He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University (NYU) where his dissertation was awarded the Janet Fabri Prize for Most Outstanding Dissertation in Computer Science. His research interests stem from a background in networking and distributed systems, but in order to solve real-world problems of information access in developing regions, his work has evolved to be increasingly inter-disciplinary. Most recently Professor Chen has been focusing his research efforts on learning technologies, security and privacy, and human-computer interaction.