Chen has recently been appointed as China’s new Minister of Environmental Protection.  After he obtained his PhD, he moved on to work as a Research Associate at the Department until 1998, when he joined Tsinghua University as Vice Dean of the Department of Environmental Engineering, and became Dean in 1999.  He was appointed as Vice President of Tsinghua University in 2006 and became Executive President of Tsinghua University in 2007.

Chen is currently  President of Tsinghua University and has been since January 2012.

Among many other roles, Chen is currently a member of the National Environmental Advisory Commission, Deputy Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of MEP, Vice President of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, and board member of the Chinese Environmental Foundation.