Speaker: Shaolin Chen

Time: 4pm, October 29, 2018

Venue: S3119 

Introduction of Speaker:

Dr. Shaolin Chen graduated from Peking University in 1983 with a B.S. degree in Chemistry. He continued his graduate study in Chemical Biology at Peking University and received his M.S. degree in 1986. After working in the China Pharmaceutical University for a few years as a faculty member, he decided to pursue his Ph.D. study in the United States and received his Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Cornell University in 1997. Dr. Chen continued his focus on the fundamental and applied research on plant biomass and its conversion technology to biofuels and bio-products at Cornell University, Stanford University and University of California Berkeley. In 2013 he joined the Northwest A&F University and initiated the Biomass Energy Center for Arid and Semi-arid Lands (BECAL) in 2014. Unlike other natural resources for renewable energy, such as the sun, wind, and water, biomass is very likely to be the only viable alternative to fossil fuels for the production of liquid biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials. Northwest China has vast biomass and marginal land resources suitable for large-scale production of biomass feedstock and thus bioenergy and bio-based products. BECAL is a multidisciplinary institute, focusing on coordinating and facilitating research, outreach and education efforts across the university, building teams and discovery platforms to address the key challenges of developing green biomanufacturing/biorefinery technology towards sustainable agricultural systems in the 21st century.