Zhongchao TAN

Board Member

Chair of bylaw and operating-guide committee

Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.

Short Bio

Dr. Zhongchao TAN is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He received his BSc and MSc degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing in the 1990s, and PhD degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA in 2004. He was the founding Executive Director of Tsinghua-Waterloo Joint Research Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies, and the Associate Dean (International) of Waterloo Engineering. In addition, Tan has provided dedicated services to several international professional societies, including the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering, International Association for Green Energy, Standard Council Canada/ISO, etc.

Dr. Tan’s contribution to scholarship has been recognized by international peers, as evidenced by the popularity of his technical books in his fields of research. His single-authored textbook, Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases, was downloaded 1.7+ million times globally, and another coauthored textbook was recognized as “the top-used publications on SpringerLink that concern one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals”. His impact on his peer groups and the wider society is also evidenced by numerous domestic and international awards, including Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, Outstanding Performance Award (UWaterloo), Early Research Excellence Award (UCalgary), Editor’s Choice papers, Highly Cited Paper (top 1%) from Clarivate Analytics, and Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Tsinghua University. Tan's dedication to higher education also won him multiple teaching awards, including those from UIUC and UCalgary. He has mentored 100+ HQPs; many of them have taken leadership roles in their chosen fields, winning various awards including chair professorship, Best Journal Articles, Best Conference Papers, and Featured Articles.