Experience

• Associate Professor Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong PolyU July 2019 – Present
• Assistant Professor Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong PolyU Jun 2013 – Jun 2019
• Postdoctoral Fellow USDA, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory Dec 2011 – Jun 2013
• Postdoctoral Fellow Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCLA May 2009 – Nov 2011
• Lecturer Chemical & Environ. Engineering, UC-Riverside Apr 2010 – Jul 2010
• Project Engineer Los Angeles Water Quality Control Board Aug 2009 – Apr 2010
• Research Assistant National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Sep 2001 – May 2003

Awards

• FCE Dean’s Award 2020 for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding – one GRF (1 July, 2017); one ECF (31 Jan 2018); and two ITF grants (29 Mar 2018 and 11 Sep 2019);
• Gold Medal in Geneva Invention Exhibition (2017) (with HKRITA and Dr. Carol Lin from City University);
• Outstanding Reviewer Awards (2015) – Environmental Science & Technology, American Chemi-cal Society (ACS), 49 (21), 12603-12604;
• Outstanding Reviewer Award (2015) – Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, Elsevier;

Courses

CSE29371 – Environmental Chemistry

• This course will teach you the basic chemical processes that can affect the quality of air, water and soil. You will study the basic chemistry concepts in both the natural and human perturbed systems. After the course, you should be able to identify the chemistries behind some environmental issues. Through the tutorials and experiments you will obtain the basic skills and the “engineering sense” to quantitatively evaluate certain environmental phenomena. The fundamental developed in this course will be also useful to help you study more advanced subjects and to conduct environmental research in the future.



CSE520 – Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

• This course is designed to provide student the fundamental concepts for management and treatment of the municipal and hazardous solid wastes. The courses will begin with an introduction of the gen-eration of the solid wastes due to human activities. The students will study both the state-of-the-art strategies and the innovative techniques with great potential for solid wastes treatment. The details of the courses will cover the scientific background and the real-world examples to better understand the problems of solid waste treatment policies and alternatives in Hong Kong.

Activities

• Elected Vice-President of the Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Associa-tion (OCEESA) 2019-2021;
• Organizer of the 1st Micro-Movie Competition (MMC) on Emerging Environmental Topics among our Society;
• Organizer of Five Webinars for Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Asso-ciation;
• Direct PhD student (TSE Ho Yin) to win the Fulbright - RGC Hong Kong Research Scholar Award Programme 2020/21;
• Elected Board Director of the Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Associ-ation (OCEESA) 2019-2021;
• Direct PhD student (TSE Ho Yin) to win the Reaching Out Award, a Governmental Scholarship of Hong Kong SAR (academic year 2018/19);
• Member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), 4 March, 2019, MW0791550.
• Program Leader – Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development (ESD), Jan. 2019 – present.
• Licensed Professional Engineer – California, Civil #78220;
• Member of American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Reviewer of multiple SCI journals – Environmental Science and Technology, Bioresource Technology, Bioenergy Research, Ecological Engineering, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Desalination and Water Treatment, Water, International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, Journal of Applied Microbiology, Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers.
• Book Editor – “Nanoscale Materials for Water Purification,” Elsevier.
• Departmental Committee Member – Departmental Staff Committee (DSC); Departmental Re-search Committee (DRC); Departmental Learning and Teaching Committee (DLTC); and De-partmental Health and Safety Committee.
• Deputy Program Leader – Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development (EESD), Sept. 2018 – Dec. 2019.
• Program Leader – Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development (EESD), Jan. 2020 – present.

