An international workshop for engineering students, graduates, educators, and entrepreneurs is taking place this week under the auspices of the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE). 

The workshop, held from 14 to 16 August, aims to inspire universities in East and Southeast Asia to establish Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) and to engage both regional industry and multinational corporations interested in engineering education and workforce development. 

CityU is the first university in Greater China to join GCSP.

The opening ceremony for the workshop was officiated by Professor Way Kuo, President of CityU, Dr C. D. Mote, Jr., President of the NAE, and Mr Hsieh Ming, Chief Executive Officer of Fulgent Genetics Inc. and a member of the Committee of 100. 

President Kuo welcomed 150 delegates from 11 countries and regions. “We are proud to co-organise the GCSP Workshop with NAE. GCSP is an innovative programme that trains students to address the most important engineering problems in the world,” he said.

“GCSP is a powerful supplement to any university programme that extends its reach from a local programme to a global one, which is especially important as most engineers graduating today will engage with global problems,” said Dr. Mote, adding that he appreciated the partnership with CityU.

During the reception for the workshop, Mr Hsieh delivered an inspiring keynote speech about his entrepreneurship in the US and China, expressing his support for GCSP and engineering education.

GCSP is a combined curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular programme designed to enhance five key competencies of engineering graduates: talent competency, multidisciplinary competency, viable business/entrepreneurship competency, multicultural competency, and social consciousness competency.

Participants attending the workshop were from major universities and multinational corporations in the US and Southeast Asia, including the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Peking University, DBS Bank, Honeywell, Intel and Microsoft, among others.

“CSE is committed to aligning its curriculum with that of the top international institutions and grooming students who can apply knowledge in response to the needs of society,” said Professor Yan Hong, Dean of CSE. 

“CSE students who have joined GCSP have participated in interesting projects that address global challenges such as designing a reading device 'Touch to Read' for the visually impaired, producing portable water purifiers for people with limited access to fresh water, and an optimised design of wind turbines,” he added.