Winnie discovered the beauty of Applied Chemistry when her MPhil supervisor at HKUST harvested tiny diamonds from plastic. Inspired by this, Winnie embarked on a career in which she is committed to advancing innovation and technology development in Hong Kong. She currently serves as a Senior Programme Manager with the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) where she administers various funding schemes, including the HKUST Nano and Advanced Materials Institute Limited (NAMI), and the Guangdong-Hong Kong Technology Corporation Funding Scheme.

NAMI is hosted by HKUST and run in partnership with industrial companies. It offers a powerful technology platform for the creation of a wide spectrum of innovative products in order to facilitate the development of nanotech and advanced materials. Winnie is very proud of the important role HKUST has played in advancing innovation and technology in Hong Kong. "I keep in frequent contact with HKUST professors and researchers, and have first-hand information about the research accomplishments at the Science School. HKUST is a miracle university. The laboratory facilities are world class and have undergone tremendous enhancement over the years. You will never know how much effort our professors and staff have made behind the scenes to make this happen. Without the state-of-the-art laboratories, the research accomplishments would not have been possible," she elaborates.

"Though I studied Chemistry, I took some courses in Mechanical Engineering and Electronics Engineering. I had plenty of exposure to the application as well as the theoretical side of science. I am keen on materials science as it is an 'enabling technology,' which creates and adds value to many industrial applications. This is why I chose nanotechnology as my thesis topic, and now time has proven its significance," she says.