CSE Alumni Family Homecoming Day 2015

The first CSE Alumni Family Homecoming Day was jointly organized by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and the Computer Science and Engineering Alumni Association (CSEAA) on Sunday, November 22, 2015. The event was well received by alumni families, young graduates, students, faculty and staff. Eighty participants, including twenty families of alumni, enjoyed a fruitful day at HKUST by joining Hour of Code sessions, badminton games, and Tea Party.

The Alumni Family Homecoming Day was started by a welcome speech given by our Department Head, Prof. Qiang Yang. He briefly summarized the latest development of HKUST and CSE, such as Big Data initiatives and the latest ranking of our department worldwide. In addition, he emphasized that alumni are the essential component of the CSE community. Prof. Shing-Chi Cheung, Associate Head of CSE, expressed his gratitude to all participants. He recommended that children from the alumni families can be served as teachers to teach HKUST students programming in future. Mr. Peter Chung, Vice President of CSEAA, thanked for the generous support from CSE. On behalf of CSEAA, he looked forward to having a long-term partnership between CSE and CSEAA and a similar alumni family event can be recurrent annually.

The Hour of Code sessions were tailored for the alumni families. Talented HKUST students were mobilized to serve as Hour of Code Ambassadors. They guided the children of alumni families with the aid of their parents to learn basic programming concepts using visual programming tools such as Scratch and MIT App Inventor 2. Family photos, together with the certificates of Hour of Code, were distributed to the participating families at the end of hour of code sessions.

The needs of young graduates were also considered. Badminton courts were reserved for alumni to play badminton games.

The tea reception provided a platform for alumni, students, faculty, and staff to mingle. Through this relaxed environment, students talked with alumni to broaden their horizons and be more prepared for their future life and career. Faculty and staff chatted with alumni families to build a closer bond with our CSE alumni community. At the end of event, a tailor-made umbrella is given as a souvenir to each alumni family.

With the 25th anniversary of HKUST, the Department launches the Alumni Affairs Committee. The committee is chaired by Prof. Qiong Luo and consists of faculty and staff members with the goal to build close ties between alumni and the department.

View the photo album of the Alumni Day.