2007 Award Recipient

Professor Jing M. Chen (Ecosystem-Atmospheric Interactions)

Professor Jing M. Chen (University of Toronto)
Professor Jing M. Chen is cited for his extraordinary research on ecosystem-atmospheric interactions in order to improve our understanding of regional, national and global carbon cycles, and their effects on the changes in global climate.

Educational Background
Professor Chen completed his B. Sc. in Meteorology in 1982 at the Nanjing Institute of Meteorology, China, and his Ph.D. at Reading University, U.K. in 1986. He became Professor of Geography at the University of Toronto in 2000, and is the Principal Research Scientist of Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. He is also Canadian Director of the China Carbon Sequestration Fund which examines the role of land use changes in China’s carbon cycle, which is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency. This important research will help China in effective land use, forest management and policy making.

Major Contributions
His achievements have been celebrated by being named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 2006, and being honored as a Tier I Canada Research Chair since 2004. In 2001 he was awarded the Ontario Premiere’s Research Excellence Award, in additional to the Earth Sciences Sector Merit Award from the Department of Natural Resources. In 2000 he was given the Alouette Award, one of their highest honors by the Canadian Aeronautic and Space Institute.

Other Contributions
Professor Chen has been invited to lecture numerous times both internationally and nationally from 1992 on, and is on the Editorial boards of 4 major journals. He is the author of 150 peer reviewed papers and book chapters.

As an educator, Professor Chen has supervised 8 post-doctoral fellows, 11 doctoral students and 7 Masters students. He was awarded the Dean’s Excellence Award every year since 2001 at the Faculty of Arts and Science in the University of Toronto.

Since 1997, Professor has been a popularly invited speaker on TV and radio to speak on global warming and climate changes. His remote sensing algorithms have been used by several countries to produce products for research into carbon cycles and climate. His research is of the highest caliber and has incredible national and international significance.