OUR PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATORS
Good heads and good leadership are critical for any successful lab, research team, or project. COSEE China is no exception. We are very fortunate to have not one, but four principle investigators who are the heart of COSEE, embodying our primary goals and core beliefs.
If you are interested in learning more about our PIs, please click on their profile image to visit their professional pages.
Dr. DAI Minhan, Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dr. DAI is also the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (MEL) and a member and/or chair of many international ocean science research groups and societies. A chemical oceanographer, his research interests lie in carbon biogeochemistry in marginal and estuarine systems, the geochemistry of radioactive elements and trace metals, and colloidal materials in surface and groundwater transport of trace metals, organic carbon, and radionclines.
He has participated in and was responsible for many outreach projects, not the least of
which was the visit from the French research vessel TARA, which docked for one week in Xiamen in 2018. He was also a member of an informal, bilingual panel discussion on radioactivity in the ocean 2016, as well as the "Face to Face with Scientists" panel during the 2018 Ocean Science Day where visitors were able to discuss with researchers why keeping global warming to a 1.5 degree increase is crucial. He has given several public talks on ocean science and climate change. It is also thanks to Dr. DAI that a China branch of COSEE was initiated in 2010, with support and guidance from Dr. Bob Chen, University of Massachusetts Boston.
Dr. LIU Min, Professor, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences
Dr. LIU's research interests lie in the regulatory mechanisms for hermaphroditic fish, the biodiversity and conservation of reef fish and sciaenids (more commonly known as drums or croakers), hard coral ecology, and the aquaculture of ornamental fish and shrimp. She is also investigating green sea turtle distributions in the South China Seas, an important part of their range but where little is known about their life histories.
When not in the classroom or out in the field, Dr. LIU can often be seen giving public talks or working with camp programs to educate the public about various fisheries related issues.
Dr. CHEN Mingru, Professor, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences
Also the Associate Dean of the China-ASEAN College of Marine Sciences at Xiamen University Malaysia, Dr. CHEN is also a fish biologist with a focus on pelagic fish and elasmobranchs as well as fisheries protection and ecosystem management. As she spends most of her time at the Malaysia campus, Dr. CHEN is actively involved in developing and promoting outreach activities there.
Dr. SHI Dalin, Chief Scientist, MEL
In addition to his role as MEL's chief scientist, Dr. SHI is also the deputy dean of the College of the Environment and Ecology and director of the Environmental Research Center. He is interested in the role of trace metals in key marine biogeochemical cycles (i.e. carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), the ecotoxicology of heavy metals and organic pollutants, and how phytoplankton respond to global change. He is also the director of the 70.8 Media Lab, a platform dedicated to science communication.
Dr. SHI has also given public talks on climate change and ocean acidification.
