By Liz Stevens, writer, UV Solutions
Milad Raeiszadeh was recognized with the 2025 IUVA Achievement Award as a Rising Star for his outstanding contributions to UV development and to the IUVA community. A native of Iran, Raeiszadeh earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in Iran and his master’s degree in chemical and biological engineering in Canada. Following work in UV LED air/water/surface disinfection product development at Acuva Technologies Inc. in British Columbia, he now is vice president of engineering and operations at Clear Inc., headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, which commercializes, installs and maintains water and air purification solutions for residential and commercial buildings.
Raeiszadeh has broad experience, with proficiency in the entire arc of UV disinfection implementation projects for water, air and surface treatment. He has served in IUVA as co-chair of the young professionals committee, as well as scientific communications coordinator, and he is an active member of multiple task forces and conference planning efforts.
First Exposure to UV Technologies
Raeiszadeh was born in Tabriz, Iran. He completed undergraduate studies in chemical engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. “My interest in UV technologies started during my studies at the University,” Raeiszadeh said. “I was involved in research projects using mercury-based UV advanced oxidation processes for wastewater treatment. That was my first exposure to the potential of UV technologies in water treatment and environmental applications.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree at Sharif University, Raeiszadeh moved to Canada to continue his education. “Canada and Canadianinstitutions offered high-quality education, research opportunities and long-term career prospects,” he said. “The University of British Columbia stood out for its strong academic reputation and research environment. I earned my master’s degree in chemical and biological engineering there and then continued exploring UV through graduate research at the University. I worked on emerging UV sources for disinfection. My career later expanded into UV LED technologies and applications across water, air and surface disinfection.”
Raeiszadeh’s graduate research focused on a novel microplasma-based Far UV-C source for disinfection applications. “Far UV-C has attracted interest for its ability to inactivate microorganisms with more limited penetration into biological tissues than conventional 254 nm UV,” he said. “At the time of my research, microplasma Far UV-C was an emerging technology.” Raeiszadeh developed a protocol to characterize the microplasma UV source, compared its disinfection performance with other UV sources, and developed an optical model to simulate its radiation. His work resulted in three peer-reviewed publications.
Next Step in Water Disinfection; Application through COVID-19
Raeiszadeh then joined the Vancouver, British Columbia, location of Acuva Technologies, where he helped develop and commercialize UV LED-based disinfection systems, and contributed to patents, publications and real-world innovations in water, air and surface treatment. “While Acuva’s primary focus was developing UV LED water disinfection products,” he said, “I also had the opportunity to work on surface and air disinfection technologies. This included development of a UV LED surface disinfection product and a government-funded project for an air disinfection solution for public ground transportation vehicles.”
At Acuva, Raeiszadeh authored multiple patents on aspects of the technology underpinning the company’s UV LED water purification products. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw Raeiszadeh applying his product-oriented expertise in a new way. “During the pandemic, UV disinfection became a topic of global interest,” said Raeiszadeh. “To meet the demand for UV disinfection technologies, a flood of products entered the market with performance claims that often were unsupported by scientific validation.”
“We evaluated commercially available handheld UV devices that were marketed for COVID-19 disinfection,” he continued. “Our testing showed that many of these products delivered insufficient germicidal UV dose for effective disinfection, and some did not even use germicidal UV sources. Our findings reinforced the importance of rigorous testing and evidence-based product development.” Acuva subsequently developed a high-power UV LED surface disinfection system and validated its performance against live SARS-CoV-2 virus. Raeiszadeh co-authored a review article published in ACS Photonics on the applicability, validation and safety of UV disinfection systems against COVID-19. The article has received more than 500 citations and was recognized with the Most Impactful Journal Article Award at the 2023 IUVA World Congress in Dubai.
The COVID-19 pandemic was deeply personal for Raeiszadeh. “I lost my father to the virus,” he said. “He was my greatest supporter throughout my academic and professional journey, and his loss gave me an even stronger sense of purpose in my work. It reinforced my belief that developing and validating effective UV disinfection technologies is more than just an engineering challenge; it is an opportunity to help protect people’s health during a global crisis.”
Working across diverse applications at Acuva gave Raeiszadeh a broad understanding of UV technology. “Each application – for air, surface or water – presents challenges for reactor and optical design, UV dose delivery, microbial validation, safety, regulatory requirements and product commercialization,” Raeiszadeh said. “Myexperience with all three disinfection system applications has been an advantage. I can approach UV technologies from a scientific perspective, as well as an engineering and product development standpoint, and better understand how the same technology can be adapted for very different real-world challenges.”
Tackling Unique Engineering Challenges
Raeiszadeh now is vice president of engineering and operations at Clear Inc., which commercializes, installs and maintains residential and commercial building water and air purification solutions. “Although my primary focus at Clear is water disinfection,” he said, “we also integrate UV air disinfection systems into HVAC systems. The underlying principles of UV technology are common across water, air and surface disinfection, and the principles can be adapted to different applications and engineering challenges.”
At Clear, Raeiszadeh leads the technical, engineering, design, implementation, construction, logistics and operations teams – covering the complete lifecycle of a project. While acknowledging that UV LED technology is making inroads as an energy source of choice, the company also implements conventional low-pressure and medium-pressure UV systems where appropriate. Raeiszadeh believes that UV LED technology has reached maturity as a practical solution for many applications; he would like to see it now evolve toward larger, more powerful and more energy-efficient systems for large buildings. “This is one of the most exciting opportunities for UV LED technology,” he said, “as improvements in performance, optical design and system integration expand its practical applications.” He sees his role at Clear in applying a variety of innovative UV technologies as one of themost rewarding aspects of his work. “Every project presents unique engineering challenges,” he said, “that require collaboration across many disciplines to integrate UV systems into existing infrastructure.”
Raeiszadeh’s aim at Clear includes implementing the best UV solutions. “I am passionate about perfecting UV technologies by strengthening the connection among academic research, system manufacturing and field implementation,” he said. “Having worked in all three areas, I appreciate the capabilities of new technologies and the practical challenges encountered in the field. I want to work more closely with researchers and manufacturers to bring real-world operational experience back into product development to optimize future UV systems.”
Giving Back to the Community
At IUVA, Raeiszadeh has volunteered as a task force member, a coordinator of scientific communications, a contributor to conference planning and a co-chair of the IUVA’s Young Professionals (YP) committee. “IUVA has played an important role in my professional journey,” he explained. “Early on, it gave me the opportunity to learn from industry pioneers and leaders, to build professional relationships and to stay abreast of the latest developments.” As his career progressed, he wanted to give back. “I became more involved by joining the YP community as a volunteer and serving as co-chair of the YP committee,” he said. “I am pleased to have helped strengthen the YP community. Early-career scientists and engineers benefit tremendously from mentorship, networking and opportunities to engage with experienced professionals.”
Raeiszadeh acknowledges Dr. Ted Mao, IUVA’s president during his time on the YP committee. “Ted was an incredible supporter of our committee and encouraged us to pursue new ideas,” he said. “I have always admired his humility, generosity and willingness to invest time to support young professionals. His leadership has been an inspiration, and I am grateful for his encouragement as well as his support of the YP committee.”
To a rising star like Raeiszadeh, IUVA is much more than a professional association. “It is a collaborative community where academia, industry and end users come together to advance UV technology,” he said. “Contributing to that community has been personally rewarding and professionally enriching.”
For more information, email Raeiszadeh at milad@clear.inc.