Symposium Speakers

Dr. Chuen-Jinn Tsai is Lifetime Chair Professor of the Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU, formerly NCTU, National Chiao Tung University), Taiwan. He graduated from National Taiwan University and received Ph. D. in 1990 in the Particle Technology Laboratory (PTL), Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Minnesota. In the last ~34 years since he joined NYCU in 1990, he has applied aerosol technology successfully in advancing air pollution sampling, monitoring and control technologies. He won distinguished research awards from Taiwan National Science and Technology Council (NSTC, formerly National Science Council) three times and was promoted as NYCU Lifetime Chair Professor in 2023. In 2022, he received the distinguished MOST fellow award from MOST. Professor Chuen-Jinn is one of the key founding members of TAAR (Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research in Taiwan), and AARA (Asian Aerosol Research Assembly) for which he had served as the Presidents. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief, Co-Editors-in-Chief and Editor for nearly 21 years for AAQR (Aerosol and Air Quality Research, http://www.aaqr.org/) since 2003. He received the 2006 International Aerosol Fellow (IAF) award from the IARA (International Aerosol Research Assembly, www.iara.org), 2015 Asian Aerosol Fellow and 2012 Fellow of Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research (TAAR) to recognize his outstanding research, technical development, education and service contributions to aerosol science and technology. In 2018, Taiwan PM2.5 Control Association (PMCA, pmca.tw) was founded by him and colleagues to promote air environmental monitoring and control industry in Taiwan and help Taiwan and ASEAN Countries improve air quality for better health and welfare. He currently serves as the honorary PMCA president after serving as the president for two terms (2018-2022). (chuen-jinn-tsai.org)

Dato’ Prof. Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah is presently the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Professor in Transport Studies. Between March 2017 and April 2021, he was appointed as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & International) of USM. Preceding his term as Deputy Vice Chancellor, he was both the Dean of the School of Civil Engineering and the Director of the USM’s Engineering campus. He is widely regarded as a leading expert in transport matters in Malaysia. He was the founding member of the Commission Member of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), and was made the Interim Chairman from 2017 until the day SPAD was decommissioned by the government. As a commission member, he has helped to steer the organisation and the public transport strategies of the country. He was appointed as the Director General of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) between 2008 and 2011, and was critical behind many road safety strategies of the country. He is still very active championing road safety in Malaysia. In 2016, Ministry of Transport (MOT) Malaysia appointed him as the Cluster Head for the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) for MOT on road safety. For his work in road safety, he was accorded the Road Safety Icon Award by the Road Transport Department Malaysia (JPJ) in 2015. He has been advising the Penang State government and was instrumental behind the Penang Road Safety Strategies 2014-2020, the only state in Malaysia with such initiative. He continues to be the champion of road safety, and has been advocating for a new approach for road safety in order to produce the desired results. In Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Farhan was acknowledged for his leadership qualities very early in his career. Merely two years after he came back from University College London, with his Ph.D in 1995, he has started to hold administrative responsibilities at USM. To date, Farhan has been appointed FOURTEEN (14) times, for various positions in the school, campus and the university. He was the pioneering head of FOUR (4) of the positions that he held, namely, as the first Coordinator of the Engineering Innovation and Technology Development Unit (EITD), the first Research Dean of Engineering and Technology, the first Director of the Innovation Office, and the first Director of the Transformation Office. He has conducted numerous researches and projects specializing in various areas of transport such as on Intelligent Transport System, public transport, sustainable transport, road safety, travel behavior and traffic engineering. He has also published technical reports, books and journal manuscripts relating to transport. In addition to teaching, Farhan also supervises postgraduates at Masters and doctorate levels. Dato’ Prof. Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah Naib Canselor Universiti Putra Malaysia He has his fair share of participation and recognition at the global stage. Amongst the highlights of Farhan’s international endeavour was when he was appointed as the Chair of the World Road Association (PIARC) Technical Committee C.2 on Safer Road Operations for the 2008 to 2011 session. He has also held advisory roles to two Japanese companies in relation to road sustainability. Academically, Farhan has a PhD in Transport Studies from the University College London, United Kingdom. He has a Master of Science in Transport from the Imperial College London, and a Bachelor in Civil Engineering from the Catholic University of America, Washington, United States. He also holds a Diploma of Imperial College (DIC) from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Professionally, he was a council member of the Road Engineering Association of Malaysia (REAM), a council member of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Malaysia, member of the Institution of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), Road Engineering Association of Asia Australasia (REAAA), Transportation Science Society of Malaysia (TSSM), and the ITS Malaysia. He is presently an International Scientific Committee (ISC) member of the East Asia Society of Transportation Science (EASTS). In June 2013, Farhan was also appointed as the member of the Expert Panel to review the safety of the Malaysian construction Industry. In 2016, he was appointed as a member of the Research Advisory Council of the Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM). He helped the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) to formulate the Construction Industry Transformation Plan (CITP) between 2006 – 2010, and has been a member of the Construction Industry Transformation Plan (CITP) Thrust Working Group (TWG) on Environmental Sustainability for CIDB since 2016.