Presentations

Keynote/Plenary Speech
• Leu, S.-Y.*, Wang, Y. (2019) Potential of diol pretreatment in urban biorefinery toward sustain-able waste management, the 10th China-Japan Joint Conference on Material Recycling, Beijing, China, 24-26 Aug.
• Ko, C-H, Chaiprapat, S., Kim, L.-H., Hadi, P., Hsu, S.C., and Leu, S.-Y.* (2015) Carbon Sequestration Potential from Bioenergy Production using Agricultural Residues from Mekong River Basin, Southeast Asia, 10th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water & Environment Systems, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Oct 1-4 (read by Ko due to teaching duty, Leu serve as the PI of the project and paper).
• Leu, S.-Y., Teng, C.-J., Ko, C.-H., Fan, C.-H., and Sheu, Y.-S. (2013) Applying Constructed Riparian Wetlands to Support Urbanized Municipal Wastewater Treatment – A Case Study in Taipei, 2013 Conference of Health and Environmental Science, Macau, 29 Nov. – 1 Dec.
Invited talks
• Leu, S.-Y., Guan J.Y., Lau, C.Y. (2021) Real-time Aeration Measurements in Activated Sludge Processes in Hong Kong, Hong Kong DSD, 6 May.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2021) Key Parameters of Wood and Yard Wastes Conversion for Valuable Products, The Environmental Division Annual Forum, Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), 23 February.
• Leu, S.-Y. and Wai, O.W.H. (2021) Water Quality Improvement and Carbon Sequestration Analysis in Planting Trial for Revitalization of Tsui Ping River, Hong Kong DSD, 29 January.
• Chan, K.-L. and Leu, S.-Y. (2021) Carbon Sequestration Potential Analysis for Urban Greening Management, World Wide Fund (WWF) Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 19 January.
• Chan, K.-L. and Leu, S.-Y. (2020) Preliminary Analysis and Potential Application of Selected Intruding Plant Biomass, World Wide Fund (WWF) Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 17 December.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2020) Smart Urban Biorefinery to Fractionate Lignocellulosic Biomass for Biofuels & Valuable Lignin Products, The 2nd International Symposium on Water Sustainability, Seoul, Korea, 2-4 Jan.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2019) Developing a Low Environmental Impact Biorefinery to Convert Municipal Wood and Vegetable Waste into Liquid Fuels and Value-Added Products, the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Energy and environmental technologies in addressing global challenges, 23 Oct.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2018) new Generation Urban Biorefinery toward Complete Utlization of Waste De-rived Lignocellulosic Biomass for Biofuels and Value-Added Products, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaoshiung, Taiwan, December 27.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2018) Progress and challenges of developing urban lignocellulose biorefinery for or-ganic waste treatment in Hong Kong, Workshop on Energy Conversion and Storage, the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, August 28.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2015) Toward high ethanol yield biorefinery through designed pretreatment, saccharification & fermentation using lignocellulosic feedstock, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering , South China University of Technology , Guangzhou, June 15.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2015) Current techniques to convert biomass to biofuels, the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, June 25.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2014) Developing Urban Bio-refinery to Support Sustainable Waste Management in Highly Populated Cities, 2014 International Workshop on Environment and Resources～Symposium for Emerging Technologies for Environmental Sustainability, Ming Chi University of Technology, Taiwan, May 15-19.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2014) Energy System Research Institute, developing a low environmental impact high stability biorefinery to convert municipal wood product waste into bioethanol, the Prince of Songkla Unversity (PERIN), Thailand, November 7-11.
Conferences (#: presenter)
