Dr. Kenneth Lee is a prominent expert in the field of oil spill response technologies, both in Canada and internationally. Over the course of his career, Dr. Lee has focused his research on oil spill clean-up, including the use of chemical dispersants to counter the environmental and damaging impact of oil spills.
Within the federal government of Canada, Dr. Lee served as the National Senior Science Advisor for Oil Spill Research, Preparedness, and Response for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In this position he led a Multi-Partner Research Initiative of the Oceans Protection Plan supporting international collaboration among oil spill researchers, response experts, and indigenous communities, to identify knowledge gaps and research priorities, improve our understanding of spill behaviour and impacts on biota, develop new clean-up technologies and protocols, and support science-based decisions to minimize environmental impacts and enhance habitat recovery.
Dr. Lee’s expertise in oil spill countermeasures has been utilized by the oil spill response community following several major spill events around the world including the 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez off the coast Alaska, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and, later that same year, the Kalamazoo River oil spill near Marshall, Michigan which released over a million gallons of diluted bitumen into the river.
Dr. Lee has coordinated and led major international collaborative research programs involving federal government agencies, academia, industry and the public. Deliverables from these research programs have supported the development and revision of national policies and regulations and international standards and governance for the protection of the marine environment. In recognition of his ability to champion support for research in marine sciences, Dr. Lee was elected by his peers to serve as Chair of the Canadian National Committee for the Scientific Committee Oceanic Research of the International Council for Science.