certainly time for more of today’s younger generation to do the same. It is obsolete to think of medicine or business as a better career than engineering: nancially, stability-wise, or in terms of success. It is such an exciting, fast-moving eld with immense impact on shaping society. Engineers build sensors to monitor areas as diverse as health and climate. They create scanning machines to enhance security. Every single day and for every age, from a baby to years old, engineering is impacting people’s lives. It is essential for Hong Kong to have a strong footprint in engineering discovery, innovation and technology. What has kept you motivated over the years? I love teaching, working with and learning from my students, and having the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of technology. Indeed, if life becomes too comfortable, I become uncomfortable. Having new multidisciplinary research projects, fresh courses to teach and di erent students to get to know keeps me constantly interested and happy in my career. Nine years ago, for example, I developed a smartphone course based on the Android platform. At the time, this operating system held % of the market. The last year I taught that course, Android’s market share was % and many of the undergraduates and graduate students who had taken the course had gone to become early Android developers. In the past, engineering has not enjoyed the same stature as a career as medicine, law and nance in Hong Kong. Why is it important to change this? As is common in Asian culture, I also came under pressure about my study and career choice. I was doing well in high school and the rst question was always: ‘Are you going to do medicine?’ But I was bold enough to go with my heart. Now it is Teaching University of California, Santa Barbara, College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Faculty, Technology Transfer Holder of US patents Several inventions transferred and successfully integrated into commercial products Co-founded two companies in design veri cation and multimedia content analysis Professional IEEE Fellow Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Design & Test of Computers Board Member, IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation Board of Governors Board Member, IEEE Computer Society Publications Board Proudest achievements Teaching his students and seeing them succeed, and his family – his wife and two sons, both engineers About Tim Cheng Education BS in Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley Current Dean of Engineering Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering Chair Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Previous Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, University of California, Santa Barbara, Academic Founding Director, Computer Engineering Program, Department Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Associate Vice-Chancellor for Research, (also acting in ), overseeing US$ million extramural funding Research Main interests: Design automation of electronic, photonic, and flexible circuits and systems; hardware security; mobile computer vision; computer-aided medical image analysis Director, US Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Center for D Hybrid Circuits, Published over technical papers Co-authored ve books Received over Best Paper Awards from IEEE and ACM journals and conferences Supervised + PhD dissertations If life becomes too comfortable, I become uncomfortable. Having new multidisciplinary research projects, fresh courses to teach and di erent students to get to know keeps me constantly interested and happy in my career. 20 IN FOCUS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk5Njg=