Applying IT Knowledge at Work — and Home

When Fabius Chiang (MSIT ‘20) and Liping (Lela) Zhou (MSIT ‘20) moved to Chicago, they bought a house built in the 1980s. In the summer, the house's second floor tends to hold heat. Come winter, there's no heat to be found.

Chiang and Zhou decided to put the knowledge they learned in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) program to practice to help solve the problem. This fall, the couple kicked off what they're calling AirCares, a project to help improve the house’s air circulation. 

Chiang built an Internet of Things (IoT) system to control a fan that adjusts the flow of air based on temperature data fed to a central server, while Zhou served as product manager. The roles mirror what they do professionally.  

Chiang is manager of software engineering at financial services firm Morningstar, where he's worked since 2010. He spent his first five years working for the company in China, where he met Zhou. The two were members of the Morningstar Volunteer Club. They moved to Chicago in 2016 and each took on new roles in the company. Chiang became a technical team lead while Zhou became a project manager — she previously worked in data analysis and quality assurance. 

The two enrolled in MSIT's part-time program as a way to advance their own careers.  

“I wanted to understand more about the principles of engineering and software technology," Zhou said.  

"My goals were to understand more about business, software engineering management, and learn social skills in a different cultural environment," Chiang said. “MSIT was an excellent, comprehensive opportunity for both of us.”

Chiang was promoted to his current position soon after graduation, while Zhou chose to leave Morningstar to become a senior product manager at Millennium Trust Company, a different financial services organization.  

Both credit their time in MSIT for their job changes.

"We often did projects and demonstrations in MSIT, and the solutions we demonstrated in MSIT were often not as mature as the solutions I'd present in my Morningstar work," Zhou said. "Our solutions were more creative than my realistic work cases. Millennium Trust is relatively a smaller company and requires new (creative) ideas to fuel up business opportunities. Project experience in MSIT helped me generate those new insightful ideas."

"MSIT is a comprehensive program that provides broad views of IT, including engineering and business," Chiang said. "If you're looking for growth in the IT domain, MSIT is the accelerator to speed you up."