Prof. Irene LO Elected Distinguished Fellow of IETI and Honored with Career Award at International Conference

Ir Prof. Irene LO, Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI) and honored with the Career Award at the 6th International Caparica Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions & Molecules 2025, held in Caparica, Portugal on November 2-6.

Distinguished Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI)

This distinguished recognition was recommended by an IETI Distinguished Fellow (European Academician) and officially approved by the Executive Secretary and a board of presidents including Prof. James Crabbe of Oxford University, Prof. Ramesh Agarwal of Washington University in St. Louis, and Prof. Michael Auer of CTI Global earlier this year. This election places Prof. Lo among an esteemed group of scholars, including Prof. Bruce Rittmann of Arizona State University and Prof. Jennifer Lewis of Harvard University. The award presentation was held on November 8, 2025, in Wuhan, China.

Founded in 2015, IETI is a non-profit, non-political, and non-religious international academic organization committed to advancing excellence and innovation in engineering and technology through interdisciplinary collaboration and research distinction. Its distinguished membership comprises laureates of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal, Wolf Prize, and other globally prestigious awards, representing the highest levels of academic and scientific achievement.

Career Award at the 6th International Caparica Conference on Pollutant Toxic Ions & Molecules 2025 (Caparica, Portugal, November 2-6)

This distinguished biennial award recognizes the most influential researcher in the field, celebrating a career of exceptional contributions and impact. Prof. Lo was selected in recognition of her pioneering contributions to environmental engineering and sustainable materials science, particularly in developing magnetic nanomaterials and photocatalytic systems for wastewater purification, wastewater valorization, and low-carbon technology.

At the conference, Prof. Lo delivered a plenary presentation entitled, “A Breakthrough Large-scale Photoelectrochemical Technology for Local Saline Sewage Treatment Coupled with Green Hydrogen Fuel Generation and Towards Net-zero Carbon Emission”. This presentation detailed her team’s latest groundbreaking work, which epitomizes her career-long commitment to bridging foundational research with real-world application.

About Prof. Irene Lo
Prof. Irene Lo is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and an Academician of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), among other important offices and posts. She has also been consistently named on the list of the World’s “Top 2% Scientists” compiled by Stanford University.

Specializing in environmental engineering, Prof. Lo has made significant advancements in pollution control, sustainable development, and environmental remediation technologies. Her pioneering work includes the application of nanotechnology and advanced oxidation process in water and wastewater treatment as well as the development of groundwater and soil remediation techniques. With over 260 SCI-indexed publications and more than 22,000 citations, her research has had a profound global impact, further reflected in her impressive H-index of 81.