Celia Weng Si Pang, a graduate student from the Faculty of Education (FED) of the University of Macau (UM) majoring in Educational Psychology, has been accepted as a Visiting Graduate Student Researcher for the University of California, Berkeley/Macau exchange programme for the 2009/2010 Academic Year due to her outstanding academic performance. She will leave for UCB in the coming mid August for a one-year UM-funded research and study stint.
UM signed an academic exchange agreement with UC Berkeley in 2007. According to this agreement, each year both sides can exchange students for research and study purposes. FED recommended Celia for this exchange programme because of her outstanding academic performance, and finally she successfully passed the rigorous evaluation by UC Berkeley . UC Berkeley ’s evaluation criteria mainly include the applicants’ academic performance during undergraduate and postgraduate studies, educational and research backgrounds, as well as future research plans.
Having developed an intense interest in studying people’s behaviors and psychology since childhood, Celia chose psychology as her undergraduate major. “It is fascinating and fulfilling to study others as well as my own psychology and behaviors from a scientific standpoint.” Celia says wherever you go, whatever social and economic environment you are in, education is absolutely necessary, because it brings you hope and gives you the opportunity to realize your full potential so you can live a higher-quality life. And that’s why after obtaining her bachelor’s degree she made up her mind to pursue master’s degree in Educational Psychology for which she got full scholarship funding due to her outstanding academic performance. During her postgraduate study, she served as Assistant Researcher at FED’s Centre of Educational Research on Well-Rounded Growth and Development, she also assisted Assistant Professor Sze Tat Ming in the research project of establishing a longitudinal database system regarding adolescent’s psychological life in Macau. She says the most important thing in research is perseverance, you must have Napoleon’s “never-give-up” spirit, and as long as you keep on marching towards your goal no matter what difficulties you encounter, you will, sooner or later, discover the “new world”. During her spare time, Celia voraciously reads a lot of books and papers related to psychology, which has increased her knowledge and given her many inspirations for research.
As the first UM student participant in the UC Berkeley /Macau exchange programme in the capacity as Visiting Graduate Student Researcher, Celia relishes the prospect of serving as a bridge of academic exchange between the two universities, she also looks forward to acquiring the latest knowledge and research methodologies related to adolescent’s social moral cognition . “Of course it is also a rare opportunity to experience the teaching mode and culture of a world-renowned university and make friends with famous scholars and outstanding students, I can also take this opportunity to travel around to broaden my horizon”. Asked about her future plans, she says she wants to stay in the USA for further study and academic research, and if opportunity arises, she is more than happy to come back to UM and teach. “It’s my honor to repay my alma mater” she said.
Caption: Celia will go to UC Berkeley for further study
