Dr Chi David Cheng

Dr. Chi (David) Cheng is a Senior Lecturer and ARC Future Fellow in chemical engineering at UNSW Sydney, where he established the Nanofluidics and Advanced Separations Laboratory in 2023. Prior to this, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar followed by a Research Scientist appointment in the department of mechanical engineering at MIT from 2017 to 2022. Dr. Cheng received his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Monash University in 2014 and a B.Eng. in polymer materials and engineering from Wuhan University of Technology in 2010. From 2016 to 2017, he worked in the R&D division of DuluxGroup Australia, developing functional coatings. In 2017, Dr. Cheng was awarded the Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship, and in 2021, he received an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. He served as the Alumni Committee Chair for the MIT Postdoctoral Association from 2018 to 2019 and an MIT Communication Lab Fellow in 2019. His research and teaching focus on transport phenomena, membrane science, and nanopore technology for advanced bio/chemical separations, addressing critical societal challenges in resource and energy security.