Atsushi Matsuki, is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. and MSc in Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry from Nagoya University, and a BSc in Marine Science from Tokai University. His research has focused on the long-range transport of mineral dust, as demonstrated in his Ph.D. thesis on the persistence of background KOSA in the East Asia-Western Pacific region. Matsuki has held various academic positions, including Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at Kanazawa University and JSPS Research Fellow at Université Clermont-Auvergne (former Université Blaise Pascal) in France and Kanazawa and Nagoya Universities in Japan. His work includes establishing the Noto Ground-Based Research Observatory and participating in international aircraft campaigns to measure cloud residual particles.

His research interests include aerosol-cloud interactions, heterogeneous chemistry of aerosols, and individual particle analysis. He has developed new analytical methods for characterizing aerosols and has provided field evidence of humidity-dependent gaseous uptake by aeolian mineral dust. Matsuki is a member of the Japan Society of Atmospheric Chemistry, Japan Association of Aerosol Science and Technology (JAAST), and the Meteorological Society of Japan. He has served on the JAAST committee and is an editor for several journals, including Aerosol and Air Quality Research and Atmosphere. He has received numerous awards, including the Young Scientists’ Prize from Japan's MEXT, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan and the Young Aerosol Researcher Award from Japan Association of Aerosol Science and Technology (JAAST).

Puji Lestari is a Professor in Air Quality Management and atmospheric chemistry at Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (FCEE), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). She received her Ph.D degree in Environmental Engineering, major in air pollution from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA in 1996. She is currently appointed as a Chair of Research Group on Air and Waste Management of ITB. Her research interest includes air quality monitoring and modeling, aerosol characterization and speciation from different sources including biomass burning, emission inventory and source apportionment. She also conducts research on emission characteristic from various sources such as transport, recidential cooking, biomass burning (agriculture and peatland burning) and industries burning waste and biomass. Since 1999, Dr Lestari has been leading as a Project Investigator for many national and International research projects on air quality and atmospheric chemistry. She also has many peer review publications and many international collaborations with many international Universities and Research institutes such as AIT, KCL, Dalhousie Univ, The Univ of Tokyo, US NASA, NIES-Japan, WRI and ICCT-USA. In 2018 she is invited to serve as a Panel member of Development Methodology for GHG Emission Reduction strategy in Indonesia and become a member of expert panel of IPCC in developing emission inventory methodology for SLCP. She also involved in many professional organization activities such as 7SEAS, IGAC mango, IBBI, PII, and CAI Asia etc, In 2023, she established Indonesia Aerosol Association (IAA) and become the first president of IAA.

Dr. Sheng-Hsiang (Carlo) Wang has long been dedicated to the study of atmospheric radiation and aerosols, with a focus on the optical properties of aerosols and their radiative effects. In recent years, Dr. Wang has actively participated in the 7-SEAS international research program, conducting field observation experiments in Thailand and Vietnam to gain a deeper understanding of the optical properties and vertical distribution of aerosols in the major biomass burning emission areas of northern Indochina. Additionally, he has been involved in the establishment of the Taiwan Lidar Network to study the vertical distribution characteristics of aerosols, the background atmospheric radiation monitoring stations, the development of unmanned aerial vehicle observation technology to address shortcomings in atmospheric vertical observation, and the development of miniature sensors to construct environmental Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Chih-Wei Lin, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in occupational medicine and industrial hygiene from National Taiwan University in 2012. After completing postdoctoral research at National Taiwan University, he became a project assistant professor there. His research focuses on aerosol technology, industrial hygiene, and industrial ventilation.

