Jennifer Au

After graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1997 with a PhD in Physical Chemistry, Jennifer Au began her career working in industry as a Research Scientist at Phase Technology in Richmond, BC, where she led a research group in developing automated phase transition analyzers and other instrumentation for process control. Jennifer travelled to oil refineries across Canada, the United States and Australia to oversee the installation of the first few prototypes coming off the company’s production line. The result of this research and developmental work was published in the peer reviewed journals, Hydrocarbon Processing (in 2000) and Lube’n’Greases (in 2001). In 2002, Jennifer joined Dephy Technologies in Montreal as a Senior Research Scientist, where she was tasked with developing applications for the company’s Time-of-Flight mass spectrometers, as well as assist with Marketing.

Jennifer’s career in teaching began in January 2004 when she returned to British Columbia to teach general chemistry to students in the Petroleum and Mining programs at BCIT. It was here where Jennifer developed a passion for teaching. Prior to joining KPU as a full-time faculty member in 2008, Jennifer had also held faculty appointments at Simon Fraser University, Capilano University, Langara College, and Douglas College.

While at KPU, Jennifer has played an active role at all levels of university governance. She served as Chair of Chemistry (2012-2015), as a member on the Science and Horticulture Faculty Council (2011-2017), and as a faculty representative on the University Senate (2010-2018). During her time on the University Senate, Jennifer served for three years as the Vice Chair of Senate (2014-2017) and two years as the Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Curriculum (2015-2017). She had also served for seven years as the KPU representative on the Provincial Chemistry Articulation Committee (2009-2016). Currently, Jennifer continues to represent her department and Faculty on various governance, professional development and search committees.

Outside of work, Jennifer enjoys running, cycling and hiking. She is also a devout Catholic.