Abstract

 Air pollution is responsible for millions of excess mortality annually. Atmospheric particulate matter (PM), or haze, impacts human health, visibility, the environment, and climate change. The atmosphere is a giant chemical reactor in which pollutants are generated, transported, and transformed under a primarily oxidative environment. To develop effective air quality management policies, a thorough understanding of the sources, atmospheric physical and chemical processes, and environmental and health impacts is needed, and it requires interdisciplinary collaborations. This talk promotes air pollution and atmospheric chemistry research across the KAUST community. I will start with an overview of PM characteristics and then show examples of field and laboratory studies to identify the abundance, sources, and chemical processes in producing secondary pollutants in the atmosphere. Finally, I will share some thoughts on research opportunities in air pollution in KAUST/KSA. 

Chak Chan obtained a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, and a Ph.D. from Caltech. He is currently Dean of the Physical Science and Engineering Division at KAUST. Before, he was at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the City University of Hong Kong. His research areas are in air pollution and aerosol chemistry. He studies gas-particle interactions, including hygroscopic uptake, phase transition, chemical transformation of aerosols, and their impacts. He led the HKUST Air Quality Research Supersite to comprehensively study the sources, formation, and chemical evolution of air pollutants in Hong Kong. He was the 8th Editor-in-Chief of Atmospheric Environment (2008-2019) and the first appointed outside the U.S. and Europe. He won the Haagen Smit Award in Atmospheric Environment (2015) and, more recently, the Best Paper Award in ACS Environmental Science and Technology Letter (2019) and the Best Review Award in RSC Environmental Chemistry: Atmosphere (2022). He has published over 250 papers with Google citations of over 22,000. 

https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en/study/faculty/chak-k-chan

https://chakkchan.wixsite.com/ckchan

Biography

Dr. Chak Chan obtained his bachelor’s and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, and Caltech. After studying in the US, he joined the Chemical Engineering Department of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), rising in ranks from Lecturer/Assistant Professor to Professor in Chemical Engineering and Associate Head. In 2009, he became the Founding Head of the Division of Environment (ENVR), a new interdisciplinary academic unit focusing on the science and technology of the environment and its impacts. Professor Chan joined CityU in December 2015 as the second Dean of SEE. He has over 14 years of administrative experience as an Associate Head, Head, and Dean in interdisciplinary research and academic programs. 

His research focuses on the atmosphere's physical chemistry, particularly the chemistry of airborne particulate matter. Academic achievements include: 

• He has published over 250 SCI journal papers, over half as the corresponding author. 
• His SCOPUS citation is over 16,000 with an h-index of 63, and his Google Scholar citation is over 20,000 with an h-index of 71. 
• He served as Editor-in-Chief of Atmospheric Environment from 2008 to 2019 and was the first EIC from outside Europe and North America in over 60 years of the journal's history. 
• He won the Haagen Smit Award for Atmospheric Environment in 2015, the Best Paper Award of Environmental Science and Technology Letters (an ACS journal) in 2019, the Best Review Paper Award of Environmental Science: Atmospheres (an RSC journal) in 2022, and several regional and mainland Chinese Awards. 

Dr. Chan’s academic background in chemical engineering, research experience in air pollution and atmospheric chemistry, and extensive administrative experience in interdisciplinary academic units will help further promote extensive collaboration among different PSE programs and with the BESE and CEMSE divisions and beyond while maintaining strength in core disciplines. Dr. Chan’s research focus also aligns well with activities at KAUST in climate, livability, and sustainability, and his expertise will be valuable for the Kingdom's priorities.