Sheng-Hsiu Huang earned his Ph.D. in occupational hygiene from the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene at National Taiwan University (NTU) in 2001. After four years of alternative military service at the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in Taiwan, he joined the NTU Aerosol Research Laboratory, founded in 1993 by Professor Chih-Chieh Chen, as a project-appointed researcher. He is an assistant professor at NTU's Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. Dr. Huang specializes in the generation and measurement of aerosols. His research focuses on engineering control of respiratory infectious diseases, air filtration, lung deposition, aerosol therapy, aerosol emissions and monitoring, respiratory protection, and the development of aerosol instruments.

Ta-Chih Hsiao is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering at National Taiwan University, where he brings a wealth of expertise in civil and environmental engineering. Born and educated in Taiwan, he completed his B.S. in Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University before moving to the United States to further his education. He holds an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. During his doctoral studies, he was honored as a McDonnell International Scholar. Following his Ph.D., Professor Hsiao was appointed to a prestigious NRC postdoctoral position at the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health under the CDC, USA. His research focuses on a range of critical topics within environmental engineering, including the measurement, monitoring, and control of particulate matter; particle instrumentation and characterization; nanoparticle generation and physics; aerosol and cloud microphysics; and the toxicity of PM and nanoparticles/ultrafine particles.

Professor Hsiao's contributions to science and education have been recognized with numerous awards. Recently, in 2022, he received both the Research Achievement Award and the Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Engineering at National Taiwan University. His commitment to research was highlighted in 2018 when he was awarded the Distinguished Young Scholar Research Proposal from the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan to investigate the effects of particle morphology on CCN activation ratio and hygroscopicity. An active participant in the international scientific community, Professor Hsiao has served on the International Advisory Board for the 21st Conference on Nucleation & Atmospheric Aerosols and as a member of the International Advisory Committee for the 11th International Aerosol Conference. He is also the Vice President of the Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research since 2022 and has been an editorial board member for the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters since 2020. Professor Hsiao's editorial roles include serving as the editor of Aerosol and Air Quality Research since 2017 and as guest editor for special issues on long range transported air pollutants. His ongoing affiliation as a Graduate Faculty Member at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2016 further underscores his commitment to advancing environmental engineering education globally.

Professor Balasubramanian (Bala) is a tenured Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS). He has established an internationally recognized research program in Atmospheric Chemistry at NUS. The main goal of his interdisciplinary research is to advance understanding of environmental issues on scales ranging from local to global, and to develop cost-effective technologies to mitigate these impacts. He has carried out his collaborative research projects in several countries. He has recently led a multi-national, multi-institutional collaborative project to provide new insights into assessment and mitigation of human exposure to airborne particles in diverse urban microenvironments. Results of his work help to formulate regulatory policies to tackle complex air pollution problems. His work also addresses several aspects of climate change including its mitigation and adaptation. Prof Bala’s research has resulted in more than 280 papers in scholarly journals with an H-index of 88 and 24,300 citations, 22 book chapters and 1 book. He is a highly cited researcher. He has delivered numerous plenary and keynote lectures in international conferences. He has received many research awards including “Alan Berman Research Publication Award (Department of the Navy (USA))”, “Highly Cited Research Article Award (Elsevier)” and “PROSE (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) Award”. He has also received numerous teaching awards. He has been recognized among top 100 scientists in Asia based on his research contributions (Asian Magazine, 2017). He is a Lead Author for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)’s 6th Global Environment Outlook Report. He is a member of the Science Panel of the Asia-Pacific Clean Air Partnership (APCAP), appointed by UNEP. He is Vice-President of IUAPPA (International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations). He is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Prof Bala is an Editor of Aerosol and Air Quality Research and on the editorial board of several international journals including Atmosphere and Scientific Reports. He is currently holding the title of Keppel Professor in Sustainability Solutions (Endowed Chair Professorship) in recognition of his international reputation.

Emeritus Professor Selahattin Incecik has been President of the International Union of Air Pollution Prevention & Environmental Protection Associations (IUAPPA) since November 2017. A highly experienced atmospheric and environmental scientist accustomed to working with governments and organizations nationally and internationally. His research encompasses urban air quality and climate change; air pollution and climate interactions; air quality management and modeling; atmospheric boundary layer processes; and the interaction and feedback between surface ozone and the corresponding precursors. By now, Prof. Incecik has supervised eight Ph.D. and six MSc theses in meteorology, atmospheric sciences, and environmental sciences. Dr. Incecik has worked as an international scientist since 1986 in academia and non-governmental organizations. He obtained his PhD degree at ITU, Türkiye, and he followed his postdoctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University, USA. His academic and industrial work was conducted within collaborative scientific groups based in Europe, the USA, and Asia. He was an expert reviewer of the Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2012, Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, and IPCC Climate Change 2013, The Physical Science Basis in Working Group I. He was Certified by Bestowing awards for his contribution to the IPCC Special. Report as the lead author. Prof. Incecik’s contribution to the 2007 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE-WINNING UN IPCC Climate Change with a Special Report on Chemical and Radiative Effects of Halocarbons and Their Replacement Compounds” in Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System in the Working Group I as lead author.

