Faculty

Dr. Chien-fei Chen is a Research Associate Professor and the Director of Education and Diversity at National Science Foundation funded engineering research center, Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). She is also the Co-director of Center for the Study of Social Justice and an adjunct faculty in the Department of Sociology at the UT.

Dr. Chen’s research centers in the areas of environmental sociology, pro-environmental behavior, renewable energy adoption, and energy justice. Specifically, her research goals are to: 1) foster interdisciplinary research and social-technological integration in the areas of power grid resilience, energy conservation behaviors, energy inequality among underserved communities, and barriers to alternative sources of energy supply; 2) integrate social-psychological theories and methodology, and human decision-making processes into engineering modeling to better understand power systems, and acceptance of renewable energy technology; 3) analyze human’s energy saving behaviors to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions; and 4) provide fundamental interdisciplinary knowledge to research community, utility companies, and policy makers. Dr. Chen publications appear in many interdisciplinary journals, including Building and Environment, Environmental Sociology, Energy, Energy and Buildings, Energy Policy, Energy Research and Social Science (ERSS), Energy and Buildings, Journal of Environmental Psychology, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Electric Power Systems Research, and so on. Since 2018, Dr. Chen serves as an editorial board member of ERSS and has been actively involved with several international and interdisciplinary networks including International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy in Buildings and Communities (EBC) Annex 66 and NSF RCN-SEES Network. She served as the workshop chairs for two interdisciplinary energy research and sustainability education workshops for NSF RCN-SEES Network in 2016 and 2019. She has received several research awards from NSF and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In 2019, Dr. Chen received the Fulbright U.S. Global Scholar Award.

Chien-fei Chen received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University. Her research within social psychology focuses on how the content and structure of social relations are mediated through social norms, networks, interpersonal communication and related psychological factors at both individual and group levels. Within this general framework, Dr. Chen's work is especifically concerned with the mechanism, transmission and enforcement of social norms; and emphasizes the roles of social networks, norms and psychological factors on the influence of individuals' decision-making. This insight facilitated the investigation of the social and structural processes that motivate behavioral and psychological changes and how they relate to issues of energy and health. Dr. Chen's environmental research areas include energy literacy and the diffusion of renewable energy knowledge, environmental beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and public opinions over environmental issues. Regarding the topic of health, her research concentrates on influence of social psychological factors on alcohol consumption, drunk driving, body image and sexual behaviors among adolescents and college students. Currently, she leads the research effort examining the social impact of energy and power system at the NSF-DOE funded Engineering Research Center for Ultra-wide-Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), the University of Tennessee and serves as the Co-director of Education and Diversity program at CURENT.

Second, I am working on a book that devolves from the graduate course on environmental awareness, environmental activism and justice, and anti-environmentalism.

• Chen, Chien-fei, Yan Li, and Damayanti Banerjee. 2012. "Exploring Social-psychological Factors related to Energy Conservation Behavior among Chinese Employees," Annual Meeting of American Sociological Association, Denver, August, 2012.
• Chen, Chien-fei, Yan Li, and Damayanti Banerjee. 2012. "Exploring Social-psychological Factors related to Energy Conservation Behavior among Chinese Employees," Annual Meeting of American Sociological Association, Denver, August, 2012.
• Mar, Hannan, Chien-fei Chen and Husheng Li. 2012. "Bayesian Network Structure Learning for Analyzing the Impact of Social Networks on Adolescent Heavy Drinking." Add Health Users Conference, NIH Campus, Bethesda, July, 2012.
• Chen, Chien-fei and Xiaojing Shen. 2012. "Do Fear-appeal Media Messages Work in China? Effects of Law Enforcement, Perceived Consequences, and Injunctive Norms on Drinking-and-Driving Behavior among Chinese Students," Annual Meeting of International Communication Association, Denver, May 2012.
• Li, Husheng, Chien-fei Chen and L. Lai. 2011. "Propagation of Spectrum Preference in Cognitive Radio Networks: A Social Network Approach," IEEE International Conference on Communications, Kyoto, Japan, June 2011.
• Chen, Chien-fei and Xiaojing Shen. 2011. "Social and Psychological Factors of Drinking and Driving among Chinese College Students," Proceedings of International Conference on Public Administration, Dongsan City, China, October 2011.
• Chen, Chien-fei, Husheng Li and Hannan Mar. 2011. "Explaining Mechanisms of Norms and Networks on Heavy Drinking and Alcohol Consequences Among Youth," Annual Meeting of American Sociological Association, Las Vegas, August 2011.
• Chen, Lang, Penn Markham, Chien-fei Chen and Yilu Liu. 2011. "Analysis of Societal Event Impacts on the Power System Frequency using FNET Measurements," IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, July 2011.
• Chien-fei Chen. 2010. "Norm Transmission, Interpersonal Communication and Drinking Decision," Annual Meeting of American Sociological Association, Chicago, August 2010.
• Tang, Lang and Chien-fei Chen. 2010. "Connecting Social Norms and Social Networks: A study of Unhealthy Weight Control Intentions and Internalization of Thin Ideal in China," Annual Meeting of International Communication Association, Singapore, June 2010.
• Horne, Christin, Chien-fei Chen, Justin Berg, and Katie Evermann-Druffel. 2009. "Metanorm Expectations: Determining What to Sanction," Advances in Group Processes, 2009, 26, 199-223.
• Chen, Chien-fei and Lu Tang. 2009. "Social Norms and Sanctioning through Social Networks: A Theoretical Study of Body Image," Annual meeting of International Communication Association, Chicago, May 2009.