Lin Chen

Biography

I am a Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University and a Senior Chemist in Argonne National Laboratory. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After my postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley, I joined Argonne as a staff scientist. In 2007, I joined Northwestern University.

My research is focused on fundamental light-matter interactions of different solar energy conversion platforms, including excited state molecular structural dynamics in photocatalytic processes and photovoltaic materials; understanding roles of ultrafast and coherent electronic and atomic motions in in photochemical reactions, and functional structural dynamics of biomacromolecules on multiple spatial and temporal scales. My main tools for research are ultrafast laser and X-ray spectroscopy/scattering and other property/structural methods in collaborations with theorists and chemists making molecules and materials.

I was awarded one of the highly cited scientists in 2019 by the Web of Science, with more than 230 publications, and over 200 invited lectures. I have been members of the Research Council for the Chemical, Biological and Geological Sciences Division, Basic Energy Science, US Department of Energy, the Advisory Editorial Board of Journal of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics Letters, Senior Editor of ACS Energy Letters, and the International Science Advisory Committee for π-Functional Materials. I am an AAAS Fellow and have won distinguished performance award at Argonne. Find out more about the Chen Group.

RSC affiliations

• Editorial board, Chemical Science