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HKUST Alumni News 2015
Feature
W
here would the world be without engineers? Who would
build our bridges, run our power stations, safely maintain
our airplanes, invent medical devices, keep water systems running,
develop faster telecommunications… the list is almost endless.
Yet, engineering is not seen as a “glamorous” option for study.
No one knows this more than Samantha Kong – but with her
usual enthusiasm, she is determined to do something about it. The
HKUST alumna has produced a book in which 46 engineers share
stories that she hopes will inspire
secondary students to choose to
study engineering at university and
then pursue a career in the field.
To understand the drive behind
Samantha’s project, one needs
to know that she is one of life’s
“doers” – she sees a problem, but
instead of just complaining about
it she sets out to find a solution.
Perhaps there is no better definition
of an engineer than that! She also
seizes opportunities that come her
way and makes the most of them.
She certainly flourished at
HKUST, from which she graduated
with a BEng in Chemical and Environmental Engineering in 2014.
She took part in exchange-outs and attended conferences; she
founded the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Student
Chapter – HKUST to help chemical engineering students
network and learn more about job opportunities for graduates;
she co-founded a social enterprise, Eldpathy, when she was in
Year 2, to promote empathy for the elderly through the Elderly
Simulation Program; she was recognized in the Hong Kong Top
Samantha was recognized in the Hong Kong Top 10 Outstanding Youth and Social
Service Award, and as one of the awardees of the Sai Kung Outstanding Youth in 2014.
The HKUST alumna
has produced a book
in which 46 engineering
graduates and students
share stories that
she hopes will inspire
secondary students
to choose to study
engineering at university
and then pursue a
career in the field.
she used the money to attend the G20 Youth Summit 2013 in St
Petersburg, Russia, where she was nominated to represent China
and Hong Kong as the Minister of Environment, to discuss the
environmental issues around the world with global experts. And last
summer she spent three months as one of 10 young representatives
working as interns at the United Nations in New York, where
she closely followed the negotiation process of the Sustainable
Development Goals, a developmental framework that will soon
replace the Millennium Development Goals for the next 15 years.
“I got the idea for the book when I returned from the UN. I
heard many people from other countries talking about how they
are proud to be engineers. But local students are not so interested
in the field; engineers are not as highly regarded in Hong Kong,”
she says. “My target audience is secondary school students.
I want them to understand about the different engineering
disciplines – chemical, civil, and so on.” She is also hoping to
reach out to parents and teachers: “Many times when a student is
good at physics and chemistry, it is suggested that they go on to
study pure physics or pure chemistry at university – and the option
of engineering isn’t mentioned at all,” she adds.
“I began last September by contacting alumni and students
from different engineering disciplines who had interesting stories
to tell – I tried reaching out to more than 200 people and finally
managed to find 46 inspiring ones,” she says. “They are all from
10 Outstanding Youth and Social Service Award, and as one of
the awardees of the Sai Kung Outstanding Youth in 2014; and she
represented HKUST at a young entrepreneurs’ sharing session
with Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, in February 2015.
Alumni Endowment Fund Recipient
Samantha was among the first batch of students to benefit
from the Alumni Endowment Fund (AEF) Community Service Award:
Samantha (second right) with Jack Ma (second left), founder of Alibaba, and
other young entrepreneurs at a sharing session in February 2015
