Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Education
- 2016, Doctoral Degree, Yale University
- 2011, Master's Degree, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- 2008, Bachelor's Degree, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Biography
Dr. Wen Chen is an Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Yale University in 2016. After his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he studied a variety of additive manufacturing techniques including projection stereolithograohy, direct ink writing, laser powder-bed fusion, and laser-directed energy deposition. Prior to joining USC in 2025, he was an Associate Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Chen's current research interests include additive manufacturing (3D printing), architected materials, physical and mechanical metallurgy. He has served as the additive manufacturing symposium chair in 2023 MRS Fall meeting. Dr. Chen has published 5 US patents and more than 100 publications in referred journals such as Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, Science Advances, Materials Today, Acta Materialia, etc. He has also served as the Associate Editor for multiple journals including Materials Futures and Scientific Reports.
Research Summary
Dr. Wen Chen's research thrust revolves around the interface of materials science and advanced manufacturing. We are particularly interested in understanding the fundamental processing-structure-property relationships in advanced materials and integrating control over materials on multiple length scales through additive manufacturing (or 3D printing), to eventually arrive at extreme properties. Specific research activities include, but are not limited to: 1) development of additive manufacturing technologies including laser powder-bed fusion, laser-directed energy deposition, and direct ink writing; 2) high throughput materials design through combinatorial approaches; 3) design and fabrication of architected materials with engineered structures through multi-material additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy, and electrochemical processing for structural and energy (electrocatalysts and battery) applications; 4) physical-metallurgy-guided design of advanced structural materials (e.g., metallic glasses, high-entropy alloys, lightweight and high-strength steels, aerospace superalloys, refractory alloys, etc).
Awards
- 2024 Barbara H. and Joseph J. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award
- 2023 35 Emerging Young Investigators Under 35(ish) highlighted by journal Matter
- 2023 NSF CAREER Award
- 2022 SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer
- 2016 Best Poster Award, 11th International Bulk Metallic Glass Conference, Washington University at St. Louis., USA.
- 2016 Acta Student Award, Acta Materialia
- 2016 Chinese Scholarship Council for Outstanding Oversea Students
- 2015 Pierre W. Hoge Fellowship, Yale University
