Professor Tan Bien, Dean of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), has been elected a Foreign Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS) for 2025, in recognition of his systematic innovations and international influence in materials chemistry.

Founded in 1953, the PAS is the highest scientific institution in Pakistan. It promotes science, technology, and innovation to support socioeconomic development and provides expert advice to the government on science education and research.

Election to the academy represents Pakistan’s top scientific honor. Selection is highly competitive: candidates must make original and significant scientific contributions, undergo multiple rounds of nomination and peer review, and be approved by the academy’s general assembly. The total number of domestic fellows is capped at 100 (with a maximum of five elected per year), and foreign fellows are limited to 30 (with up to three elected annually). Worldwide, only 35 scholars currently hold this title. In the 2025 selection, three scholars were elected as foreign fellows.

The academy’s foreign fellows include world-leading scientists, such as Nobel Laureates, Physicist Samuel C. C. Ting, and Chemist Bai Chunli, Former President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Professor Tan, a Full Professor (Second-Class) and Doctoral Supervisor at HUST, also serves as Deputy Director of the Key Laboratory of Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education), Council Member of the Chinese Chemical Society, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

His research focuses on addressing major national energy and environmental needs, including the synthesis and applications of microporous polymers, energy gas storage, and carbon dioxide capture and conversion. He has also pioneered low-cost strategies for constructing microporous organic polymers, breaking key technological barriers for industrial applications.

As of May 2025, Professor Tan had published over 280 papers in international journals (251 indexed by SCI, including 19 ESI Highly Cited Papers), contributed nine chapters to academic books, and been granted 19 Chinese invention patents. He also leads two national key R&D projects and seven General Program projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Source: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of HUST