Adventures in Asia for engineering alumnus

As a scientific officer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Mark Tepper, B.S. '90, works on the operational wind shear warning system for Hong Kong's new airport. He also plays ice hockey and looks forward to remaining in the British Crown Colony once it reverts to Chinese control in July 1997.

"I don't think much will change, maybe some street signs and holidays," Tepper says. "China understands the importance of Hong Kong as a solid contributor of foreign currency into the mainland economy. I think 1997 will be a very exciting year, as the sun finally sets on a British colony seized during the opium wars, and the people of Hong Kong seek closer identity with the most populous country in the world."

Highlights of Tepper's current work include "flying aboard small aircraft with meteorological instruments, while looking for turbulence during the passage of two typhoons." Three years ago, he took part in the United Nations-sponsored TOGA (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere) experiment aboard a People's Republic of China oceanographic vessel that studied El Nino events off the coast of Papua New Guinea. One of two foreigners aboard, he quickly read all five English books in his possession.

"At night, we watched videos in the dining hall, but they were all in Chinese except for "Flashdance," which I saw about ten times. What a feeling to reach land! I then enjoyed snorkeling around sunken World War II Japanese battleships in Rabaul-now the capital of Papua New Guinea-which was the Japanese base in the South Pacific."

A right winger for the Santa Fe Spurs, sponsored by Santa Fe Transport, Tepper has designed a World Wide Web home page for the South China Ice Hockey League, whose members include young professionals from Hong Kong, Canada, the U.S., France and the Netherlands (http://www.hk.super.net/~canam).