Prof. Ng Ka Ming, head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), announced HKUST Thursday.

Among the 12 new fellowships awarded in 2003, Ng is the only one from Hong Kong. He won AIChE's Excellence in Process Development Research Award in 2002.

Ng said it was a great honor to be elected an AIChE fellow and his department would continue to provide professional service to local businesses, particularly in the design and manufacture of high value-added products, as well as to the chemical processing industries on the Chinese mainland, which expand at a double-digit rate annually.

Ng joined HKUST in 2000 and played a key role in founding HKUST's Institute of Nano Materials and Nanotechnology (INMT) in June 2003.

HKUST is the only university in Hong Kong with a department of chemical engineering.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2004)