Title: Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Forensic Science, Savannah State University, Ga.
Log in to view the full article
Title: Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Forensic Science, Savannah State University, Ga.
Education: Ph.D. in Chemical Science, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia; M.S. in Polymer Chemistry, Ningbo University, China; B.E. in Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hubei Polytechnic University, China
Age: 38
Career mentors: Kuo-Wei Huang, KAUST; Yang Qin, University of Connecticut; Ilja Popovs, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Kai Shen, Kennesaw State University; Teresa Shakespeare, Savannah State University
Words of wisdom/advice for new faculty members: ‘‘Potential exists everywhere — opportunity grows when we nurture it.’’
Dr. Chao Guan
The road to Dr. Chao Guan becoming an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Forensic Science at Savannah State University (SSU) — Georgia’s oldest public HBCU — led through China, with a stop in Saudia Arabia.
After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from universities in China, Guan went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemical science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia. He did several research stints before arriving at SSU in 2024.
During the interview process, Guan gave a research talk and a teaching talk and was impressed with the students he met. “They were very talented,” he says. And he realized he shared something in common with many SSU enrollees.
“I was a first-generation student as well,” Guan says. Familiar with the challenges of being “the first” in a family, Guan’s teaching philosophy is to “provide them opportunity, give them training and give them a platform, because I believe as long as one student can succeed, the whole family will be successful. They’re not just changing their life, but they’re changing the whole family’s life.”
In addition to teaching chemistry, an accompanying lab, and Introduction to Molecular Forensic Science using the CURE model (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences), Guan also mentors undergraduate researchers, and is anticipating these students presenting at the SCALE (SCalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement) conference in February in Washington, D.C.
The SCALE conference is the centerpiece of the Defense Department-funded and industry-supported program that collaborates with academia to beef up the number of students entering the field of microelectronics.
“As a professor, I am very excited to watch my students present their work confidently at conferences before their peers and other professors,” says Guan. “I feel like a proud parent and it makes me feel like my work is meaningful.”
Guan’s other mentorship activities include serving as an advisor for the SSU Collegiate Chapter of the National Society of Black Women in Medicine.
Guan was also the program coordinator for the Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation — a STEM diversity initiative — until the program was defunded by the Trump Administration in 2025. Citing potential violations of anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) directives, grants through the National Science Foundation (NSF) were canceled to most of these programs nationwide. Guan said seven students at SSU were negatively impacted by the shutdown of the program.
Fortunately for Guan, his own grant-funded research centering on the environmental and forensic applications of creating sustainable materials from plastic waste has not been disrupted.
Through grants from the NSF and the Department of Education, Guan’s polymer research project examines ways of upcycling plastic bottles to create conjugate polymers that can conduct electricity or emit light, with potential applications in light and fingerprint visualization. “The motivation for this research is to increase the value of plastic waste from ‘zero’ after disposal to high-value scientific materials,” says Guan.
Dr. Kai Shen, now professor and chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Kennesaw State University (Ga.), having previously served as Guan’s department chair at SSU, says, “In both those roles, I have observed his rapid growth as an innovative scholar, dedicated educator and impactful mentor.” Shen lauds Guan’s research for both its innovation and national impact, adding, “equally impressive is Dr. Guan’s unwavering commitment to teaching and student success.”
