Active 1991 - 2013; Emeritus 2013; Recalled 2013 - 2015
Dr. SS Lau arrived at UC San Diego in 1980 when the university was just 20 years old. Professionally he was offered three possibilities for a career transition, two within the National Labs and the other at UCSD. He always wanted to have the freedom to do the research of his choice and enjoy the pursuit of exploring new areas of research, so he elected to come to UCSD because he felt it was the right opportunity to accomplish that goal. Combining his research in the field of electronic materials science and technology with his passion for teaching, he remained with UCSD until his retirement in 2013.
He attributes learning from those around us. There were many influential colleagues he met at UCSD. Several colleagues that particularly stand out are Professor William S.C. Chang, Professor Peter M. Asbeck and Professor Paul Y. Yu. Dr. Chang was very influential, very fair, capable and treated everyone with respect. Together with others they grew the Electronic Devices and Materials Program at UCSD.
As he reflected, Dr. Lau is pleased to have been able to recruit some of the best faculty during his time at UCSD. He was recruited by Professor William S.C. Chang, and together they worked to identify faculty in the growing area of research for the Electronic Devices and Materials Program. Later Drs. Lau and Yu recruited Dr. Shadi Dayeh, Professor for Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE). Together they eventually shared a lab upon Dr. Lau's retirement and Professor Dayeh welcomed him to interact with his students. In a way, he feels as though he helped contribute towards the growth of Dr. Dayeh's lab by being available and personally vested in his on-boarding and success as a new faculty member.
The most memorable experiences he had while teaching at UCSD was when he received appreciation from students. When students told him they learned something, that made him the happiest. Dr. Lau's legacy and experience has acquired much knowledge and sound advice for future generations of engineers. He wishes to convey the importance of being respectful of one's profession.
Advice he offers to current students at UCSD is to study hard. College should be the happiest time of your life, and should be the most carefree, with the biggest and only responsibility to study hard and learn. There is no time to fool around. Advice particularly for graduate and PhD students he says to consider yourselves quite lucky to have the opportunity to do research and make the most of it.
For current faculty, "respect your job, you were hired to teach, to research and to perform community/department service." As a senior faculty professor he wants to be helpful to younger professors. Dr. Lau learns a lot from new faculty, and trusts their interactions are positive for them too. He enjoys group lunches with younger faculty in the department and notes those interactions are gratifying. He enjoys talking and seeing how they are growing in their time since joining UCSD.
After retirement, Dr. Lau taught for a couple of years and still went to campus each day until the pandemic hit. He was able to join certain meetings, watched students graduate, and visit Professor Shadi Dayeh's lab to mentor students occasionally. He became a donor to various organizations that are important to him. He also enjoys watching thriller movies and reading mystery novels.