Robert Chen

Robert F. (Bob) Chen is a Professor and Interim Dean of the School for the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He received his AB from Harvard University in Chemistry and Physics in 1986 and his PhD in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1992. After an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he has remained at UMass Boston since 1993, serving as Graduate Program Director, Director of the Center for Coastal Environmental Sensing Networks (CESN), and presently Interim Dean. His research interests include the cycling of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), carbon biogeochemistry in coastal systems, and the development of sensor networks in shallow water systems. He has explored dissolved organic carbon (DOC) outwelling from salt marshes, remote sensing of coastal water quality, and indicators of estuarine health. He is also dedicated to ocean and environmental science education and outreach at the local, national, and international levels and transforming K-12, undergraduate and graduate environmental and aquatic science education. He was the Principal Investigator of the Watershed-Integrated Sciences Partnership (wisp.umb.edu), COSEE OCEAN (coseeocean.net), the Boston Energy in Science Teaching (BEST) (bostonscience.net), and Coasts and Communities IGERT projects, and he has been involved in Ocean Literacy and Energy Literacy efforts. He was Chair of the COSEE Council from 2013-2014. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and is an active researcher in the area of coastal observations, carbon cycling, and contaminant distribution and fate.