KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Identical twins Dr Serene Lock Sow Mun and Irene Lock Sow Mei, 36, who have shared a classroom since primary school, achieved national recognition after being named among Malaysia’s top engineers at the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) Engineering Awards ceremony last night.
Sow Mun, an associate professor at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) became the first woman to win the National Young Engineer Award, while her sister Sow Mei, a senior process engineer at Petronas, received the Special Mention International Engineering Award (SMIEA) 2026.
The twins, daughters of nursing lecturers from Ipoh, Perak, said their interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) developed during their primary school years.
Although their paths briefly diverged when Sow Mun studied at the University of Toronto in Canada while Sow Mei attended UTP, both sisters chose chemical engineering, sharing a focus on future sustainability.
“I feel truly honoured and grateful to receive this award alongside my twin sister. This recognition motivates me to contribute even more to the engineering field,” Sow Mei told Bernama.
Sow Mei noted that the most rewarding part of her engineering career is tackling complex daily problems and turning academic research into tangible national progress.
“Engineering is a deeply challenging field, not a boring one. Whatever you see and work on directly contributes to the progress of Malaysia,” she said.
Sow Mun expressed hope that her milestone as the first female recipient of the National Young Engineer Award would inspire more women to pursue careers in engineering.
“I hope this success will serve as an inspiration and a driving force for more female talent to enter STEM industries, demonstrating our capability and leadership,” she said. — Bernama
