HKUST Computer Science and Engineering ¦ School of Engineering ¦ Admissions Talk .

Computer science is everywhere, ranging from computer graphics, software engineering, computer systems, to big data, networking, and artificial intelligence. All of us encounter computer science and engineering every day. Hello, I'm Cindy Li, the undergraduate program coordinator of CSE. We will elaborate more in this talk. 21st century is definitely the digital age. Computer science is everywhere and changing everything. Computer science is applied in nearly all fields of human life, such as education, agriculture, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, astronomy, and robotics. It improves healthcare and saves lives. It empowers professionals and improves the quality of education. It provides opportunities to the overlooked. It helps predict and avoid natural disasters. It creates a greener, cleaner planet. You experience computer science and engineering in your everyday life. The powerful chat GPT to assist your daily work. Self-driving cars on the roads. Transactions and payments at your fingertips. Human-computer interactions. Natural language processing when you talk to Siri. Robotics that automate many tasks. Fancy animations in movies and video games. I bet every one of you has played Pokemon Go with virtual and augmented reality. What is exactly computer science and engineering? Does computer science and engineering equal to programming? Computer science and engineering encompass more than just programming. In a nutshell, computer science and engineering study how things work and utilize machines to automate tasks and make our lives easier. For example, consider the concept of balance. While we can walk on flat surfaces, hike in mountains, or ski in Hokkaido during winter, what is the key to maintaining balance? When we want to build a robot, how to make it balanced in all scenarios? You can easily tell there are two parts. Science, which tries to understand how things work, and engineering, which make things happen. Computer scientists identify and analyze problems, brainstorm solutions, and use computer programs to communicate with machines. By learning popular programming languages like Python, Java, and C++, you can increase your job prospects. However, our major offers a broad perspective on both software and hardware topics. It equips graduates with foundational and specialized knowledge essential for analyzing, designing, and evaluating software programs and hardware architectures. The program is complemented by studies in mathematics, science, and engineering, enabling students to design hardware and software solutions for a diverse range of application domains. Our department is often described as a nurturing place for young minds, a place to explore, grow, and excel. We are the largest department at UST, home for approximately 1,000 undergraduate students. This includes around 700 students in our undergraduate programs, such as computer science and dual degree programs. Additionally, we have another 360 students enrolled in programs jointly offered, such as computer engineering, data science and technology, risk management, and business intelligence. As a young department, we have achieved excellent international rankings. In 2024, we are ranked 32 in the QS World University Rankings and 31 in the Times Higher Education Rankings. In the newly set up QS ranking in data science and artificial intelligence, we are ranked number 10 worldwide. Our ranking record positions us as the number one computer science program in Hong Kong. This success is particularly noteworthy considering that HKUST recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. The fact that our department was established from scratch in 1991 makes these achievements even more impressive. We are confident that we will continue to improve and strengthen in the near future. The remarkable achievement of the department is the result of the joint effort of our world-class faculty members and gifted students. With over 50 faculty members on board, each possessing global teaching and research experience, we cover all areas of computer science and engineering. In the most recent research assessment exercises conducted by the University Grants Committee, the majority of research work by our faculty members was rated as internationally excellent or world-leading. Our strong research areas encompass cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and human-computer interaction. Additionally, we focus on fundamental areas in computer science, including data, knowledge information management, networking, software engineering, vision and graphics, and computer theory. Here are a few examples of research with local impact. Professor Gary Chan developed a privacy-preserving app that maps hotspots with COVID-19 cases. Professor Kai Chen is working on the next generation of AI computing cloud for a smarter Hong Kong. Professor Qian Zhang was just named as RGC Senior Research Fellow and will work on a framework of human-centric contactless sensing with membrane wave signals. There are a large number of interesting research projects We also welcome you to contribute. Our CSE students have actively participated in various competitions and achieved outstanding results. For example, the Firebird CTF team supervised by Dr. Alex Lam has won the championship in the Capture the Flag Contest 2023. The team not only participated but also excelled in the competition, demonstrating their prowess in tackling complex cybersecurity challenges. The Hong Kong Cybersecurity New Generation Capture the Flag Challenge 2022 is jointly organized by the Hong Kong Productivity Council. The competition aims to enhance the cybersecurity awareness of young people in Hong Kong and cultivate more information security talents. Teams from our department supervised by Professor Lam Gok won gold, silver, and bronze awards. The Innotech Scholarship is a prestigious award that annually honors outstanding undergraduates in technology-related fields. It provides local undergraduates with HK$150,000 each year for participation in various elite training programs. Our students received the award in 2023 and 2024, showcasing exceptional talent and potential in these areas. Next, I will introduce some details of our program. We offer three majors, Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Bachelor of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence newly launched in 2025. The Bachelor of Science in Computer Science is designed to facilitate double major study. Additionally, we offer CPEG jointly with the ECE department, DSCT with School of Science, and RMBI with the Business School. With the Business School, we also offer dual-degree programs. Students will complete an engineering and a business degree in five years. CSE students can choose their extended major in digital media and creative arts. Last but not least, CSE students can take additional majors, and their degrees will be associated with their first major. Starting from 2025, the majority of students will be admitted directly to the department. In their first year of study, they will complete fundamental courses such as calculus, computing, English language, and common core. By the end of year one, they can freely declare their preference for a major. Admission is through multiple channels. Here is an overview of the COMP curriculum. In the first year, students take engineering introductory courses, programming course, and university language and common core courses. In the subsequent years, students take foundation courses as well as area courses. In the last year of study, students do a final year project or an industry co-op program. The main feature of our curriculum is a light core major to give students greater flexibility to develop their interests through the area courses. They can easily pursue a second major or a minor and take a wide variety of electives in or outside CSE. We offer a big data technology minor at CSE. Our students also take minors from many other departments such as business, math, chemistry, physics, engineering management, humanities, and social science. Internship is a compulsory component in our curriculum. It can be a short summer internship or a one-year placement. More than half of our CSE students participate in overseas exchange programs at leading universities all over the world. For elite students, we not only offer dual degree programs and double majors, but also honors courses and the university's undergraduate research opportunities program. We have various competition teams if you are interested to collaborate with peers. The job prospects for CSE students are excellent. According to the U.S. News, the software-related job is consistently ranked in the very top of the 100 best jobs in the world. Around 15% of our students go on to further studies at top universities. In addition to HKUST, they have offers from Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, and others. The employment survey also shows our CSE graduates are highly popular in the job market. Most of our graduates in the survey started their jobs in the business and commerce sector and the rest in engineering and industry, education, and other sectors. Our graduates have many job options, including both software developer jobs such as app developer, database admin, network engineer, and other types of jobs. For example, as a bioinformatics specialist, journalist in computer-related publications, and electronic data processing auditor. Here is a recent sample of three of our COMP graduates, Cha-Wing Yin, Stephen Louie, and Alan Shum. They now work in Japan, Germany, and USA, all in IT companies. You may visit CSE websites to find out more information about our department and undergraduate programs. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. I hope you enjoyed this video and have found our programs and research exciting. If you are always passionate about using computers to create innovative technologies and make a difference, I hope to see you soon on our stunning HKUST campus. Thank you!