Please join us for the 2026 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture!
Gang Chen
Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
DATE: Monday, November 16, 2026
TIME: 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET, reception to follow
LOCATION: MIT Building 10 Room 250
ABSTRACT
In this lecture, Gang Chen will discuss research on thermal materials that connects fundamental transport processes at the nanoscale with materials and energy challenges at larger scales. Much of this work was inspired by his long-standing collaboration with Professor Mildred S. Dresselhaus.
The story begins with their work on superlattices for thermoelectric energy conversion and extends to nanocomposites and other thermal materials. Inspired by Professor Dresselhaus’s pioneering research on carbon nanotubes, Chen’s group explored the one-dimensional nature of thermal transport in polymer chains, leading to the demonstration that polyethylene can achieve thermal conductivities higher than most metals. These materials advances also revealed regimes of heat transport beyond classical Fourier conduction, including coherent, localized, and hydrodynamic phonon transport. Studies of coupled electron and phonon transport further led to the identification of cubic boron arsenide as an unusual semiconductor combining exceptionally high thermal conductivity with high electron and hole mobilities.
Finally, the lecture will describe current efforts to understand light–water interactions and their potential to connect nanoscale physical phenomena with new approaches to thermal management, energy conversion, and sustainability.
ABOUT GANG CHEN
Gang Chen is the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He served as the Department Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT from 2013 to 2018. He obtained his PhD degree from the Mechanical Engineering Department at UC Berkeley under the supervision of then UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien. He was a faculty member at Duke University and UCLA, before joining MIT in 2001.
Chen's research spans from electrons and phonons transport in solid-state materials for thermoelectric energy conversion and microelectronic thermal management to evaporation and condensation for desalination and data center cooling. He received an NSF Young Investigator Award, an R&D 100 award, an ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, an ASME Frank Kreith Award in Energy, a Nukiyama Memorial Award by the Japan Heat Transfer Society, a World Technology Network Award in Energy, an Eringen medal from the Society of Engineering Science, the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellences in Mentoring and Advising from MIT, a Steven Chu medal from the Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering, and an American Courage Award from Asian American Advancing Justice.
Chen serves on the board of the Asian American Scholar Forum (aasforum.org). He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an academician of the Academia Sinica, a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a member of the US National Academy of Science.