Michael J. Chajes, interim dean of the College of Engineering, lauded Chen's research and contributions to the areas of catalysis and materials science.
“Dr. Chen also has made exceptional contributions to the mission of the Department of Chemical Engineering,” Chajes said. “He has pioneered and further developed important areas of chemical engineering related to the rational design of carbide and bimetallic catalysts with desirable catalytic activity and selectivity, as well as work in the utilization of near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) to characterize the catalytic properties of transition metal compounds.”
In March 2007, Chen and Brian Willis, UD assistant professor of chemical engineering were named as part of a research team that received a $4.6 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to make the creation of hydrogen fuel cells less costly and more stable through the use of materials such as tungsten carbide modified with low concentrations of platinum instead of pure platinum.
Chen received his doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1988, followed by a year in Germany as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow. After starting his career at the Exxon Research and Engineering Co. in Annandale, N.J., in 1989, Chen joined the UD faculty in 1998. He has published more than 150 articles in refereed journals and holds 16 U.S. patents. He served as chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis in 2002 and as chair of the Philadelphia Catalysis Club in 2004.
Chen was the recipient of the 2004 Catalysis Club of Philadelphia Award, in recognition of his current research, which focuses on the physical and chemical properties of bimetallic and metal carbide surfaces and their applications to technologies ranging from catalysts to fuel cells. The award also recognized Chen's impact on catalysis research at UD's Center for Catalytic Science and Technology (CCST), where he has served as director since 2000.
Chen is well-known in the field of catalysis for his applications of near-edge X-ray absorption fine structures to elucidate the chemical and physical properties of model and practical catalysts, and of key reactive species on them. His 1997 monograph on NEXAFS investigations of metal oxides, nitrides, carbides and sulfides, published in Surface Science Reports, remains the key source in this area.
He also is the co-founder and principal investigator of the Synchrotron Catalysis Consortium (SCC) at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory. The consortium, the first in the United States, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy to promote synchrotron research by the catalysis community in the United States.
A member of the board of directors of the North American Catalysis Society, Chen also serves as the catalysis secretary-general of the American Chemical Society.
This named professorship was made possible by the endowment of the late Mr. Claire D. LeClaire, formerly of Dover, in support chemical engineering efforts at the University.
Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Jon Cox