SOE, Tsinghua Dec 7, 2015 (by Kate Smith)School of Environment PhD candidate Kate Smith has been awarded Special Distinction in the Trophees Performance, an international competition held by one of the world’s biggest environmental services companies, Veolia. Kate was awarded the prize in a ceremony held at Veolia headquarters in Paris on December 1 and attended by numerous Veolia directors, including Veolia’s CEO Antoine Frérot.

Trophees Performance is held annually and awards research conducted by final semester Masters students on subjects related to energy, waste management and water. Kate was one of nine prize winners selected from a pool of international and French candidates. Each winner received a trip to Seoul, South Korea, to the value of 800 euros. Their schools will receive 4000 euros.

Kate was selected based on her thesis “Understanding energy consumption for urban water supply in China”, which she submitted in poster form and in full and also presented to a panel of Veolia employees via video conference.