News & Stories

On August 22, our closely-knit HKUST EMBA alumni on the mainland and abroad celebrated the fifth edition of its Alumni Association in Guangzhou! The ecstatic occasion was also streamed live to spread the joy among thousands of alumni and faculty members globally.

With so many in-person conferences and trade shows being canceled or moved online due to COVID-19, countless entrepreneurs including Justin CHAN, co-founder and CEO of biotech startup Gense Technologies, specializing in wearable wristband for hand gesture recognition, are forced to make pitches to investors, partners, and customers virtually to help their companies grow. Unfortunately, most of them are clueless about how to make a great first impression in online meetings, so HKUST’s Technology Transfer Center and Entrepreneurship Center stepped in to help them develop relevant skills.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has turned the world economy upside-down, many graduating students are worried about their prospects in the job market this year and next. Some say this is worse than the financial crisis in 2008; and some believe Hong Kong’s economy today is worse than that in 2003, when the city was hit hard by SARS. Some even compare the current situation to the Great Depression in the 1930s. But our fellow graduates of the class of 2003, who faced similar tough job market, not only survived the hiring drought after SARS, but also thrived in their career paths, proving that there is always an opportunity that lies in every crisis.

Dennis CHOW, a graduate of Mathematics in 2018, is a firm believer in learning by doing. And thanks to his outgoing personality and an insatiable appetite for new challenges, throughout his four years at HKUST, the young man made the most of every opportunity provided by the University to build his experiences and skills that set himself apart from his peers, and even outperformed them when they graduated.

Two female engineers, who are alumni of the School of Engineering, tell us their fulfilling careers in geotechnical engineering and structural engineering.

Alumni Derrick Leung, Clifford Phung and Amy Poon share how they experienced the HKUST engineering spirit and are working to pass it on by building a strong and supportive network.

Frank has had a dream of flying from a young age, and he showed a keen interest in the research and development of unmanned helicopter technology during his time at HKUST. In 2005, he and his team participated in ABU Robocon and won third prize among teams competing from across Asia. In 2006, he completed his final thesis at HKUST, which included the development of a flight control system for unmanned platforms. He then founded DJI based on this system, and became the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of the company.

Little did Sandra Sobanska know when she left her native Poland in 2014 to join HKUST’s Global Business undergraduate program, that within three years she could be part of a team staging anything quite like Hack Horizon. However this unique international - and airborne – hackathon is only the latest stage in the exciting journey Sobanska says she’s been on since her arrival in Hong Kong.