Speaker: Prof.David Y.H. Pui, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, LM Fingerson/TSI Inc. Chair in Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.

Title : "Green Technologies & Sustainable Environment"

Abstract: Air pollution impacts the global burden of disease, with an estimated 6.6 million premature deaths across the world, of which about half are in China and India. The effects of air pollution on the atmospheric visibility and human health will be addressed. The alarming increase in urban air pollution makes it imperative to explore alternative solutions, in addition to enforcement of emission controls. This talk will further address green technologies that benefit sustainable environment, which will enable people and the environment to prosper together. A disruptive innovation, namely, the Solar-Assisted Large-Scale Cleaning System (SALSCS), to mitigate PM2.5 pollutants in urban air has been set up in Xi’an city, in China. The second generation SALSCS is developed to reduce not only the PM2.5 but also CO2 in the atmosphere. An integrative and collaborative approach, among academia, governments, and industries, can effectively manage and create a sustainable global environment.

About the speaker: Prof. Pui has made seminal contributions to research in areas including particle charging and neutralization, sampling and transport, aerosol filtration, aerosol instrumentation, and micro- and nano-contamination control in semiconductor manufacture. Prof. Pui has developed several widely used commercial aerosol instruments; recently he pioneered designing and implementing large-scale air cleaning systems for mitigating urban air pollution. Prof. Pui has received many awards, including the Smoluchowski Award by the Gesellschaft fuer Aerosolforschung (1992), the Max Planck Research Award (1993), the Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists (2000), the David Sinclair Award by the American Association for Aerosol Research (2002), and the Fuchs Memorial Award (2010) — the highest disciplinary award conferred by the American, German and Japanese aerosol associations. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE).