I was born in the City of Linhai, Zhejiang Province, China. I received my Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1982 from Tianjin University, China, in the field of thermal engineering. In 1984 I went to Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A. for my graduate studies, and completed Master of Science program in June 1986, and Ph. D. program in June 1989. Afterwards, I joined the University of Waterloo as a postdoctoral fellow, and was later appointed Research Assistant Professor. In January 1992, I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada, as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure on July 1, 1994. On September 1, 1997, I rejoined the University of Waterloo as a tenured associate professor, and was promoted to the rank of full professor on July 1, 2000. My main research interest and activities are in the area of thermal fluid/science, including energy systems and energy storage, various energy conversion devices, propulsion and power generation systems, efficient and effective fire suppression technology, aerosol generation and applications, and transportation fuel cell systems. These research projects involve thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic stability, multiphase flow, heat and mass transfer, combustion, power generation and propulsion systems. The research projects and activities are carried out by a research team under my supervision.

I am a member of various international and Canadian professional organizations (such as AIAA, ILASS, ASME, and CSME) and served on ASME Emerging Energy Technology Committee. I was a member of New York Academy of Sciences from 1996-1999. I have also served on the organizing committee for the symposium on emerging energy technology as part of Energy Week Conference and Exhibition, co-sponsored by ASME and API, was the chair of the organizing committee for the 1995 Spring Technical Meeting of The Combustion Institute, Canadian Section, and co-chair of the Symposium on Thermal and Fluids Engineering, Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering Forum 1998. I served on the executive committee and as the vice president of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Vancouver Island Branch, in 1996-97; and the chair of the ASME Emerging Energy Technology Committee, and the chair of the organizing committee for the Symposium on Combustion and Alternative Energy Technologies (CAET), as part of ASME Energy-sources Technology Conference and Exhibition (ETCE) held in Houston, Texas, February 5-7, 2001. I have also served on the organizing committee or international scientific and advisory committee for numerous national and international conferences.

Currently I am serving as the conference chair for the International Green Energy Conference (IGEC-1), to be held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, June 12-16, 2005. The conference is organized by the Advanced Energy Systems (AES) Division of the CSME (Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering), in cooperation with the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) and the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE).

I serve as the Editor in Chief for the International Journal of Green Energy; on the editorial board of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and the International Journal of Energy Research; and have also served as guest editor for the International Journal of Energy Research, International Journal of Global Energy Issues, International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, and the Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. He is also currently the Chair of the Advanced Energy Systems (AES) Division of the CSME. I regularly serve as a peer reviewer for over 20 international scientific and technical journals.

I have been actively in contact with both national and international industrial organizations and has been a consultant for a number of national and international companies and government agencies. Since the fall of 1997, I have been an approved Ph.D. supervisor at the University of Waterloo.