Professor Paola Lettieri FREng, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of UCL East had this to say:
I’m absolutely delighted and honoured to have been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academic of Engineering. I am very grateful to all the research colleagues and partners who I have had the privilege to work with over the years. This award recognises the contribution to society of all our work.
Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Engineering, said:
I’m delighted to celebrate the achievements of the professors elected to the Fellowship, particularly after such a challenging year. Their admissions reflect each of their extremely valuable contributions to the world of engineering and I am excited to see what is in store for these leaders in the future.
Professor Eva Sorensen, Head of Department at UCL Chemical Engineering, said:
I have had the pleasure of working with Paola throughout her time at UCL and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this recognition. Her pioneering work within two quite different research areas, fluidisation and life cycle assessment, is ground breaking and is contributing to solving some of our most pressing global problems. She is now leading one of UCL’s major new developments, at UCL East, which is bringing together UCL academics, students, local communities and industry to solve the biggest challenges affecting people’s lives and the planet. I am so proud of her.
Professor Paola Lettieri is an international expert in fluidisation and life cycle assessment. Through research collaboration and consultancy she has enabled the development of new fluid-bed processes, resolved significant operational problems in complex industrial plants, and supported the design of sustainable processes. Her pioneering research on the effect of process conditions on gas fluidised beds contributed to understanding the role of interparticle forces and has been applied in industries in the chemical, petrochemical, energy and nuclear sectors. Her work in life cycle assessment has influenced waste management strategies, for energy recovery, plastic waste reduction and nuclear waste reprocessing. She leads the development of UCL’s new campus, UCL East.
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