Prof.  Zhen Chen is a C.W. LaPierre Professor in the College of Engineering at  the University of Missouri (MU). His research area is in Computation  Mechanics with a recent focus on multiscale modeling and simulation of  the multi-physical phenomena involved in structural failure subjected to  extreme loading conditions.Before joining MU in 1995, Dr. Chen was a  design engineer in Shanghai Medical Electronics Factory, a professional  staff member in the Applied Mechanics Division at New Mexico Engineering  Research Institute as well as in the Department for the Waste Isolation  Pilot Project/Performance Analysis Code Development at Sandia National  Laboratories. Dr. Chen has more than 200 publications based on funded  research projects. He serves on Advisory Editorial Board of the  International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering and Board  of Editors of CMES: Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences,  respectively. Among his honors and awards are the Fellow of ASME, the  Yangtze Visiting Chair Professor appointed by the Ministry of Education  in China, the Faculty Research Award in the College of Engineering at  MU, the Outstanding Youth Award (Oversea) from the Natural Science  Foundation of China, and the NSF-CAREER Award. He received his Ph.D.  degree in solid and computational mechanics from the University of New  Mexico in 1989.