Science undergraduate students gain unique experience from Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship programme supported by Professor Sunney I. CHAN

(From left to right) Manoj CHAMLAGAIN, LUO Yuanhang, Professor Sunney I. CHAN, the sponsor of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), Professor Chris WONG, Associate Dean of Science (Transdisciplinary Development) and Dr Andrew LAM, Assistant Professor from the Department of Mathematics

 

Over the past ten years, the Faculty of Science has been creating research opportunities and encouraging undergraduate students to take part in research projects. More than 60 Science undergraduate students have successfully conducted frontier research, some of them being inter-disciplinary, under the guidance of their supervisors in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) programme organized by the Faculty and supported by Professor Sunney I. CHAN, Doctor of Science, honoris causa, since the programme was launched in 2009.

Professor Sunney I. CHAN is a leading scholar in Biophysical Chemistry. He is world renowned for research on membrane proteins, particularly membrane-bound metalloenzymes. He is George Grant Hoag Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, Emeritus at California Institute of Technology. An honorary doctoral degree was conferred on him by the University in 2003 in recognition of his outstanding achievements and remarkable contributions to society. He proactively supports young scientists to engage in research and the Faculty is honoured to receive donation from Professor CHAN to foster students’ excellence in academic achievements and enrichment in research experiences.

The SURF awardees expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Professor CHAN for his generosity and the funding support, and their supervisors for their guidance and patience throughout the research period. Through joining the SURF programme, the students were equipped with a range of skills, from information searching, data handling, project planning, time management, critical thinking, problem-solving skills to presentation skills. They gained fruitful and unique experience that they had never imagined. The research students also enjoyed multidisciplinary and collaborative research through the summer research projects. Many of them shared the same thought that the whole programme did not only let them have a taste of conducting academic research and get to know their future path, it also brought them unique life-long influence on self-development.

Manoj CHAMLAGAIN, a year 2 student from the Department of Biology, was the first international student joining the SURF programme in the academic year 2020-21. He regarded participating in the programme as one of the best decisions he made in his 4-year study in HKBU. ‘Since my research was in the interdisciplinary domain, I had to face some expected and unexpected challenges as it required extensive knowledge of not only biology, but also of chemistry, computing, and mathematical modelling,’ he recounted. He sincerely thanked his supervisor Dr KIM Pan-Jun, Assistant Professor from the Department of Biology, and other graduates who tirelessly helped him by briefing the essential knowledge and skills required to conduct independent research. ‘Working inside the state-of-the-art research laboratory and doing mathematical modelling meant I could learn both experimental and theoretical aspects of scientific research. I can now seriously say that the SURF programme has boosted my passion for pursuing a research postgraduate degree in the near future,’ he added.

WANG Yiqi, a year 3 student from the Department of Mathematics, was another awardee of the programme in the academic year 2020-21. ‘No one is going to teach you step by step how to solve problems. Being left with a topic and countless questions, I needed to continue to learn new knowledge to arm my brain and proactively examine different trials to optimize the solution. This whole process was tough and sometimes even made me very desperate for endless failures. But when I look back after the delivery of the last version of my report, a sense of excitement and accomplishment that comes with revealing the unknown has made every effort just worthwhile,’ he stated. He extended his thankfulness to his supervisor and role model, Dr Andrew LAM, Assistant Professor from the Department of Mathematics, for his advice and support during the research process.

The end of the summer research does not mean the end of the programme. A symposium is usually followed after the completion of the summer research. This year, the SURF Symposium 2021 was held on 18 November. It was the Faculty’s honour to have Professor CHAN’s presence online. The Faculty was also pleased to have Professor Chris WONG, Associate Dean of Science (Transdisciplinary Development) to be the moderator and Dr LAM Kei Fong, Assistant Professor from the Department of Mathematics and the supervisor of one of the awardees, to attend the symposium.

During the symposium, the two awardees, Manoj CHAMLAGAIN and LUO Yuanhang, a year 3 student from the Department of Mathematics, gave presentations about their summer research projects. Each presentation was followed by a Q & A session. Professor CHAN questioned more about the awardees’ research process and their future plans. The awardees gained a lot from Professor CHAN and enjoyed the symposium. Both of them seized this valuable chance to thank Professor CHAN again for his funding support.

In the academic year 2021-22, Professor CHAN will continue to contribute to the SURF programme and provide undergraduate students with precious opportunities to take part in research projects. The SURF programme is now open for applications and the Faculty looks forward to passionate and potential students to apply for it so as to seize their summer time to conduct cutting-edge academic research and contribute to the advancement of society.

Application details:

Application period:

October 2021 to January 2022

Eligibility for application:

All undergraduate students studying Year 2 / Year 3 of 4-Year programmes offered by the Faculty of Science in the academic year 2021-22 who have attained outstanding academic achievement. Preference will be given to students conducting inter-disciplinary research

Research period:

6 to 8 weeks from June to August in 2022

Stipend:

Up to HK$8,000

 

In Summer 2021, Manoj CHAMLAGAIN (second from right), Dr KIM Pan-Jun (first from left) and other members of his research team had a weekly seminar in a conference room at Institute of Computational and Theoretical Studies at HKBU.

 

During the symposium, Manoj CHAMLAGAIN had a fruitful discussion with Professor Sunney I. CHAN.

 

LUO Yuanhang gave a presentation about his research project in the symposium and thanked Dr Andrew LAM, his supervisor, for his guidance and advice given during the research period.



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