Professor Steven Feng Chen, Chair Professor and Associate Dean of PKU College of Engineering, was recently elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST).

IAFoST conducted election of new fellows every two years. Among the 30 newly elected fellows globally, Professor Steven Chen and Professor Junshi Chen (Fellow of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chief Food Safety expert at Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) are the only two persons elected this year from China.

IAFoST, established in 1997, is a group of elected distinguished food scientists and technologists who collectively form a pool of scientific expertise in food science and technology from which the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) draws non-aligned expert advice on scientific matters. To be eligible for election as a Fellow, a person must be generally recognized as having established an outstanding reputation for scientific accomplishments and/or leadership in the area of food science and technology. Nominations for each new class happen every two years and are elected by existing IAFoST fellows. A maximum of 30 new fellows from all over the world can be elected each time. Elected Fellows represent no organisation but serve as independent persons to work and promote high standards of ethics and scientific endeavours. They are at the forefront of IUFoST, helping to strengthen global food science and technology for humanity. There are currently 180 IAFoST fellows.

In addition to his role as Associate Dean, Professor Chen is also the Director of Institute for Food and Bioresource Engineering, Director of Singapore-Peking University Research Centre for a Sustainable Low-Carbon Future, Executive Board Member of Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, Executive Vice President and Secretary-General of Chinese Functional Food Society, and Vice President, International Teochew Doctors Association. Prior to joining Peking University in 2011, Professor Chen served as Acting Director of School of Biological Sciences of the University of Hong Kong. Professor Chen was previously elected as a Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).

Professor Chen has been focused on microalgal and food biotechnology research with a keen interest in the development of functional foods and bioenergy from microalgae and other plant materials. He was among the first in the world to point out the potential of heterotrophic cultivation of microalgae using organic substrate as sole energy and carbon source. The successful development of heterotrophic cultivation processes enabled the algal culture to reach a very high cell density leading to high-yield mass production of microalgal products such as DHA and algal oils.

Professor Chen has published over 250 papers in SCI journals, with over 6000 citations and an H-Index of 43. At present, Professor Chen is an Associate Editor of the RSC journal Food & Function, and on the Editorial Board of 5 other SCI journals including Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (a Tier 1 journal).