Prof YC Chan earned a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering in 1977, an MSc degree in Materials Science in 1978, and a PhD Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1983, all from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. In addition to his engineering education, he was awarded a MBA degree from the University of Hong Kong Business School in 1989, majoring in Finance. In 1983, he joined the Advanced Technology Department of Fairchild Semiconductor in California as a Senior Engineer, and worked on Integrated Circuits Technology. In 1985, he was appointed to a Lectureship in Electronics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Between 1987 and 1991, he worked in various senior operations and engineering management functions in electronics manufacturing (including SAE Magnetics (HK) Ltd. and Seagate Technology). He set up the Failure Analysis and Reliability Engineering Laboratory for SMT PCB in Seagate Technology (Singapore). He joined City Polytechnic of Hong Kong (now City University of Hong Kong) as a Senior Lecturer in Electronic Engineering in 1991. He is currently Chair Professor of Electronic Engineering and Director of the EPA Centre, and Assistant Head for Applied Research and Industry Relations in the Department of Electronic Engineering. He has authored or co-authored over 140 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, over 70 international conference papers, and co-edited 3 books. His current research interests include advanced electronic packaging and assemblies, failure analysis, and reliability engineering. He is world renown in electronic product reliability, and has had extensive industrial connections in the local electronics and manufacturing industry.

Prof Chan is currently Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (USA), the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (UK). He served as member in the Executive Committee of the IEE Hong Kong for eight years and as Chairman in 1995-96. He was Founding President (2001) and is presently Honorary Chairman of the Hong Kong Electronic Packaging and Manufacturing Services Association. He is currently serving as member of the HKIE Examination and Education committee representing the Electronics discipline. Worldwide, he has chaired numerous international technical conferences in electronic product reliability and green electronics, and participated as organizing committee member / international adviser in many others.