Also, he is an affiliated investigator of the DOE BioEnergy Science Center (BSEC). Now he is also a cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer of Gate Fuels Co. (USA). Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he was a research scientist, postdoc associate, Ph.D. student at Dartmouth College, working with a biofuel pioneer - Prof. Lee R. Lynd, for validating feasibility of consolidated bioprocessing (CBP). He received his bachelor and master degrees in Biochemical Engineering Department of East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China. His master thesis advisors are Profs. Jian-Jiang Zhong and Jun-Tang Yu.