Program

Prof. Dr. Qun Xu is a professor of College of Materials Science & Engineering, Institute of Advanced Technology in Zhengzhou University. She obtained her PhD in Physical Chemistry from Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science in 1999 and after that she pursued a postdoctoral work in Karlsruhe Nuclear Centre in Germany.

Now she directs a research group in Zhengzhou University, and their research is focused in designing and discovering advanced functional nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion. She focuses on the design, synthesis and performance exploration of novel nanostructures via utilization of CO₂, including supercritical CO₂ (SC CO₂)-induced epitaxy of polymer, SC CO₂-assisted synthesis of 2D materials and 2D amorphous materials. She has published more than 200 papers in Nature Commun. Angew.Chem.Int.Ed, Adv. Mater., ACS Nano, Adv.Funct.Mater, etc., and some are ESI highly cited papers and Hot Papers. Her h-index is 62.

She was nominated Chinese Youth Woman Scientist in 2008. In 2009 she obtained the Distinguished Lectureship Award from the Chemical Society of Japan. In 2010, her work was highlighted as Noteworthy Chemistry in American Chemical Society.

Dr. Qilin Li is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Rice University. She serves as the Associate Director for Research for the NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT). Dr. Li received her B.E. degree in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her post-doctoral training at Yale University. Dr. Li’s research focuses on advanced materials and novel processes for desalination and water treatment and reuse, and sustainable urban water systems. She is a Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and served as the chair for the IWA Nano&Water Specialist Group Managing Committee. Dr. Li was an Associate Editor of Water Research and is currently a co-editor of Desalination and Frontier of Environmental Science and Engineering. She was also a member of the US EPA Science Advisory Board’s Environmental Engineering Committee. She is the recipient of CAPEES/Nonova Frontier Research Award, the Rice University Hershel M. Rich Invention Award, American Water Summit Tech Idol, and Tsinghua University Pengcheng Scholar, and Rice University Roy E. Campbell Faculty Development Award.

Raquel Aires-Barrosis a Full Professor at the Department of Bioengineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and Senior Researcher at Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB), Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy. She is a Chemical Engineering from IST, with a MSc in Biochemical Engineering and a Ph.D. both at IST. Was a Research Assistant in Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1986-1987. Coordinates the scientific-pedagogical area of Biomolecular and Bioprocessing Engineering of Bioengineering Department at IST and is Vice-President of IST School Board. Current research interests include the development of new separation processes with high performance and efficiency for purification biopharmaceuticals, with special emphasis on the purification of antibodies and the development of devices- "Lab-on-a-Chip" - for protein purification / separation of cells in the microscale. She is chair of the Session of Downstream Processing (DSP) of the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences (ESBES), President of the Portuguese Society for Biotechnology and editor of Separation and Purification Technology Journal. Has been involved in the coordination/participation of several European projects, and in Scientific and Organising Committees of International Conferences in the area of bioseparation. Supervised more than 70 masters and PhD dissertations and is author of more than 200 papers and book chapters.