I was born in Harbin, China. I attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities as a freshman and transferred to the University of Illinois as a sophomore in 2023. I conducted a project with Dr. Qingwei Zhang at the University of Science and Technology of China on Ni-catalyzed asymmetric catalysis in the summer of 2024. I joined Denmark’s group in Fall 2024 and started to work with the organometallics subgroup. Outside of the lab, I enjoy travels, good food, and board game strategies.
Email Zijian: jimchen2@illinois.edu