Yupo Chan

Yupo Chan passed away February 5, 2020 after a diagnosis of cancer late the previous year.

Yupo was born in Guanzhou, China.  When he was 8 years old his family moved to Hong Kong to escape the communists. Yupo had fond memories of scouting in Hong Kong and became a Queen’s Scout. Upon graduation from high school he traveled by boat to the west coast of U.S., then by bus to Boston, Massachusetts to attend MIT.  The Fowle family met him at the bus terminal and for the 8 years he was at MIT included him in their family activities. At MIT Yupo was awarded B.S. in Civil Engineering, an M.S. in Transportation Systems and PhD in Operations Research.

Prior to beginning his academic career, he was on the U.S. Senate staff for a time. His academic career included posts at the State University of New York at Stoney Brook, Penn State, the University of Washington, and the Air Force Institute of Technology.  In 2000 he came to Little Rock to become the founding chair of the Systems Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas - Little Rock where he continued his academic career until his death.

Yupo authored two books -- Location Theory And Decision Analysis; Analytics of Spatial Information Technology (first and second editions), and Location, Transport and Land-Use; Modelling Spatial-Temporal Information.  He also edited or contributed to a number of other professional books and journals.

Yupo was awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers Harland Bartholomew Award for his long and distinguished service to the profession.  He was a member of INFORMS, the American Society of University Professors and a lifetime member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Yupo founded the Chan Wui and Yunyin Rising Star Workshop to consider the analytical relationship between mobility and communication.  The workshop participants were a select few senior fellows and younger fellows still early in their careers. The goal of the workshops was furthering the field of study and enabling the senior fellows to initiate personalized ongoing career advice and guidance to the younger fellows.  The second workshop was held in Belagio, Italy in 2019.

Most recently, he was the instigator of a new chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the honor society for engineering students, at the University of Arkansas – Little Rock.

He is mourned by his wife of  30 years, Susan; his brother Albert in Zhuhai, China;  sisters Dorothy and Kamie in Melbourne,  Australia; sister Mae Tuck in Hong Kong; Fowle family brother and sisters - Pete Fowle, Polly Chrisman, Bill Fowle, Liz Rome and Lucy Manousakis of New England and California; brother-and sister-in-law Phil and Pam Johnson of South Carolina; his nieces and nephew. He will be missed by friends and colleagues.

While Yupo and Susan had no children of their own, Yupo said “In more ways than one, my students and my writings are our children that succeed me and Susan”.

A memorial service is planned for later in February.

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Yupo Chan, please visit our Tree Store.