Two University of Macau (UM) professors have been elected fellows of prestigious international societies. Prof Xu Qingsong in the Department of Electromechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) has been elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and Prof Zhou Yicong in the Department of Computer and Information Science of FST has been elected a fellow of the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Both are the first scholars from Macao to receive their respective titles.

Prof Xu has more than ten years of experience in teaching and research. He has served on the editorial boards of several top international journals and has won the Macao Science and Technology Award and the best paper award at international conferences for many times. He developed the first intelligent disinfection robot in Macao, which has been put into use in local hospitals and government buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been approached by companies for the purpose of commercialising his patented research results, which are expected to promote the development of service-robot-related industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the diversification of Macao’s economy.

Prof Zhou has been studying artificial intelligence, machine learning, image processing and multimedia security for many years. He has served on the editorial boards of many top international journals, and has been named among the top 2 per cent of the world's leading scientists. Being selected as a SPIE fellow shows international recognition of his contributions in the fields of multimedia information security and image processing and understanding.

The ASME is one of the most authoritative and influential academic organisations in the world. It focuses on mechanical engineering and related technology, and has more than 64,000 members in 160 countries. The ASME fellowship is the highest honour bestowed on ASME members and recognises scholars who have made significant achievements and outstanding contributions to the field of mechanical engineering. The selection process is extremely rigorous, with no more than one in a thousand members selected for their outstanding performance and years of relevant work experience by the society's experts. The number of ASME fellows currently stands at just over 3,300 worldwide.

The SPIE is an international professional organisation renowned for its research in the fields of optics, photonics and electronics, with over 17,000 members worldwide. Each year, the SPIE selects a small number of outstanding optical scientists from around the world to be its fellows. The selection process is rigorous, with candidates nominated and selected by a number of senior academics who have made outstanding contributions to the fields of optics, optoelectronics, and imaging.