• Rehman, S.†# and Leu, S.-Y.* (2021) Carbon-neutral 2,3-butanediol bioproduction from lignocellulosic biorefinery: an approach towards food plus fuel nexus, Nature Conferences – Waste Management and Valorization for a Sustainable Future, Seoul, South Korea, October 26-28.
• Rehman, S.†#, Islam, M.K.†, Wang, H.M.^, and Leu, S.-Y.* (2021) Enhanced 2,3-butanediol pro-duction from sulfite-pretreated oil palm empty fruit bunches by a newly isolated Klebsiella pneumoniae PM2 in an integrated biorefinery, 3rd International Conference for Bioresource Tech-nology for Bioenergy, Bioproducts & Environmental Sustainability, online, 17-19 May.
• Islam, M.K.†#, Rehman, S.†, Guan, J.^, Tse, H.Y.†, Yeung, C.S.^, and Leu, S.-Y.* (2020) Pentanol-water biphasic pretreatment facilitate energy-efficient fractionation of lignocellulose, 12th International Conference on Applied Energy, (ICAE2020), online, Dec 1-10.
• Rehman, S.†#, Islam, M.K.†, Wang, H.M.^, and Leu, S.-Y.* (2020) Energy and Carbon Footprint Analysis of a 2,3-Butanediol integrated Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches Circular Biorefinery, 12th International Conference on Applied Energy, (ICAE2020), online, Dec 1-10.
• Lau, C.-Y.†, Guan, J.^, Tse, H.Y.†, Yeung, C.S.^, and Leu, S.-Y.* (2019) Smart Control for Micro-Aeration Toward Sulfide Removal in Sewer System at Low Costs, 19th IWA International Conference on Diffuse Pollution and Eutrophication, Jeju, Korea, 27-31 Oct.
• Chan, K.-L.† and Leu, S.-Y.* (2019) Incorporating Pretreatments in Reducing the Recalcitrant of Wastes derived Organic Resources Conversion Processes, International Conference on Cleaner Production and Sustainability, Hong Kong, 30 Oct. – 2 Nov.
• Jing, H.†, Zhuang, H.†, Wang, H.^, Wang, Y.^, and Leu, S.-Y.* (2019) Integrated Biorefinery Technologies to Turn Sewage into Biochemicals by Enhanced Primary Treatment, International Conference on Cleaner Production and Sustainability, Hong Kong, 30 Oct. – 2 Nov.
• Dong, C.†, Leu, S.-Y.* Islam K.M.† (2019) Review of solvent chemistry toward sustainable biorefinery in biomass-water-energy nexus, National Meeting and Exposition, American Chemi-cal Society (ACS), Orlando, Florida, USA, 31 Mar.-4 Apr., 2019.
• TSE, H.Y.†, Leu, S.-Y.*, Yeung, C.-S.^ (2019) Synthesis of lignin-porphyrin nano-particles to perform fluorescence enhancement at high water fraction with broad pH range and heavy metals sensor applications, National Meeting and Exposition, American Chemical Society (ACS), Or-lando, FL, USA, 31 Mar.-4 Apr., 2019 (outstanding oral presentation award delivered by TSE).
• Yeung, C.-S.^, Philips, D. Leu, S.-Y.*, TSE, H.† (2019) UV-initiated photooxidation process of disinfection byproducts: mechanism of the degradation of tribromoacetic acid by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory study, American Chemical Socie-ty (ACS), Orlando, FL, USA, 31 Mar.-4 Apr.
• Zhuang, H.†, Wang Y.^, Lee. P.H., and Leu, S.-Y.* (2019) Shaping Microbial Consortia in Methane-Producing Anaerobic Digestion for Treating High Cellulose Content Saline Primary Sludge, 14th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water & Environment Systems, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1-6 Oct.
• Wang, Y.^, Ng, H.Y.^, Jing, H.D.†, and Leu, S.-Y.* (2019) Efficient Biorefinery Based on Designed Lignocellulosic Substrate for Lactic Acid Production, 14th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water & Environment Systems, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1-6 Oct.
• Dong, C.†, Wang, Y.^, Wang, H.M., Lin, C.S.K., Hsu, H.-Y., and Leu, S.-Y.* (2018) New Generation Urban Biorefinery toward Complete Utilization of Waste Derived Lignocellulosic Biomass for Biofuels and Value-Added Products, 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong, China, 22 Aug.
• Jing, H.D.†, Wang, Y.^, Lee, P.-H., and Leu, S.-Y.* Substrate-related Features to Maximize Bioenergy Potential of Chemical Enhanced Primary Treatment Sewer Sludge, 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong, China, 22 Aug.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2017) Toward Maximum Energy Yield with Nearly Zero Water Input for Lignocellulose Bioconversion, Harbin Institute of Technology-PolyU Collaboration Workshop on Environmental Engineering, YiXing, China, 17 Nov.
