NERI ExCO member bags Environmental Chemistry 2013 Award

From left to right: Mr Peter Cheng (Hyflux Ltd. Singapore), Professor Lee Hian Kee (NUS), Professor Philip Marriott (Monash University)

Professor Lee Hian Kee of the Department of Chemistry, and an Executive Committee member of NERI was the recipient of the Hyflux-Singapore National Institute of Chemistry (SNIC) Award in Environmental Chemistry 2013.

SNIC was established in 1970 as a national body for the chemical profession in Singapore. Hyflux is a leading membrane technology company focusing on water treatment. The Environmental Chemistry Award is an annual award and is presented to an outstanding individual who has contributed significantly to the technological advances in the environmental sciences, particularly chemistry. Nominees of the award are evaluated by an international panel set up by a SNIC award steering committee. The panel was chaired by Professor Keith Hunter of the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

At the SNIC annual general meeting and dinner on March 25, 2013, Professor Lee was presented with the award for his research on the development of environmentally friendly analytical chemistry techniques, especially in solvent-minimized sample preparation. Professor Lee is particularly well known internationally for his work on liquid-phase microextraction, which is a general term covering a suite of solvent-minimized sample preparation procedures. The term liquid-phase microextraction is now part of the analytical chemistry lexicon, and was coined by Professor Lee himself. The award citation was read by Professor Philip Marriott of Monash University, Australia, who was a member of the international panel, and who attended the event as a guest of SNIC. The Hyflux-SNIC Award was presented to Professor Lee by Mr Peter Cheng (Vice-President for New Product Division) of Hyflux Ltd.

As NERI's Executive Committee Member, Professor Lee also chairs the Institute's Safety Committee, and the Equipment and Laboratory Committee. Additionally, in recognition of Professor Lee's excellent academic contributions to the Faculty and international contributions in the field of his research, National University of Singapore has bestowed upon him the NUS Provost's Term Chair Professor (2011-2014).