There is no better proof of the University’s high-profile research focus and dedication to education innovation than its Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). Through this program, students have the opportunity to engage in research projects under the guidance of world-class researchers at home and abroad, publish in leading international journals, and present at international conferences.
Since its first launch in 2005, the program has helped myriad over 2,500 students to develop insightful perspectives in their chosen areas, for the demonstrable benefit of Hong Kong. 379 students and 142 professors participated in 292 projects in the 2015-16 academic year alone. And upon completion of the program, all students are eligible for entry into the annual UROP Awards.
Sepanta Zeighami, a second-year Computer Science student and UST’s only Iranian undergraduate, was named champion for his project entitled “Minimizing Average Regret Ratio for a Database,” which allows website users to make choices based on a small number of representative data points, thus enhancing their satisfaction. When asked about what he gained from the program, Sepanta said: “It is a great encouragement to win the research award, which will definitely help my application for a PhD degree in the future.”
“Taking part in the research during my undergraduate study has allowed me to find my way and research focus earlier”, said Gromit Chan Yeuk-yin, a year-4 student pursuing the Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management, who was honored the first runner-up for “FinaVistory: Using Narrative Visualization to Explain Social and Economic Relationships in Financial News”. The project offers readers with a more compelling story of the sometimes conflicting financial and economic news they read every day, and it was presented at the 2016 International Conference on Big Data and Smart Computing, and Gromit will pursue further studies at New York University’s Visualization and Data Analytics Laboratory.