• Chan, K.L., Pan, L., Leu, S.-Y. (2017) Urban Biorefinery to Support Carbon Sequestration Best Management of Green Facilities in Large City Vegetation, The 18th Mainland-Taiwan Environmental Protection Conference (MTEPC), National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 8 Nov.
• Chan, K.L., Pan, L., Leu, S.-Y. (2017) A New Structure Model to Optimize the Whole Slurry Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation Processes to Convert Softwood into Biofuel, the 4th GIG-PolyU Workshop on Environmental Engineering and Sciences, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guanzhou, China, 4 Oct.
• Chan, K.L., Pan, L., Leu, S.-Y. (2016) New Plant Growth Model to Simulate Carbon Sequestra-tion Potential of Urban Vegetation Systems, 2016 Annual Conference of Korean Wetland Socie-ty, 26 Aug.
• Pan, L., Chu, L.M., Leu, S.-Y. (2016) Carbon Sequestration Potential of Seven Species in Verti-cal Greenery Systems, 2016 Annual Conference of Korean Wetland Society, Aug. 26.
• Leu, S.-Y., Liu, H., and Dong, C.Y. (2016) Conversion of High Recalcitrant Lignocellulose into Fermentable Sugars through Whole Slurry Saccharification – Our Current Understanding, BESS Conference 2016- Food, Fuels and Chemicals, Singapore, 29 May - 1June.
• Liu, H., Jing, H.D., and Leu, S.-Y. (2016) Regenerating Hydrolysable Cellulose from Plastic Coated Paper by Low Temperature Soda Pretreatment, 6th International Conference on Engineer-ing for Waste and Biomass Valorisation, Albi, France, 23-26 May.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2016) Bioconversion of Biomass into Biofuel, Guest lecture, Wuhan University, 10-15 May.
• Dong, C., Fu, S., and Leu, S.-Y.* (2015) Reducing Specific Binding Affinity while Maintaining the Enzyme Activity, the Dual Effects of Lignosulfonates on the Enzyme Hydrolysis of Sulfite Pretreated Lignocellulose, the 4th GIG-PolyU Workshop on Environmental Engineering and Sciences, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guanzhou, China, 15 Dec.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2015) Chemistry of the Biomass-to-Bioethanol Process, Guest lecture, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2 Dec.
• Hong, J., Moon, S., Flores, P. E., Leu, S.-Y., and Kim, L.-H. (2015) Investigation on the effect of contact time and pH on the adsorption and desorption of Pb and Cu in different filter media, 12th IWA Leading Edge Conference, Hong Kong, 30 May – 2 June.
• Choi, J., Moon, S., Flores, P. E., Leu, S.-Y., and Kim, L.-H. (2015) Kinetic study and equilibrium isotherm analysis of heavy metal adsorption onto various filter media, 12th IWA Leading Edge Conference, Hong Kong, 30 May – 2 June.
• Bhatia, A., Dong, C.Y., and Leu, S.-Y.* (2015) Optimization of fermentation temperature on ethanol productivity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains using SPORL pretreated wood, International Conference on Solid Waste 2015, Hong Kong, 19-23 May.
• Bhatia, A., Dong, C.Y., and Leu, S.-Y.* (2015) Key factors to improve high solid simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of pretreated lignocellulosic substrates, 3rd GIG-PolyU Workshop on Environmental Engineering and Sciences, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guanzhou, China, 28-29 Nov.
• Leu, S.-Y., and Stenstrom, M. K. (2015) Practices of Real-Time Monitoring to Improve Energy Saving, Odor Control, and Nutrient Removal for Aerated Biological System, 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization, Hong Kong, 7-9 Jan.
• Leu, S.-Y., Bhatia, A., Ko, C.-H., and Li, H.-Y. (2014) Effects of Fiber Properties and Protein Additive on Adsorption and Hydrolysis by an Endoglucanase, 248th ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, August 10-14.
• Leu, S.-Y. (2014) Technical Feasibility of Converting Municipal Solid Waste into Next Generation Biofuels and Biomaterials, Los Angeles Environmental Forum, Southern California Chinese American Environmental Protection Association (SCCAEPA), Los Angeles, August 7-9.
• Leu, S.-Y., (2014) Developing Urban Bio-refinery to Support Sustainable Timber Waste Management in Hong Kong, BEAM Society Limited’s CPD Training, Waste Management: Waste Water Recycling and Timber Waste Management, April 24.
