Dr. Shawn Chen

Materials Sciences and Engineering Division
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
SC-32.2/Germantown Building
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585-1290

E-mail: Shawn.Chen@science.doe.gov

Dr. Shawn Chen joined Basic Energy Sciences as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy fellow in September 2021, and as a Program Manager in the Materials Sciences and Engineering Division in July 2023.

Before joining BES as a AAAS S&TP Fellow, Dr. Chen was a materials science researcher and a National Research Council (NRC) research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD from 2018 to 2021. Dr. Chen’s work at NIST encompassed the extraction of suitable fundamental material properties in polymeric systems using novel characterization tools to inform the design and development of novel performance additives in composite systems. Specific research topics included jamming transition of shear-thickening fluid, two-photon fluorescence microscopy, and in-situ deformation behavior of glassy polymers during high-rate impact using laser-induced projectiles (LIPIT).

Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University (2013-2018). His doctoral research focused on the mechanical and structural characterization of ionomeric polymer thin films under aqueous environments using novel mechanical experiments and X-ray scattering techniques.

Education:
NRC Research Associate: National Institute of Standards and Technology (2018 – 2021)
Materials Science and Engineering, Ph.D., Northwestern University (2013 – 2018)
Nanoengineering, B.S., University of California, San Diego (2009 – 2013)