Chen has sustained high quality, innovative, and original outputs in practical applications as well as in academic journals. His awards of excellence, achieved status at the age of 41, and the testimony of others who know him verify his uncanny ability to analyse and solve an extremely wide range of complex problems. His contributions have covered a wide range of research of fundamental topics from heat-mass, and momentum transfer in inorganic, organic and biological systems, to solving highly significant practical problems in spontaneous combustion, spray drying, milk concentration, and a host of other important topics in food and biotechnology industries.