Patrick Kirchen is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Associate Director of the Clean Energy Research Center, both at the University of British Columbia. He directs the Thermochemical Energy Conversion Research lab, which develops strategies for using low carbon fuels in internal combustion engines through a combination of lab and field-based activities. He is currently co-leading a five-year collaborative research program to characterize and mitigate the greenhouse gas and air quality emissions from urban freight systems, including marine vessels. He has over 20 years of combustion and emission research experience, much of it in collaboration with industrial partners. He received his PhD from ETH Zurich and worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prior to joining UBC in 2012.