Two distinguished scholars from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) are today (Thursday) awarded the prestigious Senior Research Fellowship by the Croucher Foundation in recognition of their breakthrough research in compound semiconductors and fuel cells.
Prof Kei May Lau, Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering and Director of Photonics Technology Center, and Prof Tianshou Zhao, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Energy Technology, are among the five scholars in Hong Kong to receive this distinguished honor.
Prof Kei May Lau is renowned for her research on compound semiconductor materials and devices with high-frequency, high speed and photonic device applications. Her research currently is focused on light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems, which is one of the greatest on-going revolutions of the 21st century. Professor Lau and her team have concentrated their efforts on making this environmentally friendly lighting source more popular and at lower production costs.
In 2001, Prof Lau was honored with the Fellowship of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It is one of the most prestigious honors IEEE can bestow. She was also a recipient of the National Science Foundation Faculty Awards for Women Scientists and Engineers in USA in 1991.
“Compound semiconductors are crucial to improving the performance of electrical devices. It is my pleasure to apply my research findings to the betterment of the quality of life,” Prof Lau said.
Professor Lau received her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Before joining the regular faculty of HKUST in 2000, Prof Lau worked in the US industry and national laboratories, and had a long academic career at the flagship campus of University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The other Croucher Fellowship recipient, Prof Tianshou Zhao, has extensive research and teaching experience in energy technologies with the focus on fuel cell. He and his research team are pioneering the development of Direct Alcohol Fuel Cell (DAFC) which can convert the chemical energy of liquid methanol or ethanol directly into electricity.
This type of fuel cell is becoming a top competitor to replace conventional batteries in portable electronic devices. His team has also developed a passively-operated Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC), whose power density can be as high as 35 mW/cm2 – the best performance reported among cells of a similar type. His team has discovered that hydrogen can be evolved spontaneously from DMFC. This discovery has enabled researchers to develop a new technique to produce hydrogen at room temperature.
More recently, Prof Zhao’s team is creating a new type of fuel cell – Direct Ethanol fuel cell (DEFC), which runs on ethanol, a more environmentally friendly and sustainable fuel. They have shown that DEFC can yield even higher power output than DMFC.
Prof Zhao has published more than 120 papers in top-rated academic journals, in which more than 50 papers are in the area of fuel cells. In 2007, six of his papers received the accolade of being ranked among the top 1% research items in their field by number of Science Citation Index. Prof Zhao received a number of awards including the Bechtel Foundation Engineering Teaching Excellence Award in 2004, Overseas Outstanding Young Investigator Award by Natural Science Foundation of China in 2006, and Fellowship of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2007, which is one of the most prestigious honors ASME can bestow.
“Sustainability of energy and environment is one of the most critical issues nowadays. I am delighted that my research can show contribution to sustain a clean future for our next generations,” Prof Zhao said.
Prof Zhao earned his PhD degree from University of Hawaii in 1995. He joined HKUST in 1995.
Mr Michael Suen, Secretary for Education of the HKSAR Government today presented the awards to the Fellows at a ceremony held by the Croucher Foundation.
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Donna Wong
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Email: donnaw@ust.hk
