For Newfoundland and Labrador, the risks facing our oceans are impossible to ignore.

Offshore development, heavier marine traffic and a changing climate have increased the risk of pollution in our coastal waters. And in colder regions like the North Atlantic, cleanup can be difficult, and the environmental damage can last for decades.

For a province shaped by the sea, these challenges are not abstract. They affect fisheries, coastal communities and the long-term health of marine ecosystems.

As a professor of environmental engineering at Memorial University, Dr. Bing Chen’s research confronts some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our age, focusing on practical solutions that help protect ocean environments while supporting the people and industries that depend on them.

Dr. Chen’s academic journey began in China, where he earned a bachelor of engineering at Jilin University and a master’s degree in science at Peking University, before moving to Canada to complete his PhD in environmental engineering at the University of Regina.

Following postdoctoral work at the University of British Columbia and Environment Canada, he joined Memorial University in 2006.

 

Dr. Bing Chen is the founding director of both the Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory and the Network on Persistent, Emerging and Organic Pollution in the Environment (PEOPLE Network). Photo from Memorial University Archives.

 

 

At Memorial, he’s a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, the associate dean (graduate studies) in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, and the UArctic research chair in marine and coastal environmental engineering.

He is also the founding director of both the Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution Control (NRPOP) Laboratory and the Network on Persistent, Emerging and Organic Pollution in the Environment (PEOPLE Network).

The NRPOP Lab is the first of its kind in Canada and has become a global hub for research on pollutants that persist and accumulate in cold and marine environments.

Under Dr. Chen’s leadership, the lab focuses on practical ways to respond to oil spills and marine pollution, particularly in cold ocean conditions like those found here. Rather than relying solely on surface cleanup, his team develops methods that help reduce the long-term effects of oil and other contaminants in seawater. They also create tools that support decision-makers during environmental emergencies, helping responders choose effective actions based on the local conditions. Researchers at the NRPOP Lab are essentially developing new ways to respond to pollution in some of the harshest environments on Earth.

The PEOPLE Network brings together more than 200 researchers and over 30 partners from government, industry, NGOs and communities worldwide. This network helps train the next generation of environmental scientists while advancing collaborative research into how persistent pollutants behave and how to respond to them.

Dr. Chen is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. He is also member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

What makes his contribution especially meaningful for Newfoundland and Labrador is the way his research aligns with our region’s environmental realities.

Our province’s economy, culture and communities are deeply tied to the ocean, and Dr. Chen’s work is intent on safeguarding that connection.

His work is about more than scientific excellence. It’s about protecting the place we call home through environmental stewardship. It’s an example of how research anchored in our province can make waves around the world.