Featured Story

Nicole Tiantian Chen
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Management and Engineering, 2021
Assistant Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

In March 2021, I received my PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from PolyU. The University has been my home since 2017 and this year marks my 6th anniversary here. I will be leaving Hong Kong in a month to pursue my academic career as an Assistant Professor at the Cho Chun Shik Graduate School of Mobility at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

After graduating with my master's degree and working in the industry for more than a year, I began studying for my PhD. It was my passion to do research, and I applied for the PhD programme because I was interested in the research direction of my PhD advisor. I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my chief supervisor, Dr Nang-ngai Sze, for his unreserved guidance and supervision. The priceless time he spent with me on my research is highly appreciated. My heartfelt thanks also go to my co-supervisor, Prof. Anthony Chen, for always sharing interesting ideas with me, encouraging me to expand my research area, and providing professional advice and support to me. I would also extend my sincere thanks to my fellow road safety and transportation team members for sharing their insights during our discussion. Last but not least, I wish to thank our laboratory technician Emily Fung for her efficient assistance during my experimental works.

CEE provides students with numerous opportunities to improve their research capability and expand their international research network. Under CEE’s support, I attended various research activities such as international conferences, exchange programmes, and research project competitions in the UK, US, Japan and Australia during my PhD years. Through research presentations, I have learnt how to effectively communicate with my peers and share my ideas. It was during my PhD study when I most frequently initiated international collaborations. We also occasionally invited renowned professors from other universities to conduct seminars or summer courses, in addition to the practical and cutting-edge courses offered by CEE. I must say these experiences played a significant role in my job search for faculty positions.

After completing my PhD, I joined a research team at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) of PolyU as a post-doctoral fellow. I managed time well with high research productivity, while looking for faculty positions and getting invited to a number of interviews. This spring, after three rounds of interviews, I finally received an offer from KAIST—one of the top public universities in South Korea (ranked #41 in QS World University Rankings 2022).

There are in fact a lot of excellent researchers at CEE. My humble suggestion for my friends as well as current and future students of CEE is: time spent in “vain” may be worthwhile in the end. All things are difficult before they are easy. If you have the courage to take the first step and stay on your course, good things may come your way.

My deepest gratitude goes out to CEE once again. Without the support from the professors, team members and friends from the Department, this journey would not have been possible.