Kenneth Chau, PhD, PEng

(He, Him, His)

Associate Professor

Electrical, School of Engineering

Other Titles: Associate Director – Innovation; Master of Design Program Lead
Office: EME3213
Phone: 250.807.8646
Email: Kenneth.Chau@ubc.ca

Research Summary

Human-centred engineering; wearable and immersive technologies; entrepreneurship and innovation; systems thinking; human development; higher education transformation

Courses & Teaching

Innovation and Creativity; Technology Entrepreneurship; Human-Centred Design; Capstone Design; Engineering Electromagnetics

Biography

I am an engineering and design educator, entrepreneur/intrapreneur, and systems thinker focused on building environments where people and ideas can flourish. I hold positions of Associate Professor and Associate Director Innovation at the School of Engineering and Master of Design Program Lead, where my work sits at the intersection of engineering, human development, entrepreneurship, and institutional design.

Over the past decade, I have helped launch and support ventures spanning wearable technology, housing innovation, immersive technologies, and experiential learning, while mentoring students, founders, and interdisciplinary teams navigating uncertainty and growth.

I believe the future will not be defined by access to information alone, but by our capacity for wisdom, creativity, empathy, and meaningful human connection. As artificial intelligence accelerates the pace of change, I am increasingly interested in how we design educational systems, organizations, and cultures that help people remain deeply human. At the university level, my work has focused on cultivating cultures of curiosity, trust, collaboration, and courageous experimentation. I am especially drawn to creating spaces where technical excellence and human growth are not treated as separate pursuits.

I currently help lead initiatives exploring new models of interdisciplinary graduate education, industry collaboration, and experiential learning. My approach combines systems thinking with intuition, reflection, and a strong bias toward action and co-creation.

Across teaching, leadership, mentorship, and entrepreneurship, I am motivated by a simple question:

How do we build systems that help humans flourish in a rapidly changing world?

Research Interests & Projects

• Leading transformation in higher education by modelling it
• Building teams to explore, implement, and commercialize ideas for a smarter and more sustainable future
• Mentoring students, staff, faculty, entrepreneurs, and companies to realize the best versions of themselves