18 IN FOCUS have become the best in that area. We need to exercise the discipline to cut some of the nice-to-have activities and invest in those we must have. Even though I am an engineer and love numbers, this does not mean bean-counting but evaluation at a deeper level of analysis. Excellence can be seen, can be felt, but it cannot necessarily be quanti ed in numbers. For example, we want our students to succeed in society. While short-term goals such as starting salary are important, true success will be graduates who or years later have become world leaders in some way and the best in their profession. How will you seek to ensure and advance the School of Engineering’s standing? I think the School and University have done an amazing job in the past years to achieve what has been accomplished. I really admire that and it is one of the reasons I wanted to join HKUST. Now I feel the School needs to build out from the “ad hoc” dynamic mode of a start-up and seek long-term sustainability and stability. I see it as evolution rather than revolution as we are doing well. One of the key elements is to remove boundaries between departments and even Schools. I am a strong believer in the -HKUST spirit. Why do you see a one-university mindset as important? I learned the value of such an approach at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I previously worked. Santa Barbara is renowned for its multidisciplinary research. At HKUST, the School of Engineering is showing strong leadership and participation in institutes which draw together multiple departments and elds – big data, robotics, energy. We need to continue to advance this kind of culture as the nature of the problems we face as a society will demand solutions across disciplinary boundaries. It may need determination and encouragement to rst get involved in such research. However, I can con dently tell my faculty that I have done this, bene ted from it, and enjoyed it, and I hope everybody can do the same. A well-designed infrastructure for executing multidisciplinary research will be one of the most important elements for a top-tier university in the next years. What are the main challenges facing the School? HKUST is a small-sized, compact university compared with many other leading institutions globally. At the School of Engineering, we need to have our goals clearly de ned and to work strategically to utilize our resources e ciently. In one word, our goal must be excellence. Anything we do or invest in has to be done with the con dence that in a few years we will become stronger or The Multidisciplinary Road Prof Tim Kwang Ting Cheng became Dean of Engineering in May . Here, he sets out his vision for developing the School’s world-leading contributions A well-designed infrastructure for executing multidisciplinary research will be one of the most important elements for a top-tier university in the next years.
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