Dr. Chan joined KAUST in 2023 as a professor of chemical engineering and dean of the Physical Science and Engineering Division. As a leading expert in aerosol and air pollution research, he studies the sources, physical and chemical transformations, and health and climate impacts of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), with the aim to provide scientific evidence to guide policy initiatives concerning air quality and environmental health. Prior to KAUST, he served as the Dean of the School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong, and former project manager of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Air Quality Research Supersite. He was appointed science advisor to the Secretary of Environment with Hong Kong’s Environment and Ecology Bureau. Chan’s academic achievements include publishing over 250 journal papers in the Science Citation Index (SCI), with a SCOPUS citation count of around 19,000, and an h-index of 68. From 2008 to 2019 he served as editor-in-chief of Atmospheric Environment.​

Dr. Chan's research pertains to aerosol chemistry, air pollution and the source identificationand chemical and physical characterization of atmospheric particulate matter, andunderstanding the chemical pathways involved in the formation of secondary inorganic andorganic particulate matter (PM) from sources such as cooking, traffic, biomass burning, dust,and ship emissions. His research employs both laboratory and field measurements using asuite of aerosol instrumentation techniques such as aerosol mass spectroscopy and offlinecharacterization. Current research includes atmospheric aging of PM via photochemistry ofparticulate nitrate photolysis, photosensitization reactions and chlorine chemistry. ​