Ken Ngo
 
Cuong "Ken" Ngo first came to Texas a year and a half ago to attend the University of Houston. It didn't take him long to discover one of his favorite things about the United States.

"I love American food," said the Vietnam native.

Ngo, a computer information systems major, has been a student worker for Facilities Management since April. Although he had never been to the United States prior to attending UH, he said he transitioned well and did not experience a lot of culture shock.

It helped that he studied English in his home country first, and that he had an older sister who was a student at UH before him. It was her who prodded him to come.

"She was already here and she asked me to go," he said.

So after studying in Vietnam for two years, he transferred to UH. He expects to graduate in May 2015.

In his student business analyst position, he works closely with the facilities work order management system known as FAMIS. FAMIS manages and tracks routine maintenance and repairs, housekeeping, grounds maintenance, preventive maintenance, life safety systems compliance, and building systems operations among other tasks.

Ngo plays a key role in ensuring that FAMIS is responsive and supportive of its users. He creates the documents used in FAMIS training and he conducts the user training sessions. He troubleshoots user questions and problems and meets with different facilities management shops/crews to analyze their business processes to integrate into FAMIS.

In fact, when a user contacts the FAMIS support office at famissup@central.uh.edu, more than likely they will be communicating with him.

That experience could transfer well to his career. He is eyeing two possible paths after graduation: system analyst or web developer. His plan is to stay in the United States for a while and build up some experience before returning to Vietnam.

Although studies and his work take up most of his time, he does find some time to relax and enjoy himself.

"When I have free time I go swimming at UH. They have a beautiful swimming pool here," he said.