On Sep 26, 2019, Dr. Guo Jiaxin, a postdoctoral research fellow of the City University of Hong Kong and a UIC ENVS graduate of year 2014 delivered a lecture titled ‘The development of emerging membrane distillation technology for seawater desalination and advanced membrane fabrication’. In the lecture, he shared about the underlying principles of membrane distillation, its applications particularly in solving problems related to freshwater shortage, and his latest research in this area.