- Fellowship in 2023 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
About Cheuk Wing Edmond Lam’s work
Specialised in heat and mass transfer, Dr Cheuk Wing Edmond Lam is experienced in both experimental and computational approaches. His current research sits at the junction between thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and interfacial science.
His doctoral work focused on the dynamics of various fluid phenomena and the improvement of heat transfer efficiencies during vapour-liquid condensation on surfaces of different wettability.
He plans to further his research on phase change processes in his postdoctoral work, with a particular focus on membrane distillation (MD) with capillarity-based methods for desalination processes.
Dr Lam’s research examines using MD as a way to remove salt from water. MD is considered promising because it can use waste heat as an energy source. However, there are obstacles to its implementation. One obstacle is the need to separate the hot and cold streams, as the current approaches result in either high thermal loss or high mass transfer resistances.
He proposes a novel method to design new membranes based on capillary phenomena, which minimises the effects of these obstacles. His work will include theoretical studies on the interfacial behaviour of the fluid in the device and its operational limits.
Biography
Dr Cheuk Wing Edmond Lam read Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong, obtaining his BEng with first-class honours in 2016, before completing his MSc at ETH Zurich in 2018. At the University of Hong Kong, he was awarded a number of scholarships, including the Simatelex Charitable Foundation Scholarship, the Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation Scholarship, the Fong's Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering and the Chiap Hua Cheng’s Foundation Scholarship. He completed his doctorate at ETH Zurich in 2023 and is now conducting his postdoctoral research at MIT.
He has previously worked at the Hong Kong Observatory and the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).