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Technical University of Munich

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jia Chen

Tel.: +49 (89) 289 - 23350
Fax: +49 (89) 289 - 23348
jia.chen [at] tum.de 

Room: N1512

Research:

Jia Chen’s current research focuses on quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and understanding the metabolism of air pollutants in urban environments. Besides the development of novel, compact optical sensors, she has established the worldwide first city sensor network based on the novel method of differential column measurements (MUCCnet, https://atmosphere.ei.tum.de/). This pioneering work enables long-term assessment of urban greenhouse gas emissions. A more detailed description of our research activities can be found in Research Focus

Her major research path can be summarized as follows: She has developed the differential column measurement method (Chen et al. 2016), based on which she and her team have established the worldwide first permanent urban column sensor network MUCCnet (Dietrich et al. 2021). With MUCCnet and additional in-situ measurements, they were able to discover and quantify unaccounted sources such as Oktoberfest (Chen et al. 2020, Dietrich et al. 2023) and highly underestimated sources (Forstmaier et al. 2023) in urban areas. To infer urban emissions from observations, she and her team have developed novel modeling approaches, based on Bayesian inversion, compressed sensing, computational fluid dynamics, and machine learning, that cover different scales and are particularly suited for urban application, given the highly heterogeneous landscape and source types (Toja-Silva et al. 2017; Jones et al. 2021; Zanger et al. 2022, Gensheimer et al. 2022; Zhao et al. 2023).

Her research is supported among others by ERC Consolidator Grant, EU Horizon 2020, United Nations Environment Programme, NSF, NASA, and German Research Foundation. She was also recently selected as an expert to attend the IPCC scoping meeting for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.

CV:

Jia Chen studied electrical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe (Dipl.-Ing.) and was awarded a PhD with highest distinction (summa cum laude) from TUM. From 2011 to 2015 she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Environmental Science & Engineering Department at Harvard University (advisor: Steven C. Wofsy). Since 2015, Jia Chen has been Professor of Environmental Sensing and Modeling at the TUM Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is also Associate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. In 2020, Prof. Chen was named as Germany’s “Top 40 unter 40” by the magazine Capital and in 2021 she was selected to be a member of the Global Young Academy, where she chairs the working group “Citizen Science for the 2030 SDG Agenda”.

Publications and Patents:

Jia Chen has authored and co-authored 2 books and 2 book chapters, 2 chapters in WMO report, 81 peer-reviewed journal publications and more than 175 conference contributions. Further, she has filed 12 patents, of which 9 are international patents. h‑index: 33, i10‑index: 73.

Complete list of patents and publications

ORCID  Researchgate  Dissertation

Selected Awards and Recognition:

2024Timothy Oke Award for original research in the field of urban climatology 
2023ERC Consolidator Grant
2021Arnold-Sommerfeld-Award
2021Member of the Global Young Academy
2020Young Elite - Top 40 under 40, Capital Magazine
2015Rudolf Mößbauer Fellowship
2014Postdoctoral Award for Professional Development, Harvard University
2012VDE/ITG Award (ceremony)
2011Rohde & Schwarz Award
2009Kaiser Friedrich Forschungspreis (nationwide research award in optical technology)
2009Best Poster Award paper (first place) at the international conference EUROSENSORS
2009Nomination for the international AMA SENSOR Innovation Award
2009Incubic/Milton Chang Travel Grant Award
2008IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society Graduate Student Fellowship Award
2007Ernst von Siemens Promotionsstipendium
19992nd prize in the Chinese National Mathematics Olympiad Competition

Major Projects:

