Dr. Chen Laboratory of Subsurface Energy, Water, and Environmental Systems (SEWES) 

Dr. Cheng Chen

Professor

Nariman Farvardin Endowed Chair Professor 

Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering 

Stevens Institute of Technology

Education

• B.S. Tsinghua University, 2003

• M.S. Northwestern University, 2005

• Ph.D. Northwestern University, 2008

Expertise

• Single and multiphase flow in porous and fractured media

• Multiscale numerical modeling of flow and transport in geologic formations

• Granular geomechanics

• Data analytics and machine learning

• Applications to subsurface energy, water, and environmental systems, such as oil and gas recovery, geological carbon sequestration, geological disposal of nuclear waste, subsurface environmental remediation, subsurface hydrogen storage, geothermal energy recovery, and groundwater flow 

Appointments

2021 - present:  Full Professor (9/2025-), Associate Professor (tenured, 9/2021-8/2025), Nariman Farvardin Endowed Chair Professor (9/2021-), Ph.D. Program Director (9/2021-), Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ 

2015-2021:  Associate Professor (tenured, 7/2020-8/2021), Assistant Professor (8/2015-6/2020), Graduate Program Director (8/2019-8/2021), Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

2012-2015:  Project Leader (2013-2015), Reservoir Engineer (2012-2013), Halliburton Houston Technology Center, Houston, TX

Research Projects 

Dr. Chen’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DoD), American Chemical Society (ACS), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Some of the current and past research projects are:

• High-Temperature Testing of Proppants for EGS and Simulation of Electromagnetic Fracture Mapping Using Electrically-Conductive Proppants (DOE and Utah-FORGE) 

• Impact of Permeability Heterogeneity on Solute Dispersion in Unsaturated Porous Media (NSF) 

• Development of full understanding of mechanical-chemical coupling in bentonite THMC processes using experimental and deep learning methods (DOE)

• Fundamentals of particulate amendment transport and compaction in hydraulic fractures and the application to effective remediation in low-permeability clay (DoD)

• Development of a machine-learning-based, scale-bridging data assimilation framework with applications to geologic carbon sequestration (DOE) 

• The role of a heterogeneous permeability field on miscible density-driven convection in porous media and the applications to geological carbon sequestration (NSF) 

• Fundamentals of proppant compaction and embedment in hydraulic fractures (ACS) 

• The role of temperature on non-Darcian flow in low-permeability porous media and the applications to geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste (DOE) 

• The influences of heterogeneous surface wettability and varying dimensionless numbers (Capillary number, viscosity ratio, contact angle, etc.) on the multiphase flow properties in geologic formations (DOE) 

• Enhanced oil recovery in shale-oil reservoirs using cyclic CO2 huff-and-puff

• Effects of streambed heterogeneity and anisotropy on hyporheic exchange

Courses

• Fluid Mechanics 

• Numerical Methods for Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Numerical Methods for Fluid Flow in Petroleum Reservoirs

• Flow and Transport in Porous Media

• Groundwater Engineering 

• Geoenergy Engineering Fundamentals

• Graduate Seminar

Editorial Service

• Associate Editor, SPE Journal,  2016 - 2019