The Bright Future Engineering Talent Hub (the Hub) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) held the STEM Challenge and Summer Research Internship Presentation by Finalists and Prize Presentation Ceremony on 28 October, attended by around 100 secondary students and representatives from secondary schools. A donation ceremony was held during the event to show appreciation for the generosity of the Bright Future Charitable Foundation.

The Hub, established at the College of Engineering, organises various STEM activities, including a Summer Research Internship, a STEM Carnival and Student Project Exhibition, and a STEM Challenge, to foster STEM education and nurture young talent for the engineering industry. Over the past two years, more than 1,600 secondary students have participated in the activities.

Attending the ceremony were Dr Roy Chung Chi-ping, GBS, BBS, JP, Co-founder and Non-Executive Director of Techtronic Industries Company Limited, Founder and Chairman of the Bright Future Charitable Foundation, and Honorary Advisor and Patron of the Hub; Professor Freddy Boey, President of CityU; Professor Shek Chan-hung, Advisor of the Hub, and Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Professor Howard Leung Wing-ho, Principal of the Hub and Professor in the Department of Computer Science; and Ms Kathy Chan Yin-ling, Associate Vice-President (Development and Alumni Relations).

The Hub received another donation of over HK$8 million from the Bright Future Charitable Foundation to extend the development of the Hub and the offering of two scholarship schemes for CityU engineering students, which acknowledges CityU’s efforts to nurture young engineering talent over the years.

Dr Chung shared his successful experience and his notion of making donations with the secondary students. He encouraged them to unleash their creativity and challenge themselves to be smarter than artificial intelligence. He said he hoped the students would develop successful careers as engineers to foster technological advancement in the knowledge-based economy, and would contribute to Hong Kong, our country, and the well-being of mankind worldwide.

President Boey expressed his gratitude to Dr Chung and the Bright Future Charitable Foundation for their unwavering support for CityU. He said that the Hub represents the vision of innovative, inspirational and interactive learning at CityU and creates a conducive learning environment to motivate students to satisfy their curiosity, embrace creativity, pursue excellence, and ultimately become heroes, to have a positive impact on the world.

During the event, secondary students were given the opportunity to share their achievements with Dr Chung in person and to learn from his wisdom and insightful words. Professor Shek also shared with the guests the latest programmes of the College of Engineering, which would meet the ever-changing needs of society and enrich the learning experience of students.

The STEM Challenge, held between May and August every year, is a project-based competition with the supervision of CityU academic staff and the facilitation of student mentors for each team, formed by secondary students. A total of 35 teams from different secondary schools participated in the challenge this year. They were led by CityU students to study a specific topic in engineering and conduct related experiments and field studies.

Nine teams were selected to enter the final presentation and three winning teams, from Harrow International School Hong Kong, Kwok Tak Seng Catholic Secondary School and Tuen Mun Government Secondary School, were awarded in recognition of their innovative work and achievements.

The Summer Research Internship provides opportunities for secondary students to undertake engineering-related research attachments for one month at CityU during the summer holiday, with the aim of enhancing their interest in engineering through the guidance of PhD students and faculty members from CityU’s College of Engineering. The participants must submit a report upon completion of their internship. 36 secondary students were selected this year for the programme and three of them, from Belilios Public School, Hong Kong Baptist University Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary and Primary School, and Pui Kiu College, were awarded for being outstanding interns.