Dr. Chen is a Professor of karst hydrology, and is associate director of the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He received his Ph.D. (2003) in soil science from the Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, CAS and Northwest A&F University in Shaanxi, China. He joined the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, CAS as an Associate Professor in July 2003, and then became a Professor in October 2008. Dr. Chen is interested in studying water movement in soil-plant-atmosphere continuum at the hillslope and small watershed scale. Currently, his particular interest is to understand hydrological process and plant adaptation to water stress on hillslope based on the use of stable isotope techniques. Dr. Chen is also interested in understanding the interactions between vegetation growth and soil-rock environment, mostly in karst regions of southwest China.