2023-2028ERC Consolidator Grant: CoSense4Climate. Role: PI
2023-2026BMBF ITMS (01LK2303B): Ground-based FTIR measurements of XCO2, XCH4 and XCO. Role: PI
2022-2025EU Horizon 2020 (101037319): PAUL (Pilot application in urban landscapes towards integrated city observatories for greenhouse gases). Role: Scientific Lead for Munich, Task Lead for total column measurements
2021-2024NASA: OCO validation and flux inversion using ground-based FTIR data from MUCCnet. Role: PI
2021-2024Wiener Wissenschafts-, Forschungs-und Technologiefonds (ESR20-030): Vienna Urban Carbon Laboratory. Role: Co-PI
2020-2022:Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz (TLK 01U-75487): Engmaschiges NO2-Sensornetzwerk in München. Role: PI
2020-2021:BaCaTeC-Project (14 [2019-2]): Real-time Urban Emission Maps for Greenhouse Gases Based on Concentration Measurements. Role: PI
2020-2021:United Nations Environmental Programme Project: German Methane Emission Assessment in Urban Regions (German MEASURE). Role: PI
2019-2021:DFG Sachbeihilfe (419317138): Mesoscale Network for Monitoring Greenhouse Gas and Pollutant Emissions. Role: PI
2019:DFG Forschungsgroßgeräte (422614568): Differentielles Säulenmesssystem. Role: PI
2015-2018:NASA: Validation and Application of OCO-2 Data in the Northeastern United State. Role: Co-PI
2013-2016:National Science Foundation (Award #1337512): MRI: Acquisition of Mesoscale Network of Surface Sensors and Solar-tracking Spectrometers. Role: Co-PI

Selected Media Coverage

02/2023Anthropocene: Are gas or electric appliances better for the climate? The answer is a moving target.
01/2023Die Zeit: Auf der Suche nach den Klimakiller-Wolken
05/2022Planet Wissen, ARD-Alpha: Methan – Das unterschätzte Klimagas (Methan in Städten)
03/2022Gut zu wissen, BR Fernsehen: Die Methanjäger (Our research starts ~ 20 min)
10/2021Süddeutsche Zeitung: Einzigartiger Sensor misst Treibhausgasemissionen
10/2021TUM press release: Dr. Markus Söder praises cutting-edge research 'Made in Bavaria'
10/2021Sat.1: Kampf gegen Klimawandel: Einzigartige Technologie an der TU München
08/2021Die Zeit: Treibhausgas Methan : Wo ist das Leck?
06/2021Deutschlandfunk, Forschung aktuell: Forschungsteam misst regionalen Ausstoß von Treibhausgasen
04/2021Rundschau, BR Fernsehen: Wie klimaschädlich sind unsere Städte?
03/2021Physics Today: Automating greenhouse gas measurements
06/2020Urban Climate News (International Association for Urban Climate): How time-limited events such as Oktoberfest contribute to the global CH4 budget
04/2020American Geophysical Union’s Eos Magazine: Oktoberfest’s Methane Rise Is the Wurst
10/2019:The Guardian: Oktoberfest produces 10 times as much methane as Boston
09/2019:Abendschau, BR Fernsehen: Hohe Methan-Werte auf der Wiesn
09/2019:Deutschlandfunk, Forschung aktuell: Erhöhte Methanwerte auf der Wiesn
09/2019Der Standard: Beim Oktoberfest wird jede Menge Methan freigesetzt
09/2019:Süddeutsche Zeitung: Schlechte Luft
09/2019:Welt: Forscher messen Methan-Ausstoß in München
09/2019Münchner Merkur: Moderne Messtechnik auf dem Rathausdach
09/2018:Focus: Erhöhter Methan-Ausstoß in München zur Wiesn-Zeit
09/2018:ZEIT WISSEN: "Jetzt mal ehrlich: Was liegt in der Luft, Frau Chen?" (PDF)
05/2018:Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Detektivarbeit für bessere Luft"
01/2018:Faszination Forschung 150 Jahre TUM: "Carbon Detective"
10/2013:VDE Youtube Channel: “Mobilität der Zukunft”

Teaching:

  • Umweltsensorik und Modellierung
  • Advanced Seminar Environmental Sensing
  • Gemeinschaftspraktikum Electromagnetic Sensors and Measurement Systems
  • Lab Course Innovative Atmospheric Sensing Devices

Additional affiliations:

My Thesis:

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