Professor Balasubramanian (Bala) is a tenured Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS). He has established an internationally recognized research program in Atmospheric Chemistry at NUS. The main goal of his interdisciplinary research is to advance understanding of environmental issues on scales ranging from local to global, and to develop cost-effective technologies to mitigate these impacts. He has carried out his collaborative research projects in several countries. He has recently led a multi-national, multi-institutional collaborative project to provide new insights into assessment and mitigation of human exposure to airborne particles in diverse urban microenvironments. Results of his work help to formulate regulatory policies to tackle complex air pollution problems. His work also addresses several aspects of climate change including its mitigation and adaptation. Prof Bala’s research has resulted in more than 280 papers in scholarly journals with an H-index of 88 and 24,300 citations, 22 book chapters and 1 book. He is a highly cited researcher. He has delivered numerous plenary and keynote lectures in international conferences. He has received many research awards including “Alan Berman Research Publication Award (Department of the Navy (USA))”, “Highly Cited Research Article Award (Elsevier)” and “PROSE (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) Award”. He has also received numerous teaching awards. He has been recognized among top 100 scientists in Asia based on his research contributions (Asian Magazine, 2017). He is a Lead Author for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)’s 6th Global Environment Outlook Report. He is a member of the Science Panel of the Asia-Pacific Clean Air Partnership (APCAP), appointed by UNEP. He is Vice-President of IUAPPA (International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations). He is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Prof Bala is an Editor of Aerosol and Air Quality Research and on the editorial board of several international journals including Atmosphere and Scientific Reports. He is currently holding the title of Keppel Professor in Sustainability Solutions (Endowed Chair Professorship) in recognition of his international reputation.

Prof. Dr. Jamal Hisham Hashim is a Honorary Professor of environmental health at Universiti Selangor and Universitas Diponegoro. He is also the director of Provenue Corporation Sdn. Bhd. which specialises in health risk and impact assessment. He was formerly a research fellow at the United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) and Malaysia’s first appointed Professor of Environmental Health at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). Prof. Dr. Jamal obtained his PhD in environmental health from the University of Michigan. He taught, conducted research and consultancy in environmental and occupational health at UKM and UNU-IIGH for 36 years, and supervised a total of 14 PhD students. His research interests are mainly on the health effects of heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, air pollution, risk assessment, and recently, climate change. He has been the principal and co-investigator of 19 research projects and has over 410 publications and presentations to date, including 104 full articles in refereed and indexed journals. He is an editor of the Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology and Frontiers in Occupational Health journals. He has been engaged as an environmental health consultant in over 90 local and overseas projects, primarily in the area of environmental health impact and risk assessment. Prof. Dr. Jamal has also been consulted by the World Health Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, Risk Science Institute and the Institute of Medicine in the U.S., the governments of Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia on various environmental health issues. He is a registered environmental impact assessment consultant with the Department of Environment, Malaysia, a member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in the U.K., an honorary fellow of the Academy of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Malaysia and a council member of the Asia Chapter of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. He sat on the Scientific Expert Panel of the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), and currently chairs the Thematic Working Group of Environmental Health Experts under the National Environmental Health Action Plan (NEHAP).

Glynda, alongside the Executive Director, leads the Clean Air Asia team, sets the organization’s strategic direction, and undertakes resource mobilization. Glynda is a lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience in air quality management. She was a member of the legal team which assisted the Philippine Government in drafting the Clean Air Act of 1999 Implementing Rules and Regulations. She led the implementation of the Asia Clean Fuels and Vehicles program which resulted in national policies and roadmaps for cleaner fuels and vehicles notably the Vietnam and Philippine regulations mandating Euro 4 vehicle emission and fuel standards, and Pakistan’s roadmap for cleaner fuels and vehicles. Glynda holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the Ateneo de Manila University and University of San Francisco (joint program); and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines.