Chunshan Song

Chunshan Song is the dean of science and Wei Lun Professor of Chemistry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) since 2020. He is an American Chemical Society Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Association for Carbon Capture. Prior to joining CUHK in July 2020, he was a Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, director of EMS Energy Institute, and professor of chemical engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Penn State until June 2020. He also served as an associate director of Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment from 2008 to 2020. He was the founding director of the University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER) based at Penn State, consisting of fifteen major research universities funded by the U.S. Department of Energy with $20 M USD through the National Energy Technology Laboratory during 2015–2020. He stepped down as director of EMS Energy Institute and director of UCFER and retired as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fuel Science at Penn State in June 2020. He has been serving as dean of the faculty of science and Wei Lun Professor of Chemistry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin, Hong Kong, since July 2020, and also as the founding director of the Joint Institute of Advanced Materials and Green Energy Research (JIAMGER) which was established by CUHK and the Great Bay University in Dongguan in 2024.

With a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology and M.S. and Ph.D. in applied chemistry from Osaka University, his research focuses on chemistry and catalysis of energy and fuels, CO2 capture and utilization, heterogeneous catalysis and plasma catalysis, biomass, bio-gas and hydrocarbon conversion, adsorptive desulfurization, fuel processing as well as synthesis and applications of nano-porous materials for adsorbents and catalysts. Chunshan Song has made pioneering contributions to sustainable energy solutions, including carbon capture and utilization towards carbon neutrality, and his groundbreaking research has led to several new processes that have been verified at multiple industrial pilot plants in the USA, Korea, Norway, and China. He has led numerous research projects for catalytic energy conversion and fuel processing for ultra-clean fuels and green fuels, such as jet fuel and diesel fuel from alternative (non-petroleum) sources. He has also initiated multiple bio-gas processing projects in the USA and Hong Kong. A globally recognized leader in energy and fuels and catalysis research, he has published 550 refereed papers, eight patents, fifteen books, and thirty-five book chapters.

He has received many awards such as George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry and Henry H. Storch Award in Energy Chemistry from American Chemical Society (ACS), Distinguished Researcher Award from ACS Energy and Fuels Division, Distinguished Fulbright Scholar Award from US-UK, Chang Jiang Scholar Award from China, Herman Pines Award from Catalysis Club of Chicago and Excellence in Catalysis Award from Catalysis Club of Philadelphia of North American Catalysis Society, Outstanding Achievement Award from the Chinese American Chemical Society, Distinguished Fellow of International Association for Carbon Capture. At Penn State before 2020, he received the Faculty Scholar Medal, Distinguished Professor, Wilson Award for Excellence in Research, Faculty Mentoring Award, and the Materials Science and Engineering Service Award. Recently, he was honored by the 2025 Michele Aresta Prize in CO2 Utilization Research from the 22nd International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization, and 2025 Carbon Capture Outstanding Achievement Award from the 4th International Conference on Carbon Capture Science and Technology. The 2024 study of Stanford University ranked Chunshan Song 19th among 313,936 researchers worldwide in the subfield of Energy. He was elected a 2025 Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering (HKAE), and selected as the Pioneer in Energy Research in the field of carbon capture, utilization, and storage by the ACS journal of Energy and Fuels in 2025.  

Professional Experience

• 2020-Present — Dean of the Faculty of Science and Wei Lun Professor of Chemistry Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
• 2024-Present  — Director of the Joint Institute of Advanced Materials and Green Energy Research (JIAMGER) established between CUHK and the Great Bay University in Dongguan since 2024.
• 2020-Present —  Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fuel Science and Chemical Engineering, Penn State University at University Park, PA, USA
• 2023-Present — Adjunct Professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China
• 2017-Present — Honorary Professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, China
• 2024-Present — Honorary Professor, School of Science and Engineering,  Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), China
• 2020.07-Present — Dean of Science and Wei Lun Professor of Chemistry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China
• 2020.07-Present — Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fuel Science and Chemical Engineering, Penn State University at University Park, USA
• 2015.09-2020.06 — Founding Director, the University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research funded by U.S. Department of Energy-National Energy Technology Laboratory at Penn State University, USA
• 2007.05-2020.06 — Director of the EMS Energy Institute, Penn State University, USA
• 2008.02-2020.01 — Associate Director, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, Penn State University, USA. 
• 2011.04-2020.0  — Founding Director of the International Joint Center for Energy Research between Penn State University and Dalian University of Technology, China
• 2005.01-2005.02  Invited Professor in Chemistry, University of Pierre and Marie Curie (now Sorbonne University), France
• 2004.09-2005.07  Distinguished Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor, Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, UK
• 2010.02-2020.06 Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Chemical Engineering, Penn State University at University Park, USA
• 2003.07-2020.06 Professor of Fuel Science and Chemical Engineering, Penn State University at University Park, USA
• 1995.07-2020.06  Director, Clean Fuels and Catalysis Program; EMS Energy Institute, the Penn State University, USA
• 1998.07-2003.06  Associate Professor of Fuel Science, Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, the Penn State University, USA,
• 1997.07-1998.06  Associate Professor of Fuel Science, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Penn State University, USA
• 1989.11-1997.06  Assistant. Professor (1994.07-1997.06) and Research Associate (1989.11-1994.06), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Penn State University, USA
• 1989.04-1989.10  Research Associate, Research Center, Osaka Gas Company, Japan