• Leu, S.-Y., (2013) Substrate-related factors affecting enzymatic saccharification of lignocelluloses: our current understanding, Biomass and Bioenergy Research Workshop, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, December 9-10.
• Leu, S.-Y., Teng, C.-J., Ko, C.-H., Fan, C.-H., and Sheu, Y.-S. (2013) Evaluating the environmental and ecological values of constructed riparian wetlands in supporting municipal wastewater treatment for sustainable urban development, the 2nd PolyU and CAS-GIG Workshop, Shenzhen, December 7-8.
• Leu, S.-Y., (2013) Substrate Related Factors Affecting Enzymatic Saccharification of Lignocelluloses: Our Current Understanding, 1st GIGCAS-HKPOLYU Joint Workshop on Environmental Science and Engineering, Shenzhen, November 23.
• Leu, S.-Y., (2013) Evaluating the Energy Input of Lignocellulosic Bioethanol Biorefinery Wastewater, The 2nd Workshop of the HKPolyU-HIT Joint-venture Research Centre for Sustainable Urban Water Environment, Harbin, September 28-29.
• Zhu, J.Y., Leu, S.-Y., Gleisner, R., Zhang, C., Mann, D., Sessions, J., and Marrs, G. (2013) Upgrading Forest Residues of Douglas-fir for Fermentable Sugar Production, 2013 AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 3-8.
• Zhu, J.Y., Leu, S.-Y., J. Cheng, R. Gleisner , (2013), Converting Forest Residue to Biofuel by the SPORL Process, TAPPI 2013 International Conference on Bioenergy and Bioproducts, Green Bay, WI, September 18-20.
• Zhu, J.Y., Leu, S.-Y., R. Gleisner, C. Zhang, D. Mann J. Sessions G. Marrs, (2013) “Upgrading Forest Residues of Douglas-fir for Fermentable Sugar Production” TAPPI 2013 International Conference on Bioenergy and Bioproducts, Green Bay, WI, September 18-20.
• Leu, S.-Y., J.Y. Zhu, R. Gleisner, J. Sessions, G. Marrs, (2013), “Robust Enzymatic Sacchari-cation of a Douglas-fir Forest Harvest Residue by SPORL”, Poster presentation at the 35th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, Portland, OR, April 29 - May 2
• Zhu, J.Y., Leu, S.-Y., R. Gleisner, C. Zhang, D. Mann J. Sessions G. Marrs, (2013) “Upgrading Forest Residues of Douglas-fir for Fermentable Sugar Production” 35th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, Portland, OR, April 29 - May 2
• Leu, S.-Y., Koo, D., Guo, L., Jiang, Y., and Chou, R. (2011) Evaluating the Limitation of On-Site Wastewater Treatment Processes – Sensitivity on Urban Growth, Water Quality Management, and Costs, MTEPC Conference, Tainan, Taiwan.
• Leu, S.-Y., and Stenstrom, M. K. (2011) Challenges and Improvements to Wastewater Treatment Engineering: Energy Saving, Effluent Quality, and Process Stability, MTEPC Conference, Tainan, Taiwan.
• Leu, S.-Y., and Stenstrom, M. K. et al. (2011) Energy Auditing to Improve Energy Saving of Wastewater Treatment Processes, Cities of the future (CoF-XiAn 2011), IWA, XiAn, China.
• Leu, S.-Y., Stenstrom, M. K., Rosso, D. (2011) Integration of Theory and Practice in Wastewater Engineering: Benfits in Energy Saving, Effluent Quality, and Process Stability, AEESP 2011, USF, Tampa, Florida, U.S.A.
• Leu, S.-Y., Chan, L., and Stenstrom, M. K. (2010) Toward Long SRT of Activated Sludge Processes: Benefits in Energy Saving, Effluent Quality, and Stability, Weftec10, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A. (read by Stenstrom, M. K.).
• Erickson, E., Leu, S.-Y., MacGillivray, H., Tong, Y., and Chou, R. (2010) Enterococcus Contamination on Beaches near Septic Systems is Higher than on Sewered Beaches and Related to Groundwater Discharge, IWA Water Research Conference, Marriott Lisbon, Portugal (read by Erickson, E.).
• Leu, S.-Y., and Stenstrom, M. K. (2009) Evaluation of Bioaugmentation To Improve Wastewater Treatment, Weftec09, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.
• Leu, S.-Y., and Stenstrom, M. K. (2009) Evaluation of Bioaugmentation Approaches to Improve Nitrification in Activated Sludge Processes, IWA Nutrient Removal Conference, Krakow, Poland.
• Rosso, D., Leu, S.-Y., Larson, L., and Stenstrom, M. K. (2008) Energy Conservation Strategies by Maintaining Fine-Pore Diffusers, IWA 6th World Water Congress, Vienna, Austria.
• Kaliman, A., Stenstrom, M. K., Leu, S.-Y., Rosso, D. (2007) Accelerated Ageing Procedures for Assessing Decline in Fine-Pore Diffusers Performance, Weftec07, San Diego, California, U.S.A. (awarded as 1st place poster presentation).