Professor Dr. CHEN Baozhang has long been dedicated to the development and optimization of surface earth system models, data-model assimilation, the interaction between the carbon cycle and climate change, and research on spatial scale transformation techniques, continuously pushing the boundaries of academic research and making significant original contributions.

Dr. CHEN is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He serves as the Chief Professor for Land Surface Ecological Modeling and Analysis at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an expert reviewer for CAS academician elections, a review expert for the Ministry of Education’s “Changjiang Scholar Award Program,” and a committee member for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s Carbon Monitoring Pilot Program. He previously served as the Chief Scientist of the National Meteorological Administration’s Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Neutrality Monitoring and Evaluation Center. Dr. Chen has held research associate positions at the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and a professor position at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University. In 2009, he returned to China after being selected for the “Hundred Talents Program” of CAS under the category of outstanding talent.

Dr. CHEN has received numerous awards, including: Second Prize of the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Science and Technology Progress Award (2023, ranked 1^st out of 5); Second Prize of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s Environmental Protection Technology Progress Award (2019, ranked 6^th out of 7). Dr. Chen has also received over 20 individual academic awards, including: the Third Young Geographical Science and Technology Award from the Geographical Society of China (1995),Outstanding Young Key Teacher in Jiangsu Province (1996), the young and middle-aged leader in science and technology under the Jiangsu Provincial”333 High-Level Talent Training Project” (1998), the innovative talents for the “Double Innovation Plan” by Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee (2014), the IET Award for Outstanding Graduate Students from the International Engineering Society and the Canada NSERC CGS Scholarship (the country’s highest graduate scholarship).

In the fields of environmental archaeology and paleoecology: In the 1990s, Dr. CHEN discovered rice cultivation remains at the Jiahu site in Henan province, dating back 8,000 years. This discovery marks the earliest known history of rice domestication in the world, holding significant “chronological” importance in the history of human civilization. It is also the northernmost rice origin site identified to date in the global history of rice domestication. In the fields of surface Earth system modeling, data-model assimilation, carbon assimilation systems, and carbon cycles: he developed China’s first sky-ground dual-carbon digital twin simulator, China’s high spatiotemporal resolution carbon assimilation system (CT-China and 3-GAS), and a high-resolution nested regional carbon assimilation system (RCAS). These systems have been implemented in national-level semi-operational applications and multi-scale high-precision carbon emission and carbon sink accounting at provincial and city levels. His contributions to global, national, and local carbon accounting and carbon neutrality assessments have been recognized by international peers and relevant governments.

Dr. CHEN has led or been a key member in over 20 research projects, including those funded by NSERC, CFCAS, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) major and general projects, the National 973 Program, 863 Program, the National Science and Technology Support Program, National Key R&D Projects, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Pilot Special Projects. He has published over 200 papers in journals such as Nature Communications, Science Bulletin, Science China, and Acta Geographica Sinica, including more than 120 SCI-indexed papers. He has authored one monograph, led the writing of one monograph, and contributed to three others. As the primary inventor, he holds 6 national invention patents and over 20 software copyrights. He also serves on the editorial boards of journals such as Scientific Data, Geographical Research, Forest, Water, Atmosphere, and as the special issue editor for these publications.

Dr. CHEN could be contacted via email baozhang.chen@igsnrr.ac.cn or baozhang_chen@163.com.