Professor Li Yuguo, Chair Professor of Building Environment, Department of Mechanical Engineering received the Louise and Bill Holladay Distinguished Fellow Award 2021 by The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in recognition of his contributions to continuous preeminence in engineering or research work. Professor Li was the only ASHRAE Fellow from ASEAN who received the award.
ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment. The Louise and Bill Holladay Distinguished Award honors Fellows of the Society for continuing preeminence in engineering or research work, and only one ASHRAE Fellow around the World will be awarded each year. The honor was initiated in 1979 by Presidential Member Bill Holladay.
Professor Li is an expert in ventilation of indoor environments with a focus on environmental transmission of diseases. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, Professor Li and a group of mechanical engineering experts at HKU developed an advanced mechanistic airflow model with computational fluid dynamics simulations and detailed thermo-fluid analyses to track and explain the main infection pattern and characteristics of the outbreak at Amoy Gardens and at Ward 8A of Princess of Wales Hospital. In early 2020, Professor Li in collaboration with the Guangdong CDC, Jiangsu CDC Hunan CDC, Sun Yat-Sen University and Southeast University, conducted a series of epidemiological and environmental studies on three important Covid-19 outbreak cases in Mainland China and Tokyo, and revealed that poor air ventilation plays a key role in its spread in indoor environments.
Source: https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2021/ashrae-members-recognized-for-professional-and-society-achievements