Professor Shiyi Chen was born in October 1956 in Tiantai, Zhejiang. He began his professional career in July 1987 and holds a Ph.D. in Sciences. He is a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences.

He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK). Previously, he served as a Distinguished Professor of Chang Jiang Scholars Program of the Ministry of Education (China), Oppenheimer Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA., Executive Committee Member of the International Joint Council of Engineering Deans, International Committee Member of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Committee Member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), Director of the State Key Laboratory of Turbulence and Complex Systems at Peking University, Academic Committee Member of the Zhou Pei-Yuan Center for Applied Mathematics at Tsinghua University, and Academic Committee Member of the State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics at the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

From January 1978 to January 1982, he studied in the Department of Mechanics at Zhejiang University, where he earned a bachelor's degree. Between 1982 and 1987, he furthered his studies in the Department of Mechanics at Peking University, obtaining both master's and doctoral degrees. From 1987 to 1990, he conducted postdoctoral research at Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA. He then worked as research staff in the Turbulence and Lattice Gas Research Group of Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA from 1990 to 1997, assuming the role of Group Leader starting in 1992. From 1994 to 1999, he was a research staff member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Between 1997 to 1999, he was the Deputy Director of the Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory. From 1999 to 2005, he worked in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University as Dean and Chair Professor. He was the Founding Dean of the College of Engineering at Peking University between June 2005 to July 2013. From January 2011 to January 2015, he was Dean of the Graduate School at Peking University. Between September 2013 and January 2015, he served as Vice President of Peking University while concurrently acting as Dean of the Graduate School. From November 2013 to January 2015, he was Dean of the Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. In December 2013, he was elected as a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. From January 2015 to November 2020, he served as President of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech).