Twins make history with top honours at engineering awards
KUALA LUMPUR: Identical twins Dr Serene Lock Sow Mun and Irene Lock Sow Mei, 36, achieved national recognition after being named among Malaysia's top engineers at the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) Engineering Awards last night.
Identical twins Dr Serene Lock Sow Mun and Irene Lock Sow Mei have made history by securing top honours at the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) Engineering Awards in Malaysia. Serene, an associate professor at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), became the first woman to win the prestigious National Young Engineer Award, while her sister Irene, a senior process engineer at Petronas, received the Special Mention International Engineering Award (SMIEA) 2026.
The sisters, daughters of nursing lecturers from Ipoh, Perak, developed an early interest in STEM during primary school. Despite their academic paths briefly diverging, both chose chemical engineering with a shared focus on future sustainability. Serene expressed her gratitude for the recognition and her hope that her achievement would inspire more women to pursue careers in engineering, emphasizing the direct contribution of engineering to Malaysia's progress.
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