Q1: Please briefly introduce yourself.
A: I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology, THEi. I am also a Registered Professional Engineer of Hong Kong and Chartered Engineer of United Kingdom. Prior to joining in THEi, I received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and then worked as postdoctoral researcher at Department of Chemistry of University of British Columbia and the Institute of Chemical Process and Environmental Technology of National Research Council Canada. Recently, I was elected Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining in recognition of his academic contribution in the field of materials and engineering.
Q2: What are your achievements in research?
A: Before joining THEi, I served various energy industrial and government sectors such as the Hong Kong Towngas and the National Research Council Canada. I applied my chemical engineering knowledge in numerous energy related projects over the past 10 years with significant responsibilities and accomplishments. This can be evidenced by my research results being published in highly recognized peer-reviewed journal articles (>50) and I have 8 filed patents records. I am also a Chartered Resource and Waste Manager (UK) and have significant contribution to the development of the Research Centre for Waste and Resource Management at THEi, which was financially supported by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No.: UGC/IDS25/15). I have given a public invited research presentation to support the IDS-25 activities. My research and contribution in wood waste management and conversion to energy source has also been highlighted by several newspaper and media in 2018.
Q3: How do you adopt your research findings into your teaching?
A: With the interdisciplinary background in both chemistry and chemical engineering, I understand the strength and weakness of both science and engineering students and I can cater for the different needs of students from various background during the mentoring and tutoring. When we talk about STEM education, science and engineering share the same concept that both begin with asking a question. These questions begin a creative process that strives to answer these questions by using many different methods. However, differences do exist. Engineers create specifications, scopes and constraints to define their problem and use them to test their prototypes. This creates a systematic but iterative process. On the other hand, scientists design methods to test hypothesizes based on prior knowledge and observations. In either discipline, I strong encourage students to understand both concepts, combine them and this will help accelerate their progress in study.
A good example in my research is the use of chemical simulation software to study the economic feasibility when scaling up a laboratory small scale process. The laboratory result was first obtained in a small scale, then using the simulation method to slowly iterate the scale-up procedure until the process is economical feasible.
In the past few years, I have been teaching my final year project students on using various simulation methods to study commercial scale engineering process. Some of the results have been published. Currently, I am also chartered engineer assessor of two engineering societies in UK and I have assessed the competence and eligibility of over 50 Chartered Engineer over the globe. During the assessment procedure, I keep identifying the common pitfalls and make a note on how the candidates can avoid them. In the future, I expect my students in THEi will definitely benefit from these application experience so as to increase the chance of success of their application for engineer and scientist title in future. If students are aiming at obtaining either Chartered Engineer or Chartered Scientist status in future, please do not hesitate to find me for valuable advice.
