Keynote Speakers
1. Prof. Keng H. Chung
Ph.D., P.Eng., FCAE, FEC, FGC (Hon.)
Title of the speech: Net-Zero Emissions: What, Why, How, When
Dr. Keng Chung is the Vice President of Well Resources Inc. and is globally renowned for his expertise in energy system and petroleum operations. He is also a Senior Advisor (State Specially Recruited Expert) for the government of China on green energy and resource management. He pioneered and patented several commercial processes and novel technologies used in the petroleum industry. He advocates for wasteless processing and resource utilization and is actively involved in developing sustainable technologies related to the food-water-energy nexus.
Dr. Chung was seconded to an Alberta Government agency as the Upgrading Program Director. He was responsible for setting up the technology development program for oilsands upgrading that is intended to improve process efficiencies, ensure high-value oilsands products and reduce environmental impacts. Dr. Chung has also been an energy consultant for major investment bankers.
Throughout his career, Dr. Chung was featured in numerous news magazines and television documentaries on Canada's oilsands development. He is the recipient of the Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Leadership Award for his contributions to the heavy oil industry. He is a co-inventor of the selective asphaltene extraction (SELEX-Asp) process for removing most of the problematic components from heavy petroleum feedstock. This novel technology transforms heavy crude into generic refinery feedstock and eliminates the need for expensive heavy oil upgrading. The non-combustible uses for by-product asphaltenes provide a significant carbon storage option for the petroleum industry and are an important step towards global decarbonization efforts.
Dr. Chung is a chemical engineering graduate from Queen's University with both a Bachelor and Master of Science degree. He also received a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary, specializing on the steam-assisted gravity drainage process using horizontal wells. This technology has been applied in all aspects of petroleum operations, ranging from light crude, shale oil, oil sands bitumen, to offshore production.
Dr. Chung has more than 35 years of working relationships with several Chinese and Japanese research institutes and is currently a Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering at the China University of Petroleum and Chair Professor at Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College. He was a member of the Technical Advisory Council of the China State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing. Dr. Chung was born in Malaysia and is fluent in Mandarin, four Chinese dialects, and Malay. He has a close relationship with state enterprises and private investors in the Asia Pacific and advises on energy investments.
Dr. Chung has published more than 300 papers in refereed journals, 120 company reports, and more than 20 patents. He was also an editorial and advisory board member of Oil and Gas Journal, FUEL, Petroleum Science, Canada Oil, and a guest editor of several special issues of energy-related refereed journals. He consults and lectures frequently at major international energy companies, universities, government laboratories, and major heavy oil conferences as a plenary speaker. Dr. Chung has supervised more than 50 post-doctorate fellows who now hold senior positions at top universities and oil companies. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of Engineers Canada, and an Honorary Fellow of Geoscientists Canada.
2. Prof. Dr. Shanmugavadivu Pichai
Title of the speech: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Transformative & Sustainable Development
About Prof. Dr. Shanmugavadivu
Prof. Dr. Shanmugavadivu is currently the Professor and Head, Department of Computer Science and Applications, at The Gandhigram Rural Institute (Deemed to be University), and is involved in Teaching, Research, and Extension. She holds an additional responsibility of Director, IQAC. She has 29 years of Academic experience and 19 years of research experience.
Her research areas include Medical Image Analysis, Healthcare Analytics, Parallel Computing, Software Engineering and Content-Based Image Retrieval. Under her guidance, NINE Ph.D.s. were awarded; presently EIGHT Ph.D. scholars are pursuing their degree. Moreover, she has guided TWENTY ONE M.Phil. scholars.
She has published 50 research articles in International Journals; 83 in International/National Conferences and 16 book chapters. She has authored two research books and two edited volumes. Her Science Citation Index is 37. Her Google Scholar Citation index is 468 with h-Index & i-10 index as 11 & 14. She serves in the Boards of Study of other Universities and Colleges. She serves as an Editorial Board Member of two Journals.
She is sanctioned with funded major research projects of UGC, DST, ICMR and PMMMNMTT for an outlay of Rs.2.39 Cr. She serves as the Coordinator for her department's funding schemes, under UGC-SAP DRS-I (Rs.40 Lakhs) and DST-FIST (Rs.45 Lakhs)
She had been on an international academic assignment to Singapore, Malaysia, USA and China.
She has organised a National Conference, Week-Long Digital India Programme and two workshops. She has delivered 174 talks in national/ international conferences/ seminars.
She had attended the MHRD's Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP 2019), hosted IIT Bombay. She attended the second leg of LEAP at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (February/March 2019).
Academic Background
Dr.Pichai holds a B.Sc. Physics (Kundavai Nachair Govt. Arts College for Women, Bharathidasan University), Master's Degree in Computer Applications (REC, Tiruchirapalli, Bharathidasan University), Ph.D. in Digital Image Restoration (GRI); MBA-HRM (IGNOU) and M.Sc.-Applied Psychology (Bharathiar University). She had qualified UGC-NET and SLET.
Distinguished and Notable Awards/Recognition
She is the Recipient of Indo-US 21st Century Knowledge Initiative Award 2015 on the title, Augmenting the Curriculum of Higher Educational Institutions with an On-Line Integrated Cognitive-Based Employability Skills Assessment System using Signal and Video Analytics (One among the four projects sanctioned for India), with the funding outlay of Rs.125 Lakhs.
3. Professor Akihiko Nakayama
Title of the speech: Application of Hydraulics to the Environment and Energy Problems
Profile: shorturl.at/ejvG9