Service to the profession  

1. Professional Society: Chair, Awards Committee, Energy and Fuels Division, American Chemical Society, USA, 2021-present; APACS Steering Committee, Asia-Pacific Association of Catalysis Societies, Selection Committee for Distinguished Researcher Award, Energy and Fuels Division of American Chemical Society, USA, 2012-present;  
2. Editor for Research Journals:  Editor in Chief, “Advances in Catalysis”, Elsevier/Academic Press, 2016-2020; Associate Editor in Chief, “Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering”, Springer, 2018-present; Advisory Editor, “Journal of CO2 Utilization”, Elsevier, 2012-present;  Editor, “Results in Engineering”, Elsevier, 2025-present;  Guest Editor, the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2024.
3. Editorial Advisory Board for Research Journals in chemical engineering such as “Energy and Fuels” (ACS, 2001-present); “Applied Catalysis B: Environmental” (Elsevier, 2009-2016); “Catalysis Today”, (Elsevier, 2006-present);  “Chinese Journal of Catalysis” ( Elsevier, 2010-present); RSC Catalysis Book Series” (Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, 2007-present); “Chemical Engineering & Technology”, (Wiley-VCH, 2011-present); “Green Energy & Environment” (Elsevier and CSPM, 2016-present); “Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology” (Wiley, 2011-present).
4. Chair of International Conferences and Symposia:  Chair, International Scientific Committee for the Annual International Conferences on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (ICCDU), 2013-present; Co-chair. Symposium #22 “Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development of the Chemical Industry”, The 12th World Congress of Chemical Engineering 2025 (WCCE 12) and the 21st Asian Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress (APCChE 2025) , Beijing, China, July 14-18, 2025.
5. University Council: Member of University Council, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Aug 2020-Nov 2024; Member, Governing Board of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen (CUHKSZ), 2023-present.
6. Industrial Advisory Board:  Advisor, Technical Advisory Council, Research & Development Center, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia, 2007-2010; Decision Review Board, Chevron-Penn State Alliance on Coal Conversion Technology, USA, 2007-2010; Academic Committee for Provincial Key Laboratory for Smart Evaluation and Highly Efficient Utilization of Coking Coal, Shanxi Coking Coal Group, Taiyuan, China, Nov 2023-Nov 2028.
7. Government Organizations and NGO:  Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) Research Projects Assessment Panel, Nanotechnology and Materials Technology Subgroup, Hong Kong SAR, Jan 2023-Dec 2026; ITC Research Projects Assessment Panel, Textiles and Clothing Subgroup, Hong Kong SAR, Jan 2023-Dec 2026; Review Panel for Excellent Youth Program, National Science Foundation of China, 2024; Review Panel for Xplorer Prize, Tencent Foundation, China, 2024; Member, Scientific Committee, The China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), Dongguan, China, Feb 2024-present.
8. International Government Organizations:  Technical Committee (TC) member for Low Carbon Energy Research (LCER) Funding Initiative (FI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Apr 1, 2021 - Dec 15, 2026; Overarching Review Panel for a Research Programme at the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), National Research Foundation (NRF), Singapore, July 11-12, 2023; Member for Technical Review of NETL Research, National Energy Technology Laboratory, US DOE, Morgantown, WV, June 2019.
9. Advisory Committee for National and State Key Laboratories:  Academic Committee for Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM) consisting of Xiamen University, Fudan University, China University of Science & Technology and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China, 2015-2020; Advisory Committee, the State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, 2023-2027; International Advisory Committee, State Key Laboratory on Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, 2009-present.