Page 4 - Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Proceedings 2017-18

Message from the President

As humans, we’re all born curious. When we’re babies, we

explore the world through the five senses – taste, touch, smell,
sight, and hearing. As we grow older, curiosity drives us to
question, to experiment and to learn.

As American folklorist and writer Zora Neale Hurston once
said, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying
with a purpose.” That is why the Undergraduate Research

Opportunities Program (UROP) is important to us. It helps
students explore their interested areas under the guidance of
experienced researchers, leading them to the path of new
discoveries.

I’m glad to witness another year of success for the UROP in
2017-18. Hundreds of undergraduate students started their
research journey by joining the program. Faculty members also
benefited from the program through the interactions with

these curious and creative millennials, who often bring in unconventional and unexpected ideas to the
research project.

This collection of program proceedings showcases the achievements of many supervisor-student
synergies, which help strengthen the research culture within the HKUST community. I hope to see more
of this intellectual give-and-take in the years to come.

Prof Wei Shyy

President
HKUST

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