Dr. Rock Keey Liew

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia

Research Area:

Waste to energy; biomass conversion; biochar; activated carbon; microwave pyrolysis; microwave vacuum pyrolysis; waste treatment; wastewater treatment

Research Experience:

Ts. ChM. Dr. Liew Rock Keey is an alumni of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) since 2011 when he started his first degree. He was awarded First Class Honour for his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Sciences in 2014. In the same year, he pursued his Master degree in Chemical Technology under the sponsorship of MyMaster16 (Ministry of Higher Education) and Outstanding Postgraduate Student Scholarship (Department of Public Service Malaysia). In 2016, he managed to finish his study on time (GOT-Graduate On Time) and received a prestigious University award (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the University Award) during the convocation ceremony (an award presented to the best master student with outstanding achievement). He was then awarded the Chancellor Scholarship (A valuable scholarship offered by UMT for the most outstanding PhD candidate in the year) that sponsored for his PhD study in Environmental Technology and Management. He is also one of the young scientists being selected by American Chemical Society as a recipient for an international level travel grant to attend Global Innovation Imperatives (Gii) Forum 2017. Then, he received a second travel grant from the American Chemical Society to attend chemical security workshop 2019. Liew is a Research Associate in Pyrolysis Technology Research Group, UMT between 2014-2019. His work lies mainly in Chemical & Environmental Technology, concentrating on Microwave Heating Application, Thermochemical Process (Pyrolysis), Desalination, Waste & Biomass Recovery, Water & Wastewater Treatment. Liew is particularly active in research on Microwave Pyrolysis Technique, especially on its application in transforming waste & biomass materials into biochar and activated carbon that are applicable to industry. 

Liew has published 19 articles in indexed journals and received a H-index of 13 and 674 citations from Scopus.

Liew has received international and Malaysia awards and honors in academia, research and innovation. He and his research team has won 2 Special Awards, 14 Gold Awards, 6 Silver Awards, and 4 Bronze Awards in numerous innovation conferences and research exhibitions (e.g. Pecipta, ITEX, NRIC). The most prestigious awards comprise 1 Special Award and 1 Gold Awards in the 2017 Pecipta (International Conference and Exposition on Inventions by Institutions of Higher Learning) - Malaysia's most recognized and prestigious research exhibition, and 1 Silver Award in Korea SIIF (Korea Seoul International Invention Fair) - a globally recognized research exhibition. Personally, he has received honors such as Outstanding Reviewer for Springer Journal, Top 1% reviewer in Engineering for 2018, 2019, Top 1% reviewer in Cross-field for 2019, Young Scientist Travel Grant, Chairman of the Board of Directors University Award.