Maria Francesca Bueno

Choosing engineering as my career path was only natural to me due to my natural curiosity of the world. Growing up, I read anything I could get my hands on. I didn't grow up with many toys to tinker around with, so all I did was read. It was only in secondary school did I realize what engineering actually was, to make things so that we are able to know what we know and use that knowledge to solve things. That is when I knew engineering was what I wanted to explore further. 

Many may think that engineering students just learn math and applied sciences, but that is not the case. During my first year, I took specialized introductory classes which were project-based. It was surprising to find such courses at the early stages in university. Of course the theory of the project was taught, but only the parts we needed to complete the project. I found that it was very motivating to do the project as it gave us a lot of opportunities to experiment and figure out how to accomplish our goal and that there can be no right answer. That course greatly reflected what engineering is. 

What made me choose HKUST, besides their wide range of engineering majors, is the international outlook they have. From my two years at HKUST, I was taught by only a few Hong Kong professors. In addition to that, most of the pool of friends I've made here are people with many ethnicities and backgrounds. What is great about my experience here so far is that regardless of everyone's very distinct experience and backgrounds, they are able to connect with each other and share great ideas. HKUST provides a great platform for many different people to collaborate ideas and make something great out of it, whether it be innovative products or great friendships.