Excellent Teaching Assistant Award 2016-17

Mr Chong Wing Fung Alfred
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

"My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed!” – Anne Sullivan 

Mr Chong received a BSc degree in Risk Management and Mathematics from The University of Hong Kong in 2012, an MPhil degree in Risk Management Science from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2014, and a joint PhD degree in Actuarial Science from HKU and King’s College London (KCL) in 2017. He is currently a J.L. Doob Research Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

During his three-year studies in the joint PhD programme at HKU and KCL, Mr Chong had been a teaching assistant of a wide spectrum of undergraduate and graduate courses, ranging from actuarial science, mathematical finance, statistics, risk management to foundational mathematics modules in calculus and analysis. These unique and valuable experiences gradually configured his philosophies on education throughout the graduate studies; meanwhile, positive comments and constructive suggestions from students regularly refined his teaching practices. Upon implementing his teaching philosophies and practices, his teaching has been well-recognized and appreciated. 

As an applied mathematician in the disciplines of actuarial science and mathematical finance, the primary teaching objective of Mr Chong is to equip students with the ability to understand the abstract formalism of mathematical concepts, and to accurately apply the abstract formalism to concrete settings. He regards himself as an assistant in leading students to re-discover mathematics on their own and become independent thinkers. He believes that the ultimate goal of mathematics education is to allow young minds to appreciate the underlying beauty of the rigorous and elegant mathematical machinery.