Gang Chen

Background and Education

Gang Chen is the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering and the director of the MIT Pappalardo Micro/Nano Engineering Laboratory. His research interests center on nanoscale thermal transport and energy conversion phenomena and their applications in energy storage and conversion, thermal management, and water treatment and desalination. He has made important contributions to the understanding of heat transfer in nanostructures and exploited them to develop energy conversion, storage, and water technologies. Chen is fellows of the US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Awards and Honors

• National Academy of Sciences Member | 2023
• Wouk Lecture, Caltech | 2003
• Madge Colloquium, Boston College | 2003
• Physics World Top 10 Breakthroughs: Cubic boron arsenide is a champion semiconductor | 2022
• Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate | 2019-2022
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences | 2018
• Thomas Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (physics category, materials category) | 2018
• Honorary Professor, Tsinghua University | 2018
• Aurel Stodola Medal and Lecture, ETH | 2018
• Byron Short Lecture, UT Austin | 2018
• Toderi-Callinan Lecture, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania | 2017
• Thomas Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (physics category) | 2017
• C2C Award (Committed to Caring), MIT ODGE | 2017
• Eringen Medal, Society of Engineering Science | 2016
• Thomas Reuters Highly Cited Researcher | 2016
• Distinguished Colloquium, U. Chicago, Institute of Molecular Engineering | 2016
• Distinguished Lecture, U. Virginia, Department of Mechanical Engineering | 2016
• Alwin Schaller Lecture, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UIUC | 2016
• David Goodwin Memorial Lecture, Caltech | 2016
• Leaders in Engineering Lecture, RPI MANE | 2016
• Distinguished Seminar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University | 2016
• World Technology Award, Energy Category | 2015
• William Mong Distinguished Lecture, University of Hong Kong | 2015
• Institute of Advanced Studies Distinguished Seminar, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | 2015
• Academician, Academia Sinica, Taiwan | 2014
• Outstanding Alumni Award, Huazhong University of Science and Technology | 2014
• Nukiyama Memorial Award, Heat Transfer Society of Japan | 2014
• Batteries that Capture Low-Grade Waste Heat named by Scientific American as one of 10 World Changing Ideas | 2014
• Penner Lecture, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UCSD | 2014
• Distinguished Lecture, ME8888 Seminar, Ohio State University | 2014
• 75th Anniversary Medal of the ASME Heat Transfer Division | 2013
• George Persall Lecture, Duke University | 2013
• Directional Solvent Extraction Technology named by Scientific American as one of 10 World Changing Ideas | 2012
• Fellow, American Physical Society | 2012
• Springer Professor, UC Berkeley | 2012
• Hawkins Lecture, Purdue University | 2012
• Distinguished Seminar, U. Toronto Mechanical Engineering Department | 2012
• Distinguished Lecture, CMU Mechanical Engineering Department | 2011
• Honorary Professor, Hubei University of Arts and Science, China | 2011
• Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising, MIT School of Engineering | 2011
• Distinguished Lecture, University of Connecticut, School of Engineering | 2011
• Honorary Professor, Shanghai University | 2010
• Member, National Academy of Engineering | 2010
• AAAS Fellow | 2009
• Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering, MIT School of Engineering | 2009
• R&D 100 Award for High Performance Thermoelectric Materials | 2008
• ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, Science Category | 2008
• Honorary Professor, Huanan University of Science and Technology, China | 2007
• Fellow, ASME | 2006
• Warren and Towneley Rohsenow Professorship, MIT | 2006
• Guggenheim Fellowship | 2002
• National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award | 1994
• Outstanding Reviewer for Journal of Heat Transfer | 1994-1997
• Warren Faculty Scholar, Duke University | 1996
• Arthur Gould Tasheira Scholarship, University of California, Berkeley | 1992
• Scholarship, K.C. Wong Education Foundation, Hong Kong | 1989-1992