #2: fear of uncertainty with the support of my family; #3: fear of job
1997
Parker Lau, BBA (ISMT) – IS
security as the true understanding of my strength and weakness.
For those who know me, welcome to drop me some lines and invite me for lunch after August. For those who don't know me but wish to explore China/Shanghai, you are welcome to ask me questions about my experience.
Stephen and I would like to share with all our UST friends the joyous addition to our family Rachael Leslie Nason ( ) on February 21, 2007. Born in the Year of the Pig, Rachael enjoys her first weeks of life eating and sleeping (and filling diapers!). As a Pisces, she loves water very much. Stephen and I both work at the Management department at UST now and we live in a village house in Sai Kung country park. Feel like a day out in the
country side getting some fresh air? You are welcome to visit us!
1998
Walter Leung, BEng (COMP) I am a full time actor since 2004. This year is very special for me. I will lead a group of g r a d u a t e s f r o m different universities. We will focus the training on body, vocal and the most important one is -OUR MIND & HEART. After this year, I will make a show case for our training result.
Angelica and friends organise monthly gatherings that bring together good food, people and learning. Any money that remains after each event is put into the trUST fund.
It all started when Angelica joined InvestHK in June last year, her first time working in a centrally located office. A small lunch gathering of friends grew exponentially into a group of 30 alumni and their guests – all interested in spending one day a month learning about various topics and enjoying life.
Upcoming activities include an evening sharing on "Overcoming Cocktail Phobia" in an antique lights store and "Socially Responsible Shopping". In autumn, the group will charter a helicopter ride around Hong Kong.
Somehow I've been affiliated on and off with UST after my graduation in 2000. Having worked as a research assistant in the Division of Humanities, executive officer in the School of Engineering, and obtained my master's degree in China Studies, I came back last year with an exciting assignment, which is to assist in the development of the newly established Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS).
2000/2006
Linus See, BBA (IS), MA (CHIN)
2006, we also invite top-notch experts in various fields of science and technology to give guest lectures and participate in conferences and panel discussions, including Nobel Laureates Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry 2004), Klaus von Klitzing (Physics 1985), John Polanyi (Chemistry 1986) etc. During their visits, I have the opportunity of sharing our views on research, science and life in general. It turns out these ‘crackerjacks’ are much more down-to-earth than I expected and not like trapped in the ivory tower. They are in pursuit of certain ideals, panoramic rather than pedantic, which are for the betterment of the society and mankind.
It is my great honor to be inspired by these sages and involved in the IAS project. Do keep in touch and join us for our forthcoming programs! For alumni who are busy and not available to be inspired in person, you can go to our webpage http://ias.ust.hk for webcasts of our events.
2001
Alex Hung, MBA/MSc (ISM)
members of the Hong Kong delegation which includes …IT professionals. I p r e s i d e d o n t h e p a n e l n a m e d “E-enterprise: Emerging Technologies”. Five days of conference provided an unique opportunity for exchanging the v i s i o n s a n d i n s i g h t s o f t h e I T professionals from all over the world. Though business trip is always on a tight schedule, I endeavored to immerse myself into the local culture since it is always fascinating to explore the culture of a strange place and a kingdom afar. As an archipelago of 33 islands, the Kingdom of Bahrain, renowned as “the pearl of the Persian Gulf” is one of the richest and developed countries in the Arabian Gulf offering a blend of ancient and modern. Skyscrapers share the landscape with majestic mosques, embodiments of Islamic art, culture and architecture. The country, as many other Arabian countries, is abundant in oil production. The oil is cheap as the water here. So it is not exaggerate to name it as the “drivers’ paradise” : Cheap oil, well-planned roads, and clean city. The government’s determined passion for developing Barhain as the financial and information center in the Arabian Gulf invites financial investors and IT enterprises from the world. With 387 financial institutions serving only 700 thousand population, this merging market is really exciting. Weekends in Bahrain are Thursday afternoon and Friday. The navy workdays are Sunday-Thursday. Average temperature from May-September is in the 80 F. Average temperature from December-February is 64 F. However, air-conditioning is well-equipped in all buildings. Seven days trip to the Kingdom of Bahrain, an unique experience for me is the proof of my motto: “we travel to see the world and we never see more than when we're in the culture”
Studying in HKUST empowers my knowledge and helps a lot in my business development. I formed Crossover International, a business and IT consultancy firm since 2002. One of the exciting experiences is my last Bahrain (Middle-East) trip.
Before our plane descended at the international airport of Manama, the
Wanted:
All ‘97 Grads!!!
Mark on your diary and make yourself available on 28 October 2007 (Sunday) to join the 10th Anniversary Reunion for Class of 1997. In planning the event, we need volunteers to give us ideas on how to make it a special gathering for you all. Send us a message to [email protected] and let us know if you can help.
Last year, the class of 1996 and their families had an unforgettable reunion coming back to campus to commemorate their 10th anniversary on 24 September, 2006. After the gathering, we invited all graduates of the Class of 1996 to view our online photo gallery. From their replies, you can tell how a wonderful gathering we had. For those who were not able to join, they wished they could have come.
Further information about the reunion will be sent to your alumni email account. If you have not activated yours, please do so now at http://www.alumni.ust.hk/. Your participation and support will make this reunion a great success. We look forward to seeing you all in October.
“
Thanks for your great job in coordinating the re-union. I had a wonderful time chatting”
with my old friends. It is also very nice to know that none of us are looking older, and our alma mater is earning more & more respect.Looking forward to the future re-union activities. Best wishes,
Yvonne
“
Thanks a lot for the photos! I do find some familiar faces from the album.”
It's a pity that I was unable to join.Regards, Mei Kwan
“
I browsed the alumni photo gallery this morning and I have downloaded all photos of”
myself in the event. It was definitely a memorable occasion and I enjoyed it very much. Thanks a lot for your kind notice.Best Rgds, Gavin Ip
“
Thanks so much for your arrangement on Sept 24. I really enjoyed reliving the”
campus life.... Again, I appreciate your effort.Thanks and Regards, Ken Yum
