Profile
An experimentalist who computes
Thorough training at the bench, fluency in first-principles computation, and several years spent teaching robots to run reactions: the group’s closed loop follows the course of his own career.
- Position
- Associate ProfessorResearch ProfessorPhD advisor
- Adjunct
- PhD advisor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University & University of Science and Technology of China
- At EIT since
- August 2023 · independent PI
- chen.zhu@eitech.edu.cn
Chen Zhu is an Associate Professor (Research Professor and PhD advisor) in the College of Science at the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, where he has led an independent research group since August 2023. In the same year he was selected for the NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas). Throughout his career he has treated making molecules and computing them as two sides of the same work.
He received all three of his degrees from RWTH Aachen University: a BSc in 2014 from the laboratory of the late Dieter Enders, a pioneer of asymmetric organocatalysis, followed by an MSc in 2017 and a PhD in 2019 under Magnus Rueping. The doctorate, completed in two years, was awarded summa cum laude, and RWTH Aachen recognized this distinction with the Borchers-Plakette in 2019.
He then joined the KAUST Catalysis Center, first as a postdoctoral fellow and later as a Research Scientist. From 2020 to 2023 he built an automated synthesis platform based on Chemspeed robotics, bringing mechanistic analysis, robotic experiments, and feedback from their results together in a single research process.
In Ningbo the group follows the same integrated approach. Its research combines light- and electricity-driven synthesis, including ongoing work on alternating-current photoelectrocatalysis (AC-PEC), with DFT studies of reaction mechanisms and an automated platform that links design, experiment, and feedback.
Trajectory
Aachen, Thuwal, Ningbo
The timeline runs from 2010 to the present, across Germany, Saudi Arabia, and China. Experimental chemistry, first-principles computation, and automated synthesis, the three strands of those years, now come together in one laboratory.
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2010–2014
BSc, Chemistry
RWTH Aachen University · Germany
Enders laboratory
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2014–2017
MSc, Chemistry
RWTH Aachen University · Germany
Rueping laboratory
-
2017–2019
PhD, Chemistry
RWTH Aachen University · Germany
Rueping laboratory
summa cum laude · Borchers-Plakette
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2019–2020
Postdoctoral Fellow
KAUST Catalysis Center · Saudi Arabia
Rueping laboratory
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2020–2023
Research Scientist
KAUST Catalysis Center · Saudi Arabia
automated synthesis platform
-
2023–present
Associate Professor, independent PI
Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo · China
College of Science
Output, funding & recognition
Indicators, funding, and honors
The bibliometric indicators are current as of the date given beneath them; research funding and selected honors are listed by year. Links to external profiles are at the end of the page.
Figures as of August 2026 · Google Scholar & Essential Science Indicators
Funding
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2025–2026
AI-Empowered Organic Chemistry
A project under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s National Science and Technology Major Project program (科技部国家科技重大专项“人工智能赋能有机化学”项目). Chen Zhu led its research task “Intelligent Experimental Design and Laboratory Automation Operating System” (课题“智能化实验设计与实验室自动化操作系统”，课题负责人). The task ran from June 2025 to May 2026 and has concluded.
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2024
NSFC Young Scientists Fund
National Natural Science Foundation of China (国家自然科学基金青年科学基金项目).
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2023
NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas)
China’s national program for high-level young scientists recruited from overseas (海外优青).
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2023
Ningbo Yongjiang Talent Program
Ningbo’s municipal talent program (宁波市“甬江人才工程”).
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2023
Start-up funding, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo
Institutional start-up support for the independent laboratory established in August 2023.
Honors
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2023–2025
World’s Top 2% Scientists
Listed for three consecutive years in the Stanford–Elsevier ranking of the world’s most-cited scientists.
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2019
Doctorate summa cum laude & Borchers-Plakette
The doctorate was awarded with the highest distinction; the Borchers-Plakette is the medal that RWTH Aachen confers for that grade.
Profiles & links
Current profiles
Up-to-date publication and profile information is available on Google Scholar, ORCID, and the university’s faculty page. A CV with the complete publication list can be downloaded as a PDF.
Nature CatalysisNature ChemistryNature SynthesisNature CommunicationsAngew. Chem. Int. Ed.J. Am. Chem. Soc.
The fuller story is in the work