The School of Engineering (SENG) successfully held the Alumni Fun Day on May 28, 2016 (Sat) on campus in celebration of HKUST’s 25th anniversary, drawing over 330 alumni from all walks of life. The event provided an excellent opportunity for alumni to reminisce about their university lives with fellow classmates and professors, exchange recent news and expand networks.

The Fun Day had events spanning the campus, with soccer and basketball competitions at the seafront courts, tours of the HKUST 25th anniversary exhibition in library, an Entrepreneurship Fair in the annex, Star Lectures at a lecture theatre, a thematic happy hour, photo booth and memory lane at the Engineering Commons, all of these taking place throughout in the afternoon, and a homecoming dinner at the Chinese restaurant.

Featuring booths of 14 companies set up by SENG alumni, the Entrepreneurship Fair provided a platform for the entrepreneurial alumni to showcase their ventures and helped guide others who may be considering a similar career path. The companies work in a variety of businesses, ranging from mobile games and fitness to music and shopping. Innovations created by these alumni included the Tower of Saviors mobile game, music education app Auralbook, air-cooled shoes Kemfert, social shopping website Shoplovers.co, smart event management platform EventXtra, video workout platform Koach, emotionally intelligent wireless speaker MoodBox, bicycle helmet Lumos which features turn signals and brake lights, people counting system CyberSense and social networking app Icebreak. The enterprising alumni advised students who may be interested to go for entrepreneurship to be curious, open-minded, patient, bold, active and hardworking. The students should also follow their passion, think big, enhance their soft skills and business knowledge, test their products well before launching in market, be good problem solvers and be quick to seize opportunities.

Along with the Fair, two Star Lectures were organized. Prof Qiang Yang, New Bright Professor of Engineering and Chair Professor and Head of Computer Science and Engineering, spoke on “Artificial Intelligence Meets Data Science at HKUST”. Prof Ka Ming Ng, Chair Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, talked on “The Chemical Products That Will Enhance Our Daily Lives”. These inspiring lectures enabled alumni to reminisce about having classes in the old days and to learn about updated information in the fields.

Guided tours of the HKUST 25th anniversary exhibition themed “Transforming Lives” were held in the library, showcasing innovative, impactful ideas and projects from the HKUST community in its first 25 years of development.

An exciting thematic happy hour was held in the evening at the Engineering Commons. The theme of “25th anniversary” was integrated into the occasion, which offered 25 kinds of red wine, 25 kinds of white wine and 25 kinds of sparkling wine. All wines were sponsored by Madhead, a mobile game company co-founded by alumni brothers Terry Tsang and Terence Tsang. In addition to networking and socializing, the happy hour provided a good opportunity for alumni to visit the Engineering Commons, which was inaugurated in 2013 and served as a new identity for the School and a central hub for students to engage in ideas sharing.

The final activity of the Fun Day was the homecoming dinner. A welcome speech by Dean of Engineering Prof Tim Kwang Ting Cheng got the celebration off to a memorable start. Prof Cheng, who came on board in early May, said that he was honored to join HKUST and felt lucky to join at this special time of the 25th anniversary where a lot of celebration activities took place. He thanked alumni’s contribution in helping the School achieve a lot within a short period of 25 years and asked for their continuous support in the future. He added that the School would continue to attract top students and faculty, promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, improve education quality and diversity in gender and culture, as well as generate global impact.

HKUST Executive Vice-President and Provost Prof Wei Shyy also addressed the audience. He said that the good turnout of the dinner showed that the School has a strong and loyal alumni base. He also took pride in knowing the success stories of many alumni in various areas. He also made an appeal to alumni to help solicit a convenient, direct transportation between the city and the university campus.

Three outstanding alumni were invited to give a sharing on stage. Prof Jack Lau, HKUST’s first PhD graduate who received his PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1994, said that his happiest moments had always been coming back to HKUST and setting up his company Perception Digital was one of his proudest moments. Terry Tsang, who gained his BEng in Civil and Structural Engineering in 2004 and MPhil in Civil Engineering in 2006, shared that he was grateful for the support of the university during his undergraduate days when his family faced sudden financial hardship. Their strong willingness to give back and help students in financial emergencies led to the setting up of the Student Emergency Fund at HKUST in March. He also talked about the great benefits he gained from joining mentorship program as a student and encouraged fellow alumni to be mentors to guide existing students. Samantha Kong, who graduated with a BEng in Chemical and Environmental Engineering in 2014, shared her wonderful study years at HKUST, including co-founding social enterprise Eldpathy and going for a number of short overseas exchanges, and how her internship experience at United Nations in New York inspired her to publish a book titled “誰說Engineering是水泡科” (“Who Says Engineering is Second Best”) when she came back.

After rounds of games, lucky draw and photo-taking, the dinner was concluded by closing remarks delivered by Associate Dean of Engineering Prof Chi Ying Tsui. Prof Tsui said that he hoped alumni and the School would develop a close tie of mutual benefits and win-win relations. He also welcomed alumni to give suggestions on how to strengthen the tie and hoped the School would become a lifetime partner of alumni in their life and career pursuit.

Heartfelt appreciation goes to the following alumni and companies for sponsorship of prizes and souvenirs at the homecoming dinner:

• Terry Tsang and Terence Tsang of Mad Head Limited (sponsoring all wines at happy hour, in addition to prizes and souvenirs for the dinner)
• Prof Jack Lau
• Ir Dr Kevin Kin Lam So
• Hong Kong Disneyland
• Hong Kong Optical Company Limited
• Philips Electronics Hong Kong Limited
• Princeton Custom Tailors
• Regal Enterprises Limited
• Tencent
• The Barn
• Toy2R Group Limited
• UA Cinemas
• Unilever Hong Kong
• Version 2 Limited
• Wong’s F&B Limited

This news was prepared with the help of Engineering Student Ambassadors Jai Singh Sra and Zarina Abdussalamova, both SENG Year 1 students.

Related link:

• Photo album