I am a Canada Research Chair (tier 2) and assistant professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at University of British Columbia. I do research in two main areas: (1) ecosystem services and biodiversity, and (2) the ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of invasions and infestations; I also have an interest in applied environmental ethics. (1) Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that people derive from their interactions with ecosystems, which are so critical for sustaining and fulfilling human life. Our ignorance of these services has resulted in management for one natural resource at a time, which has degraded supporting, regulating, and cultural services and also the biodiversity upon which these services are based. (2) Invasive species and population outbreaks of native species cost society dearly and devastate ecosystems. Yet we know relatively little about how we can guard against these disruptions preemptively, bolstering the critical ecosystem service of infestation resistance. If you're a prospective student, please see my projects at my IRES page.

Before UBC, I was a postdoctoral fellow with Gretchen Daily and Paul Ehrlich at the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) at Stanford University. My research there had two major components: countryside biogeography (the study of biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes) and conservation planning/finance (the design of conservation tools). I was a Ph.D. student under Simon Levin at Princeton University, where I studied the process of diversification, and collaborated with Brian Moore. I was also a policy fellow, and did ethics research with Peter Singer.

Our responsibilities to current and future persons and the natural world call for us all to be social and environmental advocates and activists. At Princeton, I coordinated Greening Princeton; at Stanford, I co-coordinated scienceinpolicy.org (to improve the use of science in policy); and I am now a director on the board of the BC chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), a columnist at the Vancouver Metro (Eco-Minded) and a senior fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program.

Contact Details:

Kai M A Chan, Canada Research Chair (Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services)
Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, UBC
AERL, 438 - 2202 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Email: kaichan at ires dot ubc dot ca
Tel: 604.822.0400
Fax: 604.822.9250

My CV (pdf).
The template for this page was graciously donated by Mary Walsh, a very talented freelance graphical designer.