Professor Alex Jen is the Lee Shau Kee Chair Professor of Materials Science and Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy. He is also the Chair Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science of the City University of Hong Kong. He had served as the Provost of CityU during 2016-2020. He received his B.S. from the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in USA. Before arriving CityU, he had served as the Boeing-Johnson Chair Professor and Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He was also appointed as Chief Scientist for the Clean Energy Institute endowed by the Washington State Governor. He is a distinguished researcher with more than 1000 publications, ＞78,000 citations, and an H-index of 146. He has co-invented 63 patents and invention disclosures. His interdisciplinary research covers organic/hybrid functional materials and devices for photonics, energy, sensors, and nanomedicine.

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For his pioneering contributions in organic photonics and electronics, Professor Jen was elected as an Academician by both the European Academy of Sciences and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He is also a Fellow of several professional societies, including AAAS, MRS, ACS, PMSE, OSA, SPIE. He was named by the Times Higher Education (THE) in 2018 as one of the 'Top 10 university researchers in Perovskite Solar Cell Research'. In addition, he was recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the "World's Most Influential Scientific Minds of 2015 and 2016 and as a "Highly Cited Researcher" in Materials Science by Clarivate Analytics (Top 1% in the world), 2014-2022.

He is the recipient of the “Outstanding Research Award” from CityU in 2021, and had been appointed as the Changjiang Endowed Chair by the Chinese Ministry of Education, as a Distinguished Chair Professor by Zhejiang Univ., a World Class University Professor by the Korean Research Foundation, and a Distinguished Chair Professor by the National Taiwan University. He had demonstrated strong capability in technology transfer by participating in founding five start-up companies, and was the founder of the Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy at CityU and the Institute of Advanced Materials for Energy (i-AME) at the University of Washington.

 

Professional Experience

Director, Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, 2021-current

Lee Shau Kee Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong, 2020-Current
Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong, 2016-Current
Provost, City University of Hong Kong, 2016-2020
Chief Scientist, Clean Energy Institute, Univ. of Washington, 2013-2016
Chair, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Washington, 2007-2016
Director, Institute of Advanced Materials for Energy, 2011-2016
Director, Institute for Advanced Materials & Technology, Univ. of Washington, 2006-2011
Acting Chair, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Washington, 2005-2007
Boeing-Johnson Chair Professor, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Univ. of Washington, 2000-2016
Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA., 1997-1999
Vice President, Optical Materials Division, ROI Technology, 1995-1996
Group Leader-Senior Scientist, NLO Materials, EniChem America, 1990-1994
Project Leader-Principal Scientist, Advanced Materials Laboratory, EniChem America, 1988-19

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Prizes/ Honors

• Patents & Invention Records: 63

• Publications: ~1000

• H-index: 146

• Citations: >78,000

• Outstanding Research Award, City University of Hong Kong, 2021.

• Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (Top 1% in the world in Materials Science), 2014-2021.

• Name by Times Higher Education (THE) as one of the “Top 10 Researchers in the World Working on Perovskite Solar Cells”, 2018.

• The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thomson Reuters, 2015-16.

• Honorary Professor, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, ROC, 2018

• Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Science, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, ROC, 2017

• BK21+ Distinguished Professor, Korea University, 2015-2019

• Distinguished Chair Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, National Taiwan University, 2013

• MRS Fellow, The Materials Research Society, 2012

• Chair Professor, Polymer Science & Engineering, Zhejiang University, China, 2012

• Member, Washington State Academy of Sciences, 2011

• ACS Fellow, The American Chemical Society, 2011

• World-Class University Professor, Korea University, Korean Research Foundation, Korea, 2009

• Honorary Professor, East China University of Science & Technology, China, 2009

• PMSE Fellow, The American Chemical Society, Div. of Polymeric Materials Science & Engineering, 2009

• Board of Directors, Washington Technology Center, Appointed by Governor of Washington State, 2007

• Faculty of Research Innovator Award, College of Engineering, University of Washington, 2007

• Changjiang Endowed Chair Professor, Ministry of Education, China, 2007

• OSA Fellow, The Optical Society of America, 2007

• SPIE Fellow, The International Society of Optical Engineering, 2006

• AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2005

• Member of Advisory Board, Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2002-Present

• Boeing-Johnson Endowed Chair, University of Washington, 1999-Present

• Industrial Fellow (rank as full professor), Northwestern University, 1995-2000

• Founder’s Award, ROITech, 1995

• Outstanding Achievement Award, EniChem America, 1994

• President’s Award, EniChem America, 1989

• Rohm & Hass Research Fellowship, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 1981

 

Editor or Editorial Membership

• Editor, Emeritus, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

• Editorial Advisory Board Member, ACS Chemistry of Materials, NPG-Asia Materials, Journal of the Experimental Nanoscience, Solar RRL, Materials Today-Nano

• Advisory Board Member, Energy Frontier Research Center, Univ. of Michigan

• Advisory Board Member, Material Synthesis, Simulation Across Scales, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

• Chair of the Advisory Board, The Transformative Materials Initiative, The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 2007-2016

• Board of Directors, The Washington Technology Center, appointed by the Washington State Governor

• Advisory Board Member, College of Arts & Science, National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan

• Advisory Board Member, Institute of Chemistry, Academic Sinica, Taiwan