Dr. Philip K. Chan

It is possible to land your dream job. Case in point, Philip Chan. Early in his life, Chan knew what he liked: chemistry and engineering. He was also intrigued by teaching. “I was lucky to have some really great teachers and professors,” he says. “I was amazed by the way they taught and I wanted to do the same.”

Having excellent teachers set a high bar, one Chan aims to reach every day. “With my grad students I try to give them what my supervisor gave to me: mentorship.” Chan watches over his MEng, MASc and PhD students to make sure they’re on the right track, introduces them to journals and resources, searches for bugs in their computer programs, and acts as a sounding board for their ideas.

For his undergraduates, Chan is always making adjustments to his methods. To impart complex engineering principles to his students, he’s a big fan of showing video clips and including examples from real life, such as why the shower curtain blows in when the hot water comes on. “If you want the answer,” he says, smiling, “you’ll have to take my class.”