Spring — 2005

Jay Tsang

Electrical Engineering

“Professor Masada has done every kind of research, and he basically knows just about everything. He’s like a human encyclopedia.”

Small world. As Jay Tsang reports, “My family lives in Hong Kong, and my parents were trying to get me to choose a country where I was gonna study, like Italy or Great Britain,” he recalls. “And when my mom’s boss heard about this, he said, ‘No! You’ve gotta go to SMC! They’ve got the best transfer rate to the UCs and USC, and you’ll love it.’ Turns out,” says Jay with a laugh, “he studied at SMC about 20 years ago.”

So Jay started hitting SMC’s waaaay cool website and decided to hop across the Pacific. And what he found in the College’s science departments has him fired up for a transfer to UCLA. “I compared the sciences here with other schools, and this is by far the best,” he says. “And you know? I think I learn the most in night classes, like where I’m taking chemistry now. Those classes are basically smaller, and you get to know everybody better, so it’s more fun, and easier to work out problems together.”

It may be that Jay winds up designing the next three supercomputers for IBM. But his real dream is a much more ‘flighty’ one. “I would love to go to work for Boeing and help them design those big planes,” he says. “It’s incredibly competitive to get in with them, but that’s what I’m working toward.” And to help him stay focused on his goals, Jay reports, “There’s nothing better you can do at SMC than getting involved. I got into Alpha Gamma Sigma, the Honors Society, and it’s the best thing I’ve done here, because it lets you know about all the resources and opportunities at SMC. Or you can just go up to the Associated Students office and get some advice and some good friends. If you really want to make the best use of your time here,” says Jay, “get involved.”

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