Kuan hua chen, PHD, assistant Professor

Dr. Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology, the University of California Davis. He earned his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Iowa. He completed a postdoc training in Affective Science, Dementia, and Family Caregiving at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco. Before graduate school, he received an MS in Experimental Psychology and a BEd in Special Education in Taiwan.

Dr. Chen's research examines the brain, emotions, and social functioning in normal and clinical aging, and how changes in these processes influence health and well-being in their families/caregivers. His current work focuses on understanding how couples' brains, physiology, and behaviors are interpersonally connected to each other's and how these processes change with age and health. In collaboration with tech companies, Dr. Chen also develops innovative technologies that use GPS, wearables, and embedded sensors to objectively, unobtrusively, and longitudinally monitor real-world emotions and social interactions in aging couples who live in urban and rural regions of the United States. 

Dr. Chen grew up in Taiwan (first in a small rural town in central Taiwan, then moved to Taipei, the capital of the country). He moved to the US in 2009 as an international scholar and first-generation immigrant.  When not doing research, Dr. Chen enjoys cooking, listening to classical and Jazz music, playing music (flute) with his wife (piano), and being the "silly hero" of his two daughters.