Engineering and Innovations in a Secure and Intelligent Connected World

In the new Information Era, human and objects on Earth are well connected via various telecommunication technologies. Data are captured ubiquitously, processed continuously, and analyzed with powerful platforms such as the cloud to obtain intelligent and predictive conclusions, further enabling many emerging smart applications for better human lives and economy.

Information Engineering is a broad discipline that focuses on technological innovations in its core areas, including but not limited to telecommunications (wireless communications and optical fibre communications, notably pioneered by Prof. Charles Kao, who established IE at CUHK), internet architectures and protocols, multimedia networking and processing, big data technology and analytics, cyber security and cryptography, internet of things (IoT), and machine learning. The focus is on building smart and efficient systems or networks that form the telecommunication cornerstone, ranging from long-haul and ultrahigh capacity information superhighways to last-mile broadband access and interconnections. Building on such versatile network infrastructure, we can further develop smart applications and services for the better living of humanity, ranging from daily personal and professional services to sophisticated large-scale distributed applications. These efforts aim to meet the ever-growing demand for information capacity and infrastructure from users worldwide. Our mission at the Department of Information Engineering at CUHK has always been carrying out world-class research and training up technology leaders to meet these grand goals.

Before Song Jianhan joined the Information Engineering (IE) programme at CUHK, he thought he might be trained to be a hacker. It turns out he is exposed to much more. Jianhan recollected: ‘After I gained more knowledge through my studies in this programme, I realised that IE has a wide spectrum of research interests, including cyber security, wireless communications, networking, big data and AI. All of the related IT applications have interesting theoretical backgrounds. Therefore, you will learn the technologies here, but you can also go further to explore the world behind it.’ After graduation, Jianhan continues his PhD study at the University of Texas at Austin, working on integrating wireless network scheduling with machine learning methodologies.

Prof. Calvin Chan, Chairman of the Department of Information Engineering, said, ‘The IE programme educates and nurtures engineering professionals, researchers and leaders for the present and future Information World. We train our students to be well-versed in the areas of communications systems and networks, Internet engineering, cyber security, mobile and cloud computing, multimedia processing, big data / AI as well as internet-of-things applications.’

The programme admits around 100 students each year, who all share a keen interest and solid background in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects. Dicky Lai is another IE graduate who recognized the critical role networking plays in present-day technology and said that this programme ‘has given me a better understanding of the networking technologies through lectures and hands-on projects. I admire the way of communications in our world, from the 1 and 0 signals to those high performance and scalable applications.’

Prof. Chan pointed out, ‘According to a recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Report titled “Digital Transformation of Business”, Social, Mobility, Cloud and Big Data technologies are the four “megatrends” that will dominate the coming decade. These emerging areas align extremely well with the core strengths and strategic development directions of the IE programme. We are confident that we will continue to nurture innovators and engineering leaders who can manage and create new information technologies to serve all disciplines, meeting the society’s great demand for such talents in the years to come.’

He continued, ‘The IE programme combines the fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in one major. Such inter-disciplinary nature is unique amongst all ICT-related programmes offered by the universities in Hong Kong. The IE curriculum not only offers solid foundation training in these two disciplines but also provides the broadest set of electives for our students to choose from. The unparalleled flexibility offered by the IE curriculum enables our students to tailor their studies according to each individual’s academic interest and professional development plan.’

Jianhan said, ‘I have had several research experiences, such as undergraduate summer research internship under the direct guidance of an IE professor, through which I have enhanced my self-learning ability and gained a deeper understanding on the topics. The way I see it, the courses expand your knowledge while research helps you understand how such knowledge works in practice. This kind of training will change the way you see and tackle real-world problems.

‘During my study in IE, I joined the Work-Study Programme, to work as a full-time web developer in a local start-up for one year. Although I will not embark on a programmer’s career, this experience has nonetheless improved my techniques and enriched my outlook.’

Dicky also said, ‘This programme has excellent resources to support the students in learning. A number of laboratories with various functions are ready for the students. I have gone through some practical works like coping with circuits, setting enterprise-level networks, or doing big data analysis with the resources provided by the programme. The professors are very much in the frontiers of the fields and they taught us the latest technologies. For example, I had learnt node.js, which was then a newly developed server-side programming, back then.’

Our IE graduates have pursued careers in software development, technical consulting, telecommunications, networks and information system management, project management, engineering operations and services, technical sales and marketing, among others.

The companies which recruited our IE graduates include Morgan Stanley, PriceWaterhouseCooper, Société Générale, PCCW, Smartone, OOCL, MTR, IBM, Oracle, HKMA, HSBC, the HKSAR Government, Hong Kong Productivity Council, AT&T, Broadcom, Cisco, Huawei, Qualcomm, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Yahoo, Youku, Tencent, etc.

While you consider joining Information Engineering at CUHK, here are Dicky’s words to you: ‘Either you want to develop yourself into a communication-focused or a software-focused person, this programme provides numerous opportunities for you to learn the technologies. You can have an all-round understanding and a full picture of the technologies.’

Jianhan agreed: ‘Without any doubt, information technology is a promising profession, but the path to become an IT person can be challenging. I will recommend students who are really interested in this field to choose our programme. The professors here are always willing to help. Remember, never give up any chance to empower yourself for a brighter future!’

Published: Summer 2017
Last Updated: Summer 2021